It's been six years since Wirt and Greg traveled into the Unknown in Patrick McHale's Emmy Award-winning Over the Garden Wall animated miniseries, but the adventure didn't end there. Under its KaBOOM! imprint for young readers, BOOM! Studios began releasing comics in the Over the Garden Wall universe in 2015, including one-shot specials, miniseries, original graphic novels and an ongoing series. Later this year, the Benevolent Sisters of Charity graphic novel is slated to hit stores, which will expand the universe even further.
Each Over the Garden Wall comic series explores a new area of the eerie woodland that makes up the majority of the Unknown, a parallel universe Wirt and his younger half-brother Greg stumble into in their local cemetery one Halloween night. Though they wander through the woods for what must be days or even weeks, when they find their way home, they reappear at the exact same place and time they left -- much like the mechanics of the wardrobe in C.S. Lewis' The Chronicles of Narnia.
While all of these comics are worth buying and reading, each one has a slightly different flavor. Diehard fans of the series will surely want to collect them all, but for fans who are curious about the series or just want to dip their toe back into the Unknown, it can be hard to decide where to begin. To aid in this quest, below are all of the currently-available Over the Garden Wall comics series, ranked.
6. Soulful Symphonies
Over the Garden Wall: Soulful Symphonies is a five-issue miniseries written by Birdie Willis and illustrated by Rowan MacColl, with colors by Dean Stewart and letters by Mike Fiorentino. The story follows Wirt and Greg into what appears to be a ghost town filled with performance spaces -- where they're quickly cast in a musical by a trio of especially creepy sisters. This miniseries is especially entertaining for readers who did musical theater in school, but it gets a bit clunky in some areas and doesn't have quite the same chills-factor as other Unknown tales.
5. Circus Friends
When Greg and Wirt stumble upon past-his-prime Strongman Frederico and sad clown Paola in the Unknown, they're led to a circus that seems like good fun -- but then the Ringmaster steals Beatrice to become his next star, leaving the wandering half-brothers to infiltrate the circus and rescue their friend. Written by Jonathan Case and illustrated by John Golden with colors by SJ Miller and letters by Mike Fiorentino, Over the Garden Wall: Circus Friends is an original graphic novel with a tightly-executed story and beautiful art, though it doesn't hold a creepy candle to some of the other stories in this universe.
4. Over the Garden Wall Miniseries
In 2015, BOOM! Studios released its first Over the Garden Wall miniseries, written by series creator Patrick McHale and illustrated by Jim Campbell, with additional colors by Danielle Burgos and letters by Warren Montgomery. Consisting of four issues released in the fall months, these comics explored untold stories from the animated series and got as close to continuing canon as possible. Each issue is its own adventure, which means it can be read in any order.
3. Distillatoria
Over the Garden Wall: Distillatoria is a graphic novel written by Jonathan Case and illustrated by Jim Campbell, with colors by SJ Miller and letters by Mike Fiorentino. When Wirt and Greg make it home from the Unknown, they realize Beatrice is still with them. To get her back where she belongs, the pair will have to return to the Unknown and keep anyone in their world from realizing why and how Beatrice is special -- or possibly face dire consequences. This story picks up immediately where the cartoon left off and feels like a natural continuation of the story, especially since Campbell's art is featured both here and in the 2015 comics miniseries. It also includes some characters only briefly introduced in the animated show, which makes for an especially fun ride.
2. Hollow Town
The five-issue Over the Garden Wall: Hollow Town miniseries written by Celia Lowenthal and illustrated by Jorge Monlongo, with colors by Kike J. Díaz and letters by Mike Fiorentino, is perhaps the paradigm example of a perfect Unknown tale. Greg loses a shoe and Wirt immediately sets off on a quest to replace it, lest they repeat the summer camp splinter incident. In their search, they discover Hollow Town -- a hamlet populated by wooden doll people. Although Wirt finds work and this place doesn't seem nearly as sketchy as Pottsfield (home of the allegedly costumed pumpkin people), the eponymous hamlet hides a very sinister secret. Extra creepy and overflowing with bright colors, this series is a must-read.
1. Over the Garden Wall Ongoing
Holding down the #1 spot is, of course, the Over the Garden Wall ongoing, which launched in 2016. The 20-issue series boasts a number of writers and artists including Jim Campbell, Amalia Levari, Cara McGee, Danielle Burgos and Kiernan Sjursen-Lien, along with colors by Whitney Cogar and letters by Warren Montgomery. In addition to chronicling the ongoing adventures of Wirt and Greg, the story also follows the Woodsman's daughter, Anna, as she begins her own journey -- and introduces readers to friends old and new.