The Witcher has become an incredibly popular video game and live action streaming series, but it all started way back with author Andrzej Sapkowski’s original collection of short stories. And now, continuing with its series of Witcher related comics, Dark Horse Books is adapting another of those original short stories in The Witcher: The Edge of the World, a hardcover original graphic novel.
The Edge of the World will be adapted to comics by writer Magdalena Salik, artist Tommaso Bennato, colorist Chris O’Halloran, and letter Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou, who will dig into a tale of Geralt of Rivia’s earliest adventures, in which he learns some surprising truths about the nature of demons.
“Work is hard to come by for Geralt. And for his bardic traveling companion, Dandelion, the doldrum of the road is not a worthy subject for his rhymes or ballads,” reads Dark Horse’s description of The Witcher: The Edge of the World.
“As they travel to the edge of the known world, townsfolk speak of many stories, but it seems that’s all they are-recitals of monsters and superstition-until a man follows Geralt with news of a devil scavenging the local fields. Get rid of the beast, but under no circumstances is it to be killed. Only how can Geralt hunt the creature, when there are no such things as devils?”
The Edge of the World is the third of Dark Horse’s Witcher short story adaptations taken from Andrzej Sapkowski’s collection The Last Wish.
“The Edge of the World is one of my favorite Witcher stories. Why? Because of its characters who are diverse and counter-intuitive. Everyone has some ideas about devils or pixies – say farewell to them. In this story Sapkowski plays with your established notions about heroes and villains; and plot twists as well,” explains writer Magdalena Salik.
“For me it’s one of the wisest short stories ever, going far beyond typical fantasy quest versions of this scenario. There is all we love about The Witcher: jokes, quest, a lot of action, captivating characters. But apart from that there is also a strong message which leaves you both amused and pondering. In other words – enjoy and expect the unexpected.”
Dark Horse’s comic adaptations of The Witcher are created hand-in-hand with CD Projekt Red, the developers of all three Witcher video games. The Witcher 4, currently codenamed Polaris, is set to enter full production later this year.
“For me, who loves the Fantasy genre, working on a story of ‘The Witcher’ was a great pleasure and I hope that the fans appreciate the commitment and the passion that I put in trying to bring out the emotions of the characters and, in the case of the Sylvan, enrich his design with leaves, springs and mushrooms,” adds artist Tommaso Bennato. “Enjoy this incredible adaptation! I’ve done it, and I had fun drawing it!”
The Witcher: The Edge of the World goes on sale December 18 with a cover painted by Kai Carpenter, seen above.
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