Dark Horse Comics will continue their line of adaptations of Neil Gaiman’s prose stories with Anansi Boys, an eight-issue miniseries based on the 2005 fantasy novel.
Writer Marc Bernardin, artist Shawn Martinbrough, colorist Christopher Sotomayor and letterer Jim Campbell will bring the story of the trickster god Anansi and his twin sons.
“Despite having many Neil Gaiman collections on my bookshelf, surprisingly I had never read The Anansi Boys,” Martinbrough said. “When Dark Horse approached me to illustrate this adaptation, I jumped at the chance to tell this funny, fantastical story full of rich and charming characters. Designing the larger than life figures of Papa Nancy and Spider has been a delight, but my favorite by far, was capturing the endearing quirks and idiosyncrasies of Fat Charlie.”
If you’ve never read the novel, it’s kind of a spiritual successor to American Gods — although focused on just a small handful of gods versus, well, all of them:
“Fat” Charlie Nancy leads a boring life as a boring Londoner until he discovers two things: That his recently deceased father was, in fact, Anansi, the trickster god of African folklore, and that he has a twin brother he’s never met. All of this kicks off a reality-spanning odyssey of sibling rivalry, jealous deities, and one poor soul who’ll realize that being a god is more trouble than it’s worth.
“To say that I’ve been a fan of Neil’s work for decades would be the understatement of all understatements,” Bernardin said. “So to have the opportunity to help transmute his wonderful Anansi Boys to comics is a gobsmacking honor. I hope readers who love the novel encounter those moments they adore as well as discover some fresh madness to keep them on their toes.”
Here’s a look at the first issue’s variant covers by Martinbrough and Denys Cowan:
The first issue of eight will arrive in stores June 26.