Dungeons & Dragons (IDW Publishing)

• 1. Introduction

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  Dungeons & Dragons, the IDW Publishing comic series, began not with a grand announcement but with an issue 0 dropped quietly in August 2010. It was set in the Nentir Vale, introduced a group of misfits called Fell's Five, and asked a simple question: could a tabletop roleplaying game translate to the comics page without losing the thing that made it special?

  From that modest start, IDW would go on to publish two ongoing series, sixteen limited series, three crossover titles, two annuals, and a graphic novel across fourteen years. The license eventually passed to a new publisher, but not before leaving behind a body of work spanning the most famous corners of the D&D universe. What held it all together was a creative approach that took the game's internal logic seriously, not as a gimmick, but as the engine of good storytelling.

• 2. Fell's Five and the First Wave

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  John Rogers wrote the first ongoing series, illustrated by Andrea Di Vito and a rotating team that included Denis Medri, Horacio Domingues, and Juanan. The series ran 16 issues, with the last arriving in February 2012. The collection even bundled three playable D&D 4th edition adventure encounters drawn from the storyline: SP-1 Bad Day, SP-2 Hide in Plain Sight, and SP-1 1 It Goes Horribly Right.

  Chris Sims, reviewing the series for ComicsAlliance, called Rogers's achievement "unbelievably tricky": Adric Fell and his crew had to work as characters in their own right while also feeling like genuine inhabitants of a world built on the rigid rules of a roleplaying game. Sims concluded that it was "the story of the best D&D campaign ever, as played by the group I wish I was a part of."

  While Fell's Five ran, IDW launched a burst of limited series that mapped different corners of the D&D multiverse. Dark Sun, a five-issue run written by Alex Irvine with art by Peter Bergting, released from January through May 2011. That same year, The Legend of Drizzt: Neverwinter Tales arrived in August, written by R.A. Salvatore himself and drawn from his famous character Drizzt Do'Urden. Forgotten Realms, written by Ed Greenwood, creator of that setting, followed between May and November 2012.

• 3. The Baldur's Gate Engine

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  Legends of Baldur's Gate, a five-issue limited series written by Jim Zub with art by Max Dunbar and Sarah Stone, started in October 2014 and marked a turning point. That series shifted the comics from the 4th Edition core setting to the 5th Edition, aligning the line with where D&D was heading as a game. According to the source, Zub "has had a hand in nearly every D&D comic since" that series launched.

  The Baldur's Gate cast generated five sequel limited series over the following years. Shadows of the Vampire introduced Strahd von Zarovich as the villain and placed the heroes in Ravenloft; it started publishing in May 2016. Frost Giant's Fury followed in January 2017. Evil at Baldur's Gate arrived in April 2018, with Zub joined by Steven Cummings. Infernal Tides published in November 2019. Mindbreaker, which started in October 2021, served as a prelude to the video game Baldur's Gate III.

  Gavin Sheehan, reviewing the omnibus collection Days of Endless Adventure for Bleeding Cool, noted that each arc served a precise narrative function: the first arc built the party and put them through a crisis; the second delivered a familiar villain from D&D lore; the third "goes off the rails on purpose with an insane adventure that few mortals would ever dare tread into." The collected edition also included character sheets for all five main party members.

• 4. Crossovers and Cultural Reach

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  In 2018, IDW and Oni Press published a four-issue crossover between D&D and the adult animated series Rick and Morty. The comic was co-written by Jim Zub and Patrick Rothfuss, with art by Troy Little. The Deluxe Edition collecting both that series and its four-issue sequel, Rick and Morty vs. Dungeons & Dragons Chapter II: Painscape, was nominated for the 2022 Eisner Award in the "Best Graphic Album Reprint" category.

  A five-issue crossover with the Netflix series Stranger Things followed on the 4th of November 2020, published jointly by IDW and Dark Horse Comics. Jim Zub co-wrote that series alongside Jody Houser, with art by Diego Galindo.

  These crossovers did something the main line could not easily do: they brought readers to D&D from completely different fan communities. Rick and Morty's audience skewed toward irreverent genre comedy; Stranger Things carried a horror-nostalgia following that connected naturally to D&D's origins in 1980s pop culture.

• 5. Corners of the Multiverse

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  Several limited series moved beyond Forgotten Realms and Baldur's Gate to explore other D&D campaign settings. Ravenloft: Orphan of Agony Isle, written by Casey Gilly with art by Bayleigh Underwood, ran between June and October 2022. It focused on the mad scientist Viktra Mordenheim, the Darklord of Lamordia, and a woman named Miranda who Mordenheim had resurrected without memory. Mordenheim had been introduced in Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft in 2021.

  A Darkened Wish, written by B. Dave Walters with art by Tess Fowler, was set in the Sea of Swords, a region of Faerûn lying between the Sword Coast and the Nelanther and Moonshae Isles. Its first issue published in March 2019. Walters then expanded the story into a thirty-episode official actual play web series in 2020, which ran through 2021.

  Dungeons & Dragons: Fortune Finder, a Planescape-themed series starting in the city of Sigil, ran five issues between November 2023 and March 2024. Written by Jim Zub with art by Jose Jaro, it followed an amnesiac hero known only as Finder.

• 6. Nostalgia and New Audiences

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  Dungeons & Dragons: Saturday Morning Adventures tapped a very specific cultural memory. The four-issue limited series, written by David M. Booher and Sam Maggs and drawn by George Kambadais, was based directly on the 1983-85 D&D animated television series. It started releasing in March 2023. An Endless Summer annual issue followed in August 2023, written by Booher with art by Jack Lawrence.

  A sequel four-issue series began in January 2024, again written by Booher and drawn by Kambadais. In February 2026, Wizards of the Coast and Dark Horse Books announced a new hardcover Library Edition collecting the entire IDW Saturday Morning Adventures run, scheduled for release in August 2026.

  The line also produced a 96-page graphic novel serving as a prequel to the 2023 film Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves. Released on the 7th of March 2023, three weeks before the film opened on the 31st of March, The Feast of the Moon followed Edgin, the bard played by Chris Pine, and included a backup story featuring Xenk, the paladin played by Rege-Jean Page. The graphic novel was written by Jeremy Lambert and Ellen Boener and drawn by Eduardo Ferigato and Guillermo Sanna.

• 7. End of an Era

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  IDW also served as a custodian for earlier D&D comics from other publishers. Beginning in March 2011, the company released trade paperback reprints of the DC Comics Forgotten Realms series, the DC Comics Advanced Dungeons & Dragons series, and the Devil's Due Publishing Legend of Drizzt collections. The Devil's Due Drizzt omnibus volumes alone ran to over 400 pages each.

  In July 2024, Wizards of the Coast announced that Dark Horse Comics would take over the Dungeons & Dragons comics license in 2025, bringing the IDW era to a close after fourteen years. The announcement came while IDW's Saturday Morning Adventures sequel was still mid-run. Dark Horse had already collaborated with IDW on the Stranger Things crossover in 2020, and will be the publisher behind the August 2026 hardcover collection of IDW's own Saturday Morning Adventures library.