The cult classic D&D cartoon of 1983 continues next year with Dungeons & Dragons: Saturday Morning Adventures, a four-issue miniseries published by IDW.
CBR can exclusively reveal Dungeons & Dragons: Saturday Morning Adventures will hit shelves in March 2023. Saturday Morning Adventures reunites D&D fans with the beloved adventuring party of ranger Hank, acrobat Diana, thief Sheila, barbarian Bobby, cavalier Eric, magician Presto and their unicorn companion Uni. This motley crew has their work cut out for them as the series will see them once again face their deadly nemesis Venger.
The miniseries -- described as a "lost episode" of the cartoon -- will be written by David M. Booher (Canto) and Sam Maggs (Rick and Morty Ever After), with artwork by George Kambadais (John Carter of Mars). IDW said of the series, "Danger lurks at every turn, the enigmatic Dungeon Master is less than helpful, and Venger -- the force of evil -- will stop at nothing to get his hands on the magical weapons that the kids have come to rely on. To top it off, Hank has made a startling discovery: Despite the dangers, Sheila, Bobby, Diana, and the others aren’t so sure they want to go home after all!"
"As a kid, I would wake up on Saturday morning, pour a bowl of cartoon-themed cereal, and plop myself in front of the Dungeons & Dragons cartoon," Booher said. "When IDW approached me about writing Saturday Morning Adventures, there was no chance I was passing up the opportunity to help this D&D party face Venger once more."
Maggs added, "As a lifelong D&D fan, it is an absolute dream to get to work reviving a childhood classic. It’s been such a blast working with IDW and the fine folks at Wizards of the Coast to home in on what made the Dungeons & Dragons Saturday morning cartoon such a cult favorite. Setting these characters up for a whole new run of stories has truly been a career highlight, and I hope fans will love seeing Uni (well…all our cool kids, but especially Uni) back in action as much as I do!"
"Just imagine being me—a 12-year-old boy in the body of a 38-year-old man—getting to play with some of the coolest yet cutest characters in one of the most immersive universes ever made," Kambadais said. "I am so lucky, yet so freaking scared as to whether one can ever be enough of an artist to take on this huge of a job. Here’s hoping that I’ll do right by Presto and Sheila (low-key my favorites)!"
A Brief History Of The D&D Cartoon
The Dungeons & Dragons cartoon series helped catapult D&D to mainstream success in the '80s right as the first edition of the game took off in popularity. The show was occasionally darker than typical Saturday morning fare and featured odes to the roleplaying experience that inspired it, from the red-robed Dungeon Master character (named after the role of the referee in the tabletop game) to monsters like the multi-headed dragon deity Tiamat and Lolth, the queen of spiders.
Instead of featuring the D&D game itself, the show had its protagonists riding a roller coaster that transported them to a magical setting. These characters most recently reappeared after nearly 40 years in the artwork of Dragons of Stormwreck Isle, a new adventure included in the latest edition of the Dungeons & Dragons Starter Set. Dungeons & Dragons went off the air after three seasons and 27 episodes. A final, unproduced episode, which was eventually released as an audio drama included as a special feature on the show's DVD release, hinted that Vengar was secretly the evil son of Dungeon Master himself.
Dungeons & Dragons: Saturday Morning Adventures releases in March 2023. Each issue will feature covers by Kambadais and Brenda Hickey, along with a special retailer incentive cover by Tim Levins.
Source: IDW