Charmed (comics)

Charmed Season Nine (Comic Series)
File:CharmedComic-1.jpg David Seidman's cover for Issue #1
Publication information
Publisher	Zenescope Entertainment
Schedule	Monthly
Format	Limited series
Publication date	June 16th 2010 – present
No. of issues	12
Main character(s)	Phoebe Halliwell Piper Halliwell Paige Matthews
Creative team
Written by	Paul Ruditis Raven Gregory (Issues 0-3)
Penciller(s)	Dave Hoover
Letterer(s)	Jim Campbell
Colorist(s)	Milen Parvanov

Charmed Season 9 is a comic book continuation of the popular The WB series Charmed which ended its eight year run in 2006. The series is published monthly by Zenescope Entertainment. Rumours of a comic series began long before Zenescope made the news official on March 2010 . Speculation had started to appear online about the possibility of a comic series much earlier however, largely due to test sketches appearing on the deviantART account of Dave Hoover which featured Holly Marie Combs, Alyssa Milano and Rose McGowan. Speaking on his deviantART page, Hoover said

If everything goes according to plan I'll be working on a "Charmed" comic book based on the hit TV series published by Zenescope Entertainment. To get the job I had to compete with others vying for the same gig, and our task was to do model sheets of the girls showing how we would draw them. The art would be approved by the studio. The odd thing about this was that they supplied no photo reference, so I searched the internet high and low looking for the best possible pictures. Of the three girls, I thought Alyssa Milano would be the easiest to draw, but she turned out to be the hardest. She sort of changed her look more often than the other two, Rose McGowan and Holly Marie Combs.

— Dave Hoover, deviantART, March 13, 2009

However Zenescope did not announce the title until the company had successfully been granted the rights from CBS Consumer Products . Despite this however, the first advertisement for the series featuring the famous triquetra symbol and the tag line "The Girls are Back" written in the series font, appeared in the December 16, 2009 issue of Zenescope comic book Escape From Wonderland #3 months before before the title had officially been announced.

Author Paul Ruditis was hired as lead writer of the series with Zenescope veteran Raven Gregory joining him for the first three issues. Ruditis is familiar with the Charmed universe having already published three tie-in novles, two official episode guides which he co-authored with Diana G. Gallagher and the Charmed Book of Love Spells. Ruditis and Gregory also co-authored a special Issue 0 which acted as a prequel to the story recapping the events of the television series in a style reminiscent to the famous Book of Shadows as seen on the show.

Artist Dave Hoover was eventually hired to do the interior artwork while David Seidman was hired to design the covers for the comics, although various guest artists have contributed variant covers for each issue thus far including Greg Horn, Al Rio, Tony Shasteen and Mark Sparacio.

The first press release from Zenecope Entertainment indicated that Charmed, based on the "ultra-popular" franchise, would be a natural addition to the publisher's pre-existing "sultry and strong female characters". Editor-in-Chief, Ralph Tedesco, also announced that "the key to this series success is to strike a nice balance in creating a brand new, intriguing storyline for fans of the television show while also not alienating Zenescope and comic book readers who haven't really followed it before". It was further announced that while the TV series had a difficult time due to casting and budget limitations, the comic creators won’t have those problems, thus fans may finally see the return of popular characters like Prue and Cole. Although the process of writing and receiving studio clearance is much the same as for Charmed novels, Ruditis explains "The big difference now, as you noted, is that with original episodes no longer airing, we have a lot more freedom than we did on the novels". With the Charmed novels, nothing outrageous could happen to fly in the face of established continuity, and stories had to take place 'between' episodes, usually in the first half of a given season; though "The studio still has to approve the direction we take", no longer does "everything ...have to reset by the end. That alone means that nothing is entirely safe." Raven and Ruditis claim they want the series to "grow and evolve" in the new medium, "expand[ing] upon what worked and what didn't work [in order to make it work]". The creators believe it stands out from the Buffy, Angel and Pushing Daisies TV-to-comic adaptations is Charmed's unique focus on family drama dynamics .

The first issue premiered at San Diego Comic-Con International in July 2010. It is believed that initially 12 issues have been planned by Zenescope, with around five issues comprising one story arc which will be reprinted in graphic novel form. A one-shot issue has also been announced for Issue #6, however it is currently unknown if more will follow.

Plot

Arc One (Issues 1-5)
Set eighteen-months after Forever Charmed, the sisters are now living happy demon free lives and have each entered into motherhood. Piper has had a third child, a girl named Melinda and is planning on opening her own restaurant. Phoebe has had her first daughter with Coop named Prue and is preparing to return to work. Paige has had twin girls with Henry Mitchell and is also working as a whitelighter and is seen helping Leo at Magic School with his students. Meanwhile two new warlocks named Neena and Hogan begin implementing a plan to revive one of the sisters' greatest foes.
When Piper and Phoebe attend the funeral of Brittany, the first innocent that they ever saved, they discover that she had mysteriously transformed into an elderly woman just as she was when she fell victim to Javna. Meanwhile Paige visits her latest charge, a high school bully named Brent who is a witch. She shows him one of many entrances to Magic School, and informs him of the 48 hour window in which a new witch must decide if they are to be a good witch or turn to the side of evil. As she leaves, the warlocks Neena and Hogan arrive, leaving him dead outside of the school's entrance. Back at the manor, while searching the Book for clues to Brittany's death, Phoebe receives a powerful premonition which shows her that every single innocent and charge saved by the sisters over the past nine and a half years is grave danger.

Issues

Issue #	Title	Synopsis	Release Date
0	The Sourcebook	This sourcebook serves as a prequel to the comic book series and is a must for fans of the show or anyone who wants to catch up on the Charmed universe.	June 16, 2010
1	Charmed Lives	The Girls are back in town! The Charmed ones return in this brand new fantasy series from Zenescope that picks up where the series left off. Claiming their victory in the battle against evil, Piper, Phoebe, and Paige were free to settle into the future with their husbands and children, destined to live out the happily ever after they had so rightfully earned...or so they thought.	July 21, 2010
2	No Rest For the Wicca	As the charmed ones go about settling into their new lives forces from the underworld prepare to unleash a power that will destroy the sisters once and for all. Meanwhile Paige accepts a new position and learns the hard way that teaching isnt the easiest job...Phoebe and Piper attend the funeral of Brittany, the first innocent they ever saved, only to find that her death may herald the beginning of something terrifying that will endanger the lives of all the innocents and Charmed Ones themselves.	September 1, 2010
3	Innocents Lost	Someone...or something is hunting down the innocents that have been saved by the Charmed Ones and murdering them in cold blood. As Piper, Phoebe and Paige race to save the remaining innocents the forces of the underworld continue to gather the last remaining ingredients that will complete the ritual that will bring back the greatest foe the Charmed ones have ever faced. An enemy so powerful not even the Power of Three may be able to stop it from destroying us all.	n/a
4	Mortal Enemies	To keep them safe from harm, the Charmed ones bring the remaining innocents back to the manor. But little do they know the Source has returned and cast a spell turning every innocent in the entire city against them...Even as they fight to survive, the Charmed Ones learn that the source has planned his arrival at the perfect time to destroy the power of three once and for all.	n/a
5	Unnatural Resources	The Charmed Ones face off against an ancient evil with an army of minions that present Piper, Phoebe, and Paige with their greatest challenge ever. These forces of evil are bent on destruction, tearing apart the Halliwell family, and possibly keeping Piper from ever opening her restaurant.	n/a
6	Morality Bites... Back	Almost a decade ago Phoebe Halliwell saw a future in which she was publicly burned at the stake for killing a mortal that murdered her friend. Now as the time approaches for her premonition to play itself out, what can she do, if anything, to stop it? Phoebe questions whether the events are destined to play out the way she saw them or if enough has changed to save both her friend's life as well as her own. Don't miss this shocking one-shot issue that will have you on the edge of your seat!	n/a

Cast Reaction

• Alyssa Milano has touched upon the comic series in interviews, talking about how she gave Zenescope her permission to use her likeness for her character.
• Rose McGowan and Holly Marie Combs have discussed the comics on Twitter, most notably joking about the cover for Issue #2 which pictures the Charmed Ones naked covered only in leaves.
• Rose McGowan tweeted that she hasn't read the comics yet.

Critical Reaction

Critical reaction was initially mixed for the first issue, with many reviewers complaining about the lack of story. Reviews for Issue #2 in relation to the story have been much more positive with Fandomania awarding the issue 3/5. However some noted that the issue does a good job at exposing the series to newcomers . The artwork however has received the most criticism both for the characters likeness' and the colouring which is deemed distracting by a Newsarama reviewer. Christina Flores of ComicImpact.com goes on to say that the interior art is inconsistent with the character drawings not being as good as those of locations and backgrounds. However, she goes on to say that Ruditis and Gregory open with a strong story and says that Charmed fans will enjoy the issue. Fan response however has been promising with the first issue selling out of its initial 17,000 copies in the first three weeks, which prompted Zenescope to release a second printing in time for the release of Issue #2.

Canonical Issues

Although the comics are officially licensed by CBS nobody involved from the original TV series is currently involved in the comics. It appears that like the Charmed novels it is up to individuals to decide if they consider the comics cannon or not.

Timing

The story begins eighteen-months after Forever Charmed placing the beginning of the season roughly around late 2007.