War of the Worlds Franchise Returns With a Brand-New Comic Trade Release

The last time The War of the Worlds was made into a movie, it was immediately regarded as one of the biggest cinematic embarrassments of 2025, if not all time. In fact, among the many adaptations of H.G. Wells' seminal 1898 sci-fi novel, only a handful have managed to live up to the source material in the eyes of most critics and audiences.

However, where most screen media tend to inspire disappointment and discourse, the comic book medium has luckily achieved a relatively strong track record in releasing graphic novelizations that do right by the stories they aim to retell. Thankfully, War of the Worlds is part of that winning streak, with the trade release of a new comic book spin-off.

War Of The Worlds: Thunder Child Comes To Trade

In the novel that inspired it all, H.G. Wells tells a story of how late 19th-Century England is affected by the emergence of invaders from Mars who aim to rid the Earth of its human inhabitants with otherworldly technology. It effectively paints a portrait of the catastrophe on a global scale, despite being narrated by one unnamed protagonist.

However, the novel's structure does raise the question of how the tragedy was perceived by individuals only briefly mentioned in the story, such as those aboard the doomed torpedo ram known as the HMS Thunder Child. Such is the focus of a new comic, fittingly titled War of the Worlds: Thunder Child.

This 144-page graphic novel is a retrospective on an underexplored corner of the classic novel that follows the struggles of the eponymous Royal Navy warship's crew to protect civilian refugees from the devastating extraterrestrial attack on London. Originally released by Mad Robot Comics as a three-part series, Titan Comics presents the story in trade.

The blood-soaked sci-fi epic is co-written by Matthew Hardy and Rob Jones, who previously collaborated on Cyberarchy for Mad Cave Studios. War of the Worlds: Thunder Child is illustrated by Kevin Castaniero, who is also known for a notable Mad Cave Studios release, the unique pulp fantasy story, Grit.

War Of The Worlds Has Previously Inspired Comics

It was inevitable that a work of literature as widely influential, let alone revolutionary, as The War of the Worlds would make its way to the comic book shop stands. Of course, Thunder Child is far from its first adaptation for the graphic medium, with illustrated versions of the tale dating back all the way to the 1950s.

A more recent notable release is Dark Horse Comics' 2006 adaptation from writer Ian Edginton and artist D'Israeli. The graphic novel incorporates characters and Martian designs originating from the duo's 2002 Steampunk comic book series, Scarlet Traces, which takes place in the world of Wells' book after the events of the invasion.

Earlier, however, bigger publishing companies tried their own hand at reimagining the material, with DC releasing a 1998 one-shot that pits the Man of Steel against the Tripods in 1938 Metropolis called Superman: War of the Worlds, by writer Roy Thomas and author Michael Lark. In the 1970s, Marvel ran a series taking place in the future, long after the Martians have successfully conquered Earth, which would inspire a spin-off led by its hero, Killraven.

The Man vs. Martian tale has also been adapted multiple times for cinema (first with Byron Haskin's 1953 B-movie favorite and later as a 2005 sci-fi family drama from director Steven Spielberg and starring Tom Cruise) and on television (including two ongoing series airing in the 1980s and 2020s and a 2019 British three-part miniseries set in the early 1900s). Easily the most famous, and infamous, War of the Worlds adaptation, however, is Orson Welles' 1938 radio play, which was framed as a news broadcast that proved a little too convincing for some who tuned in a bit late.

War of the Worlds: Thunder Child is now available where comic books are sold.