Xena
Cover of Xena: Warrior Princess 0 (Oct 1997)
Character information
First appearanceHercules: The Legendary Journeys #3 (August 1996)
In-story information
Full nameXena
Publication information
PublisherTopps Comics
Dark Horse Comics
Dynamite Entertainment
ScheduleMonthly
FormatsOriginal material for the series has been published as a set of ongoing series and limited series.
Genre
Publication dateOctober 1997 – 2019
Number of issues55
Main character(s)Xena, Gabrielle
Reprints
Collected editions
The Warrior Way of DeathISBN 1-56971-452-5
Xena: Contest of PantheonsISBN 1-933305-35-5

Xena: Warrior Princess is a series of comic books based on the television series of the same name. Topps Comics and Dark Horse Comics created a series of comics tying into the property. In 2007, Dynamite Entertainment acquired the rights to the series.

Publication history

Topps Comics published the first Xena series of comics, titled Xena: Warrior Princess. Xena's character was originally introduced in the 1996 Topps Comics series Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, issues #3, #4, and #5. These were followed by the Xena: Warrior Princess comics released in a limited series format, with the vast majority being three-issue series, in 1997 and 1998.

Dark Horse acquired the license in 1999.

Dynamite Entertainment began new stories in 2007.

There have been a number of crossovers with other properties within the companies, including three mini-series with Army of Darkness: "Why Not?", "What, Again?", and "Forever and a Day".[1]

All publishers used cover rations involving photo covers, with stills from the television series, and drawn/inked/colored art covers.

Publishers

Topps Comics

Many of the comics were released with multiple covers: one photo cover and one cover with a comic book artist's rendering. These Topps comics introduced Xena's character:

Fan Art - Battle On

A series of webcomic strips by Jeanette Atwood in the late 1990s, which were a comedic take on the circumstances, relationships, and situations involving Xena and Gabrielle.

While not officially recognized, the material is considered by some to be "comedy gold" and years later remembered fondly by fans of the strip and Xena.

Dark Horse Comics

Dark Horse's Xena series ran for 14 issues from 1999 to 2000;[2] writers involved included John Wagner and Ian Edginton. Comics featuring Xena were also run in Dark Horse Presents Annual 1999, Dark Horse Jr.,[3] and 2000, Girls Rule!.[4] The series was incompletely collected into a series of three trade paperbacks.

Dynamite Entertainment

Dynamite started publishing Xena comics in 2006 with a four issue mini-series and an annual titled Xena.[5] It was written by John Layman with art by Fabiano Neves. In May 2007 Dynamite and Layman launched another four issue mini-series subtitled Dark Xena, set some time after Xena, with art by Noah Salonga.

In April 2016, a third series of six issues began, written by Catwoman writer Genevieve Valentine, with art by Ariel Mendel.[6] Dynamite started a new monthly Xena: Warrior Princess series in February 2018 which ran for ten issues with writing by Meredith Finch and then Erica Schultz, followed by another six issue series written by Vita Ayala in 2019.

Dynamite also published the two four issue crossovers with Army of Darkness, Why Not? (2008) and What, Again? (2009), as well as the six issue crossover Forever... And a Day (2016).

Collected editions

Topps Comics

Dark Horse Comics

The first 10 issues have been collected into trade paperbacks (TPB):

Dynamite Comics

John Layman's first Army of Darkness crossover was also collected.

See also

References

  1. ^ Phegley, Kiel (October 22, 2008). "Xena & Army of Darkness: A Ridiculous Round 2". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved January 5, 2021.
  2. ^ "Search Results: "Xena"". Dark Horse Comics. Retrieved January 5, 2021.
  3. ^ "Dark Horse Presents Annual 1999: DHP Jr". Dark Horse Comics. Retrieved January 5, 2021.
  4. ^ "Dark Horse Presents Annual 2000: Girls Rule!". Dark Horse Comics. Retrieved January 5, 2021.
  5. ^ "Xena #1". Dynamite Entertainment. Retrieved January 5, 2021.
  6. ^ Ching, Albert (January 20, 2016). "New "Xena: Warrior Princess" Comic Debuting in April From Dynamite". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved January 5, 2021.

External links

Xenaverse
Categories