BOOM! Studios today announced that they will partner with Enter These Dark Woods and Creative Licensing to produce a Wet Hot American Summer graphic novel, set in the world of the cult-hit movie and its prequel and sequel series on Netflix.
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The graphic novel, which is due in stores in June 2018, will take place in the summer of 1981, between Netflix’s Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp prequel series and the original film, which took place on the last day of summer at Camp Firewood, a Jewish sleepover camp populated by bizarre and colorful characters.
“Wet Hot American Summer is one of those magical films that not only helped launch the career of a dozen household names, but resonated with a generation of viewers over many repeat viewings,” said Filip Sablik, President of Publishing & Marketing, BOOM! Studios.
“We love the BOOM! Studios guys’ work and we’re thrilled to be partnering with the them on the Wet Hot graphic novel,” said Howard Bernstein, producer of the 2001 film. “It’s exciting for us to bring to the billions of Wet Hot fans across the globe another way to enjoy the characters.”
No creative team has yet been announced for the project, with Sablik promising those details soon in addition to unveiling the book’s cover by Joe Quinones.
“We’re excited to reveal more story details and the full creative team of this brand-new addition to the world of Wet Hot American Summer, but we know when you see the beautiful cover by Joe Quinones, you’ll understand why this will be one of our biggest releases in 2018,” Sablik said.
The 2001 film stood alone for more than a decade, before First Day of Camp was released in 2015. Last week, Wet Hot American Summer: Ten Days Later came to Netflix, fulfilling a promise made at the end of the movie to bring the characters back together in 1991. A role-playing game was recently funded on Kickstarter by comedy publisher The Devastator with contributions from numerous members of the original cast and crew.
Back in 2015, franchise star Michael Showalter, who co-wrote the original movie with director David Wain, compared the concept to a comic book, saying there’s “always more story” and comparing the counselors at Camp Firewood to the Archie or Peanuts gangs.
“My personal feeling about these characters and this world is that it has kind of a comic book quality to it, where there is always another story to tell,” Showalter said. “I’ve always felt like there is no shortage of fun stories we could tell about these characters. And if that translates into more seasons, then sure, that’d be great. I often think of them as Archie and his gang or the Peanuts or something like that. It’s this crazy, fun group of kids and all of them are archetypal, yet in their own way, and I would love to keep telling stories about them, for sure.”
One of Showalter’s co-stars, Michael Ian Black, is well-versed in graphic fiction as well, having worked on a number of children’s picture books, including A Child’s First Book of Trump and Naked!.
You can see the Quinones cover, which is evocative of the movie poster for The Breakfast Club, below.
