Dark Horse Comics has announced its first Dungeons & Dragons comic, Dungeons & Dragons: The Fallbacks, a four-issue series by writer Greg Pak, artist Wilton Santos, inker Edvan Alves, colorist Raul Angulo, and letterer Nate Piekos. Set in Faerûn, the book will star the characters from Jaleigh Johnson‘s 2024 prose novel The Fallbacks: Bound for Ruin: elf rogue Tess, human fighter Anson, female wizard Cazrin, tiefling bard Lark, dwarven cleric Baldric, and Uggie the otyugh.
In a time of fickle gods and feckless governors, the world yearns for heroes! What it gets are the Fallbacks — a party of daring, dubious, and dysfunctional adventurers who arrive in the city of Loudwater in search of gold and glory. But an encounter with kobold thieves puts the Fallbacks in the crosshairs of a rival team of deeply annoying local heroes. Will the Fallbacks pull off a heist for the ages? Or will they sacrifice it all to put these “heroes” in their place?
Pak says, “When I read the Jaleigh Johnson prose novel where the Fallbacks first appeared, my primary takeaway, which is also my highest praise, was that it felt like an actual D&D campaign I might play with my funniest, most subversive, and biggest-hearted friends. We’re bringing that vibe to full-color glory on the comics page with incredible interior art by Wilton Santos, Edvan Alves, and Raul Angulo, sharp letters by Nate Piekos, and glorious covers by a slew of artists including Marguerite Sauvage. Can’t wait for y’all to join the campaign!”
Now, some may be quick to point out Dark Horse had previously teamed up with the last D&D comics rights holder, IDW Publishing, to release Stranger Things and Dungeons & Dragons in 2021, and (after acquiring the license last year) went it alone this year to release Stranger Things and Dungeons & Dragons: The Rise of Hellfire (the trade paperback for which releases on September 30.) Similarly, some would argue its Critical Role comics, which have run since 2019, would count as D&D comics, but this is, as far as licensor Wizards of the Coast would be concerned, Dark Horse’s first bona fide D&D title.
Dungeons & Dragons: The Fallbacks #1 (of 4) will be released on October 15, with covers by Marguerite Sauvage, Uzuri, Stephen Segovia, and Dan Panosian. All four issues will also feature back cover art by Julie Dillon, which together will form a homage to the early 20th century illustrator J.C. Leyendecker. In the meantime, Johnson’s second Fallbacks novel, Dealing with Dragons, will be released by Random House Worlds on July 29, and Dark Horse’s first Magic: The Gathering series, Untold Stories — Elspeth, will begin on September 10.
