A History of ‘Charmed’ Comics

The Charmed reboot is set to bring the Power of Three back to The CW when the series debuts Sunday night, but the eagerly-anticipated series is just that, a reboot and not a continuation of the beloved original Charmed series which aired its final episode in 2006. However, the series’ end wasn’t the last of the adventures for the Charmed Ones. Their stories continued in a series of comic books — which were later collected into trade paperbacks — based on the series.

Following the end of Charmed‘s eight season run on May 21, 2006 Zenescope Entertainment continued the stories of Piper Halliwell (Holly Marie Combs), Phoebe Halliwell (Alyssa Milano), and Paige Matthews (Rose McGowan) in two series of Charmed comics — Season 9 and Season 10. Charmed: Season 9 was set 18 months after the events of the television series’ final episode and was first released on June 16, 2010. It saw the sisters, who had been in semi-retirement at the end of the television show, thrust back into the magic game when the innocents they had saved over the years were threatened by demonic beings — specifically The Source of All Evil yet again. The sisters eventually vanquish The Source once again and continue to deal with the balance of their personal lives and their magical ones. The sisters are even reunited with Prue (played by Shannen Doherty) who had died at the end of the television series’ third season.

The Charmed comic book was so popular that not only did Season 9 go from an initial 12 issues to a full 24, it also got a second round. Charmed: Season 10 debuted at New York Comic Con in 2014 and ultimately ran for 20 issues with Prue’s return being a prominent element of the main arcs. It all ultimately comes together with Piper having to “kill” Prue — who had accidentally merged with the Old One Hermeus — to save the world. The series and the story of the Charmed Ones ends on a bittersweet note with the ghosts of Prue and Andy watching over Piper and the other two sisters. Prue opts not to reveal herself because “this isn’t goodbye”. The final issue, “The Reason”, was published on September 14, 2016 and marked the end of the canon Halliwell sisters’ stories. The comics were later relaunched with Dynamite Entertainment, but those comics are technically not part of the Charmed canon. The television series’ reboot was then announced in January 2017.

As fans know, the reboot won’t pick up from where the original series — television or comic book — ended. Instead, it will feature three new Charmed Ones and their stories, something that resulted in a little bit of initial backlash from fans of the original as well as some of the original series stars. However, not only does the reboot have the blessing original Charmed One Shannen Doherty, it also has a vote of confidence from The CW as well. The network has ordered five additional scripts for the incoming series, upping its first season episode count to 18.

Have you read the Charmed comic books? Will you be tuning into the new Charmed on Sunday night? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Charmed: Season 9 and Charmed: Season 10 are both available in trade paperback. The new Charmed will air Sundays at 9/8c on The CW. The series premieres October 14th.