Comics just might be the most underappreciated medium of all time. In its infancy, every new storytelling medium is met with some amount of moral panic and even more dismissal. However, mediums like movies and video games, and even tabletop RPGs, have eventually found themselves in the mainstream. By contrast, while moral panic regarding comics has subsided, comics themselves continue to be a niche interest, despite the cinematic success of many characters who originated in them.
That’s a shame. Comics are a great medium, and there’s a lot they can do to bring a story to life. Today, we’re going to explore some of the best graphic novels based on video games we love.
Halo Graphic Novel (New Edition)
Find out where the Shipmaster smelled that stench before
This anthology, which contains four stories set in the Halo universe, was the original introduciton of the franchise to the comic medium, and is still a great entry point for fans looking to get into that aspect of it.
The Halo expanded universe is quite large. Those only familiar with the games might be surprised to learnjust how many Halo novels and comics there are. We had plenty to choose from, but out of all of them, this is the best entry point. It’s a collection of stories, many focused on fan-favorite characters, like Sgt. Johnson and the Shipmaster, set in times and places adjacent to the main stories of the early games.
The Last of Us: American Dreams
The signature bleakness of The Last of Us
Based on one of the best story experiences in the history of the medium, the Last of Us prequel comic American Dreams carries the series' signature brutality as it tells a prequel story surrounding Ellie.
Set in thebrutal post-apocalyptic dystopiaof The Last of Us, one of the best stories in the history of video games, this comic tells a prequel story about Ellie and how she came to be infected, one which leads directly into the events of the first game.
This book really gets the vibe of the franchise, and does a good job replicating it. The Last of Us was already a game whose primary selling point was its story, so it isn’t surprising that it’d translate well into an even more story-focused medium.
Mass Effect: The Complete Comics
A massive collection
This massive collection spends hundreds of pages bringing together every panel of Mass Effect comic ever published, resulting in a massive book with tons of stories set all over that universe.
One of the reasons comics as a medium see less mainstream success is that they tend to be short. The amount of time and effort it takes to craft dozens or hundreds of pages of fully fleshed out art harshly limits how much material can be released, especially for a medium that tends to be relatively fast to read. As a result, the best comic reading experiences are often collections, and this is a great example.
There have been six series of Mass Effect comics released at various points in the franchise’s history, and this book collects all of them, resulting ina great collection of storiesthat expands on several characters and bits of lore from the games.
Injustice: Gods Among Us: Year One
Fall of a hero
This comic based on a video game based on a comic collects the first run of the Injustice series, an alternate universe story about an evil Superman written before there were a million of those.
No, we’re not cheating by including a piece of original source material in this article. While Injustice is indeed based on characters and a setting that originated in the comic medium, this book is specifically based on the Injustice video game series, which was not based on a specific comic book story.
Indeed, the purpose of this book is to fill in that missing background and flesh out the alternate universe Injustice takes place in, where Superman has become a villain after the Joker killed Lois Lane. The resulting conflict between him and his former friends is rich, interesting,and a bit morally ambiguous, though it’s clear where our sympathies are ultimately supposed to lie.
Plants vs. Zombies Volume 1: Lawnmageddon
Post-apocalyptic comedy
This colorful, funny, and utterly charming book gives us the background of the zany but still very threatening apocalyptic status quo of Plants Vs Zombies, the hilarious tower defense game by Pop Cap.
This list has been pretty dour. Lots of tragic backstories,sci-fi warscapes, and zombie apocalypses… well, okay, this is technically another one of those, but in a funny cartoon way. Plants Vs Zombies is an absolutely delightful game by Pop Cap studios. Indeed, PvZ just might be the best game they ever came up with, and this book carries a ton of its charm.
The original game doesn’t have a lot of story to it. The primary goal of this book is to change that, giving us a canonical main character and fleshing out the story of how the world of this game came to be overrun by brain-chomping terrors.
Life Is Strange: Volume 1-6
Continues a rich and interesting story
Based on one of the most story-rich gaming experiences from the 2010s, this collection brings together the first six Life is Strange graphic novels, once again totaling hundreds of pages for a great price.
Once again, a comic story that’s good for the same reasons its original game was. Though this series unfortunately lacks the interactive element of Life is Strange, it nevertheless does a great job capturing its vibe and utilizing its characters in a new, interesting, and intriguing story. Our characters have a new mystery to solve, just as strange, and just as bittersweet as before.
This is a large collection of material, gathering six books, totaling more than 650 pages at a good price.
FAQ
What are the top graphic novels of all time?
This depends on how you’re measuring, but two good candidates for this would be Watchmen and The Sandman, both by talented creators. That’s assuming we aren’t counting Manga. If we do, there are suddenly a ton more to choose from, including the source material for many of the most popular anime series.
What is the only graphic novel to win a Pulitzer Prize?
Maus, a memoir that’s far more serious and brutal than anything on this list, recounting very real terrors while allegorically representing both their victims and perpetrators as animals.
Does reading graphic novels count as reading?
Yes, it does. For one thing, these books contain tons of text, but even if they didn’t, the process of reading them still requires brainpower. You can skim over them, just like you could any book, but you have to use your brain to analyze and retain these stories. We cannot stress enough that anyone who unironically gatekeeps whether comic fans are “really reading” is a weirdo and a loser. Even if comics weren’t “real books,” the act of caring whether the books other people read are “real books” is far worse and more pathetic than the act of enjoying “non-real books.”
