Charmed (comics)

Cover for Volume 1 of Season 9

Charmed is comic book that is an officially licensed continuation of the popular The WB television series of the same name, which ended its eight-year run in 2006. The series is published monthly by Zenescope Entertainment. The comic book serves as a continuation set eighteen months after the events of the televised show's final episode. The first issue was released on June 16, 2010.

Production

Development

Rumors of a comic series began long before Zenescope made the news official in March 2010.^[1] Speculation had started to appear online ^[2] about the possibility of a comic series much earlier, however, largely due to test sketches appearing on the DeviantArt account of Dave Hoover which featured Holly Marie Combs, Alyssa Milano and Rose McGowan. Speaking on his DeviantArt page, Hoover said:

If everything goes according to plan I'll be working on a "Charmed" comic book based on the hit TV series published by Zenescope Entertainment. To get the job I had to compete with others vying for the same gig, and our task was to do model sheets of the girls showing how we would draw them. The art would be approved by the studio.

The odd thing about this was that they supplied no photo reference, so I searched the internet high and low looking for the best possible pictures. Of the three girls, I thought Alyssa Milano would be the easiest to draw, but she turned out to be the hardest. She sort of changed her look more often than the other two, Rose McGowan and Holly Marie Combs.

—Dave Hoover, DeviantArt, March 13, 2009

Months before the title had officially been announced, and before Zenescope gained acquisition of the publication rights for the comic series, the first advertisement for the series featuring the famous triquetra symbol and the tag line "The Girls are Back" written in the series font appeared in the December 16, 2009 issue of the Zenescope comic book Escape From Wonderland #3.^[3] However, Zenescope did not officially announce possession of the title until the company had successfully been granted the rights from Fox Consumer Products.

Subsequently, the first press release from Zenecope Entertainment indicated that Charmed, based on the "ultra-popular" media franchise, would be a natural addition to the publisher's pre-existing "sultry and strong female characters".^[4] Editor-in-Chief, Ralph Tedesco, also announced that "the key to this series success is to strike a nice balance in creating a brand new, intriguing storyline for fans of the television show while also not alienating Zenescope and comic book readers who haven't really followed it before".^[4] It was further announced that while the TV series had a difficult time due to casting and budget limitations, the comic creators won't have those problems, thus fans may finally see the return of popular characters like Prue and Cole.^[5]

Although the comic books feature the likeness of the majority of the actors who appeared in the television series including Alyssa Milano (Phoebe Halliwell), Holly Marie Combs (Piper Halliwell), Rose McGowan (Paige Matthews), Brian Krause (Leo Wyatt) and Julian McMahon (Cole Turner), Shannen Doherty's (Prue Halliwell) likeness does not feature in the comic books. Ralph Tedesco officially released a statement that Shannen Doherty had not given her permission for the comic book creators to use her likeness in the series, saying that “Unfortunately Ms. Doherty has declined to be involved in the comic version of Charmed. This includes the use of her likeness. We had hoped that she would allow us to use her image and that we would be able to bring her into the Charmed comic book exactly as she was in the show but at this point that has become impossible. While Ms. Doherty’s likeness will not be used for the character we are still very excited about the direction we are going with Prue and we hope that fans of Charmed will feel the same way.”^[6]

Shannen Doherty revealed at Oz Comic-Con in 2013 that her decision to not give permission for her likeness to be used was based on Zenoscope's unwillingness to pay her to use her likeness.^[7]

Writing and format

Author Paul Ruditis ^[8] was hired as lead writer of the series with Zenescope veteran Raven Gregory joining him for the first three issues. Ruditis is familiar with the Charmed universe having already published three tie-in novels, two official episode guides which he co-authored with Diana G. Gallagher and the Charmed Book of Love Spells. Ruditis and Gregory also co-authored a special Issue 0, which acted as a prequel to the story recapping the events of the television series in a style reminiscent to the Book of Shadows as seen on the show.

Artist Dave Hoover was eventually hired to do the interior artwork while David Seidman was hired to design the covers for the comics, although various guest artists have contributed variant covers for each issue thus far including Greg Horn, Al Rio, Tony Shasteen and Mark Sparacio. Dave Hoover left the comic after completing Issue 3. Since then various artists have been hired to do the interior artwork such as Marcio Abreu (4, 5 and 7), Carlos Granda (8), Tess Fowler (6 and 11), Dean Kotz (9, 12, 14 and 15), and Reno Maniquis (10 and 13).

Although the process of writing and receiving studio clearance is much the same as for Charmed novels, Ruditis explains, "The big difference now, as you noted, is that with original episodes no longer airing, we have a lot more freedom than we did on the novels".^[8] With the Charmed novels, nothing outrageous could occur to distort established continuity. Stories had to take place 'between' episodes, usually in the first half of a given season. Ruditis notes that while, "[t]he studio still has to approve the direction we take", no longer does "everything ...have to reset by the end. That alone means that nothing is entirely safe."^[8] Raven and Ruditis claim they want the series to "grow and evolve" in the new medium, "expand[ing] upon what worked and what didn't work [in order to make it work]".^[8] The creators believe it stands out from the Buffy, Angel and Pushing Daisies TV-to-comic adaptations because Charmed has a unique focus on the dynamics of family drama.^[8]

Publication

Issues

The first issue premiered during San Diego Comic-Con International in July 2010. Initially only 12 issues were contracted by Zenescope, with around five issues comprising one story arc which would be reprinted in graphic novel form. A one-shot issue has also been announced for Issue #6, and another is followed when Issue #13 comes to start the new story arc.

Season 9 (2010–12)

Season 10 (2014–)

It was announced in April 2014 that CBS and Zenescope had officially reached an agreement for a tenth season.^[9] Paul Ruditis stepped down as lead writer and will edit the series, while Pat Shand will write the new story and Elisa Féliz will be pencilling.^[9] The first issue of Charmed: Season 10 will debut at New York Comic Con on the weekend of October 9, 2014.^[9]

Collected issue

Season 9

The issues were collected together into trade paperbacks:

Note: The full title of all volumes listed here start with "Charmed Season 9: ".

Season 10

The issues were collected together into trade paperbacks:

Note: The full title of all volumes listed here start with "Charmed Season 10: ".

Reception

Critical reaction was initially mixed for the first issue, with many reviewers complaining about the lack of story. Reviews for Issue #2 in relation to the story have been much more positive with Fandomania awarding the issue 3/5.^[12] However some noted that the issue does a good job at exposing the series to newcomers.^[13] The artwork however has received the most criticism both for the characters likeness' ^[14] and the colouring,^[15] which is deemed distracting by a Newsarama reviewer. Christina Flores of ComicImpact.com goes on to say that the interior art is inconsistent with the character drawings not being as good as those of locations and backgrounds. However, she goes on to say that Ruditis and Gregory open with a strong story and says that Charmed fans will enjoy the issue.^[16] Fan response however has been promising with the first issue selling out of its initial 17,000 copies in the first three weeks, which prompted Zenescope to release a second printing in time for the release of Issue #2.^[17]

Cast reaction

• Alyssa Milano has touched upon the comic series in interviews, talking about how she gave Zenescope her permission to use her likeness for her character.^[18]
• Rose McGowan and Holly Marie Combs have discussed the comics on Twitter, most notably joking about the cover for Issue #2 which pictures the Charmed Ones naked covered only in leaves.^[19]

References

Charmed Awards and nominations Series Episodes Season 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Comics Season 9 10 Characters Main Prue Halliwell Piper Halliwell Phoebe Halliwell Paige Matthews Supporting Andy Trudeau Darryl Morris Leo Wyatt Cole Turner Chris Halliwell Billie Jenkins Recurring Melinda Warren Penny Halliwell Patty Halliwell Coop Guests Season 1 2 3 4 5 Major villains Rex Buckland Hannah Webster Barbas The Triad Belthazor Shax The Source The Seer Gideon The Avatars Zankou Christy Jenkins Magical beings Darklighters The Hollow Whitelighters Episodes "Something Wicca This Way Comes" "All Hell Breaks Loose" "Charmed Again" "Charmed and Dangerous" "Forever Charmed" Other media Academia Board games Merchandise Novels Video game Music "How Soon Is Now?" The Soundtrack The Book of Shadows The Final Chapter Related articles Power of Three Book of Shadows Nexus Locations Category:Charmed (TV series)