Charmed (comics)

Rumors of a comic series began long before Zenescope made the news official in March 2010.[1] Speculation had started to appear online [8] about the possibility of a comic series much earlier, however, largely due to test sketches appearing on the DeviantArt account of Dave Hoover which featured Holly Marie Combs, Alyssa Milano and Rose McGowan. Speaking on his DeviantArt page, Hoover said:

If everything goes according to plan I'll be working on a "Charmed" comic book based on the hit TV series published by Zenescope Entertainment. To get the job I had to compete with others vying for the same gig, and our task was to do model sheets of the girls showing how we would draw them. The art would be approved by the studio. The odd thing about this was that they supplied no photo reference, so I searched the internet high and low looking for the best possible pictures. Of the three girls, I thought Alyssa Milano would be the easiest to draw, but she turned out to be the hardest. She sort of changed her look more often than the other two, Rose McGowan and Holly Marie Combs.

— Dave Hoover, DeviantArt, March 13, 2009

Months before the title had officially been announced, and before Zenescope gained acquisition of the publication rights for the comic series, the first advertisement for the series featuring the famous triquetra symbol and the tag line "The Girls are Back" written in the series font appeared in the December 16, 2009 issue of the Zenescope comic book Escape From Wonderland #3.[9] However, Zenescope did not officially announce possession of the title until the company had successfully been granted the rights from Fox Consumer Products.

Subsequently, the first press release from Zenescope Entertainment indicated that Charmed, based on the "ultra-popular" media franchise, would be a natural addition to the publisher's pre-existing "sultry and strong female characters".[10] Editor-in-Chief Ralph Tedesco also announced that "the key to this series success is to strike a nice balance in creating a brand new, intriguing storyline for fans of the television show while also not alienating Zenescope and comic book readers who haven't really followed it before".[10] It was further announced that while the TV series had a difficult time due to casting and budget limitations, the comic creators would not have those problems, thus fans may finally see the return of popular characters like Prue and Cole.[11]

Although the comic books feature the likeness of the majority of the actors who appeared in the television series including Alyssa Milano (Phoebe Halliwell), Holly Marie Combs (Piper Halliwell), Rose McGowan (Paige Matthews), Brian Krause (Leo Wyatt) and Julian McMahon (Cole Turner), Shannen Doherty's (Prue Halliwell) likeness does not feature in the comic books. Ralph Tedesco officially released a statement that Shannen Doherty had not given her permission for the comic book creators to use her likeness in the series, saying that “Unfortunately Ms. Doherty has declined to be involved in the comic version of Charmed. This includes the use of her likeness. We had hoped that she would allow us to use her image and that we would be able to bring her into the Charmed comic book exactly as she was in the show but at this point that has become impossible. While Ms. Doherty’s likeness will not be used for the character we are still very excited about the direction we are going with Prue and we hope that fans of Charmed will feel the same way.”[12]

Shannen Doherty revealed at Oz Comic-Con in 2013 that her decision to not give permission for her likeness to be used was based on Zenoscope's unwillingness to pay her to use her likeness.[13]

CBS and Zenescope officially reached an agreement for a tenth season.[2] It was announced in April 2014 that Paul Ruditis stepped down as lead writer and would edit the series, while Pat Shand would write the new story and Elisa Féliz would be pencilling.[2] The first issue of Charmed: Season 10 debuted at New York Comic Con during the weekend of October 9, 2014.[2]

Author Paul Ruditis[3] was hired as lead writer of Season 9 with established Zenescope author Raven Gregory co-writing the first three issues alongside him. Ruditis was already familiar with the "Charmed universe" having previously published three tie-in novels, two official episode guides (co-authored with Diana G. Gallagher), and the Charmed Book of Love Spells. Ruditis and Gregory also co-authored a special Issue 0, which acted as a prequel to the series by summarising the events of the television series in a style reminiscent to the Book of Shadows depicted in the show. For Season 10, Pat Shand assumed the role of writer and Ruditis acted as editor.

Artist Dave Hoover was hired to create the interior artwork while David Seidman was hired to design the covers for the comics, although various guest artists have contributed variant covers for each issue, including Greg Horn, Al Rio, Tony Shasteen and Mark Sparacio. Hoover departed the series after completing Issue 3. Since then various artists have been hired to create the interior artwork such as Marcio Abreu (4, 5 and 7), Carlos Granda (8), Tess Fowler (6 and 11), Dean Kotz (9, 12, 14 and 15), and Reno Maniquis (10 and 13).

Although the process of writing and receiving studio clearance was much the same as for Charmed novels, Ruditis explains, "The big difference now...is that with original episodes no longer airing, we have a lot more freedom than we did on the novels."[3] With the Charmed novels, nothing outrageous could occur to distort established continuity. Stories had to take place "between" episodes, usually in the first half of a given season. Ruditis notes that while "[t]he studio still has to approve the direction we take," no longer does "everything... have to reset by the end. That alone means that nothing is entirely safe."[3] Ruditis and Gregory claim they wanted the series to "grow and evolve" in the new medium, "expand[ing] upon what worked and what didn't work."[3] The creators believe it stands out from the Buffy, Angel and Pushing Daisies television-to-comic adaptations because Charmed has a unique focus on the dynamics of family drama.[3]

According to Shand, the comics and novels based on the franchise were part of the Charmed canon and follow the established continuity of the series.[4][14]

The first issue premiered during San Diego Comic-Con International in July 2010. Initially only 12 issues were contracted by Zenescope, with around five issues comprising one story arc which would be reprinted in graphic novel form. A one-shot issue has also been announced for Issue #6, and another is followed when Issue #13 comes to start the new story arc.

The issues were collected together into trade paperbacks:

Note: The full title of all volumes listed here start with "Charmed Season 9: ".

The issues were collected together into trade paperbacks:

Note: The full title of all volumes listed here start with "Charmed Season 10: ".

• Alyssa Milano has touched upon the comic series in interviews, talking about how she gave Zenescope her permission to use her likeness for her character.[21]
• Rose McGowan and Holly Marie Combs have discussed the comics on Twitter, most notably joking about the cover for Issue #2 which pictures the Charmed Ones naked covered only in leaves.[22]