I'm not sure what the record is, but this MUST be a contender..

[icon_uk]

For the longest time between a toy/game marketing franchise aimed at kids and them actually getting a comic to go with it.





The Dungeons and Dragons cartoon was an oddity of a show. It lasted three seasons from 1983 to 1985), but that's still only 27 episodes in total (13 for Season 1, 8 for Season 2 and 6 for Season 3, as well as a planned finale (Which left some elements open for a fourth season had they wanted one), which was scripted but never filmed (But there's a top notch fanfilm created from it)

It was thematically, if loosely, based on the titular RPG, but the characters used were not playing the game as a framing device, rather they were six ordinary kids summoned to a magical realm (via a fairground "Dungeons & Dragons" themed ride) to defend it from evil. I think it would count as "isekai" in current manga/anime terminology.

There were no toys or brand marketing using the cartoon characters, aside from some PVC's figures which were hardly widespread.

And yet, it has remained a very fondly remembered cartoon of it's era. The character designs and effects were great (Sheila the Thief and her cloak of invisibilty always being a favourite), the animation was adequate for it's era and likely cost and the characters, whilst not the deepest, are engaging, with some interesting conflicts (Mostly from Eric the Cavalier who whilst a bit spoiled and self centred, was never less than laser like in his critiquing of the kind of cryptic BS Dungeon Master threw at them each episode)

So it is perhaps a little surprising that, as far as I can tell, there has never been any sort of a tie in comic using these characters. There have been D&D based comics aplenty (I believe one of them sort of gave a nod to the cartoon, by featuring a couple of characters who MIGHT be sort of the original cartoon crew many years later, but it's not acknowledged as such)

They may have lost Transformers and GI Joe, but they know how to expand on a fairly unpromising license, and are starting wiht a four issue miniseries, written by David M. Booher (Canto), and Sam Maggs (Rick and Morty Ever After), and with art from George Kambadais (John Carter of Mars)!

Comments

[numeronone]

And of course Kieron Gillen has explicitly stated that the origin story scenario of "DIE" is directly based on this series

[icon_uk]

Is it? Oh neat!

Ummm... I mean, IS it neat? Or is it one of those "This is to the D&D cartoon, as Watchmen is to the 60's Charlton comics"?

[numeronone]

Yes! And no. The standard descriptor (referencing the more recent films) is "Goth Jumanji".

Imagine the gang from the original DnD series defeated the big bad and got to go home and grow up...all except one.

[dan_ingram]

I am now legally obligated to post the below Watchmen link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDDHHrt6l4w

May not have been the only creation it influenced..

[steverodgers5]

I also once read that Rowling was imagining Voldemort's more demonic look to be something like Venger.

I certainly can believe that the cartoon might have had some influence to her. As Presto certainly has a very Harry Potter vibe to him as well.

Re: May not have been the only creation it influenced..

[numeronone]

What DIDN'T have an influence on her? Even when I was barely 12 I could tell she was plagiarising whole-cloth from Jill Murphy, Eva Ibbotson and others.

Re: May not have been the only creation it influenced..

[steverodgers5]

Haha! Good point!

[cygnia]

I remember flipping through the OG Unearthed Arcana to read up on acrobats and cavaliers when I was a kid while watching this.

[justsotired]

From what I recall, the writers RESENTED having to write Eric that way - the Network insisted on having an obnoxious, cowardly "Comic Relief" character to round out any ensemble cast. It was the 80s.

So they undercut it by making Eric the kind of guy who often saw through deceptions and ruses the others didn't, and even though he LOATHED Dungeon Master's riddles, he often paid closer attention to them than the others did because he knew the answer was in there SOMEWHERE... he just had to find it.

Wasn't there an episode where as part of the riddle Dungeon Master turns Eric into what is in 5th edition terms a Warlock, and he fares better with his bit of DM's power than anyone expects?

[icon_uk]

Eric is given some of Dungeon Masters powers in Season 2's "Day of the Dungeon Master"

[dragontail]

The network's insistence wasn't due to the network's own feelings - there was a mom's group in the 80s that was pushing the idea of "the complainer is always wrong, the team is always right", and lobbied/pressured the network into enshrining this concept into the show. And you're so right - the writers pushed back by, as you say, making Eric into Eric. That gave him nuance and it's why we love him :)

Interestingly, this whole lobbying push only worked on the networks. That's why syndicated shows like MOTU and the big toy shows were immune from an enforced character of that style. I'd idly wondered if Starscream and Cobra Commander were slight parodies of that concept, given they shared some writers with D&D...

Eric the Cavalier was my favourite

[steverodgers5]

I always thought Xander in Buffy the Vampire Slayer had a very 'Eric' feel to him. Certainly in the early days of the show at least.

And yeah, the Eric as Dungeon Master episode is very good indeed. He actually showed a decent bit of character growth in that episode.

[owlbrigade1]

They better not ruin Sheila for me in this, that is all I'll say. She was my hero growing up.

[icon_uk]

She had the coolest magical itam!

[owlbrigade1]

Yeah, her boots were awesome. And the invisibility cape wasn't bad either.

[lbd_nytetrayn]

The boots were magical?

[icon_uk]

Not unless stylishness is magical... but maybe it is! :)



Also practical for wading through rivers...

[owlbrigade1]

That level of sheer style is always magic.

[owlbrigade1]

They were to me.

My fashion sense is not on trial here! :p

[icon_uk]

Nor should it be! :)

I always liked this take on a slightly older Sheila. The negative space possibilities of an invisibility cloak should always be cool

[owlbrigade1]

That is pretty cool.

Sheila was lovely..

[steverodgers5]

Yeah, I think I had a bit of a childhood crush on her..

[cypherfdp]

With how much WOTC has been trying to market the DnD brand recently, you would think that a reboot of the cartoon would be perfect to put on Netflix or the like

[iamrman]

Ooh, neat. IDW needs to do something now that they lost the G.I. Joe and Transformers licenses.

Disney owns Hasbro, right? Does that mean Marvel can get the licenses. The G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero comics ended on a cliffhanger. Hopefully whoever gets the license will continue things.

[icon_uk]

Disney doesn't own Hasbro, but they have a long running strategic relationship.

And Hasbro has just released the first wave of five figures of the show; a Dungeon Master/Venger twin pack, and Hank, Diana and Bobby (With Uni), which suggests Sheila, Presto and Eric will be out next year.

[iamrman]

I don't know why I thought Disney owned Hasbro in that case.

[icon_uk]

If it helps, I thought the same thing until a few weeks ago.

[scorntx]

It's probably come up in the Disney offices more than once.

"Wait, we don't own them? ... huh."

[icon_uk]

It's a drinking game. The first person to name a random company that they find they don't own get's a free round at the bar.

[remial]

actually some of the characters from the toy line DID show up in various episodes, as supporting characters, but the main characters, no they didn't have action figures.

[b_i_beast]

Huh. First, the original '80s TMNT and now DnD. How many other Saturday Morning Adventures comics are there?

[icon_uk]

We got "Jem" a few years back, which was pretty darned awesome...

[owlbrigade1]

Still no Ulysses 31 though.

[icon_uk]

Oh, if only....

[bravest_spinja]

There technically was a Barbie comic made not too longer after she came out, although one might argue that Barbie and Ken were not really characters in it, but it was about girls playing with Barbies, as opposed to the unambiguously narrative characters in the 90's Marvel comic. (Maybe splitting hairs, but by the same token, technically there have been Dungeons and Dragons comics forever, just not one that in any way tied in with the cartoon)

I wouldn't be surprised if there was a bit of a weird rights issue. Like a lot of toy cartoons, this was made by Marvel animation, but unlike G.I. Joe, Transformers, etc., it seems that reruns and video rights didn't quickly revert to TSR etc, as it seemed like New World, and later Saban, were free to do with it as they will.

[icon_uk]

Yeah, even using only the Marvel run, that's a 33 year gap. D&D still beats it, though by less than I'd have thought

Fleetway in the UK had a Barbie comic in the 80's which might shave a few years off it.

My favourite cartoon

[steverodgers5]

Absolutely loved this back in the day. (It may even be my favourite cartoon of all time..) To the extent that when meeting Peter Cullen recently one of the items I had him sign was a photo of Venger. (Which he was quite pleased to see.)

It actually pains me a bit that that none of the Dungeons and Dragons films have used the same premise. Though personally I think a live action version would be better served as a short series ala Stranger Things, so that the cast doesn't age out too quickly.

But nothing will beat the animated series IMHO. If they had indeed completed that ending as a final episode the show would have been absolutely perfect. (I especially love the Dragon's Graveyard episode. That one's incredibly powerful and intense for an 80es cartoon.)

Word of warning though, there are showings and I think some region's dvds that replace the in episode musical scores. Which is a real loss as the original scores are amazingly well done. (But I think they were also used in some Marvel cartoons which may have created a bit of a rights issue.)
I'm reasonably sure though that the UK Dvds are unchanged at least.

So many fond memories of the animated series back in the day. i remember it used to clash a bit with He-man and the Masters of the Universe in it's show times after school. And as time went on I gradually started favouring D & D to watch, as it was clear to even my 9 year old self that the writing, (and everything else for that matter) was better.

I do hope this comic series does it justice. It's been a long time coming..