Comics
BOOM! Studios Takes “Munchkin” Out of the Card Dungeon
“Munchkin” is an inventive card game that sees the player consumed with the best parts of dungeon crawling: the loot and the monsters. The object is simple, move through rooms in the dungeon toward the ultimate treasure the fastest and win. Except it’s not all that easy. The game is complicated by a vast array of monsters and epic loot. It’s a helluva lot of fun and a premise ripe for comics. So naturally today BOOM! Studios announced the “Munchkin” ongoing.
FROM BOOM!:
Pull on your Boots of Butt-Kicking and rev up that Chainsaw of Bloody Dismemberment because award-winning publisher BOOM! Studios and Steve Jackson Games are delighted to announce an ongoing MUNCHKIN comic book series coming this Fall. The MUNCHKIN series will be based on the worldwide best-selling card game where players travel through the dungeon and kill everything in sight in order to gain the best (and weirdest) weapons and highest levels. It’s a hilarious, fantasy role-playing game-inspired spoof that brings friends together…until you backstab them for their treasure. The partnership between BOOM! Studios and Steve Jackson Games was initiated and brokered by Surge Licensing.
“There’s a big contingent of fantasy RPG fans here at BOOM! HQ and Munchkin’sirreverent, wry approach to the tropes of the genre is right in our wheelhouse,” said BOOM! Studios Vice President of Publishing and Marketing Filip Sablik. “It’s weird and wacky, and we can’t wait to explore a side of the game that hasn’t been seen before.”
“The best part of the comic books—besides seeing what sort of wacky stories the creative teams craft around Spyke, Flower, and all of the Munchkin characters—is thatMunchkin fans will get to watch as the world of the game expands well outside of its gameland incarnation,” said Philip Reed, Chief Operating Officer of Steve Jackson Games.
With millions of Munchkin games and accessories sold and tens of millions of monsters slain, Munchkin captures the essence of the dungeon experience…with none of that stupid roleplaying stuff. You and your friends compete to kill monsters and grab magic items. And what magic items! Don the Horny Helmet and the Boots of Butt-Kicking. Wield the Staff of Napalm…or maybe the Chainsaw of Bloody Dismemberment. Start by slaughtering the Potted Plant and the Drooling Slime, and work your way up to the Plutonium Dragon…
Fast and silly, Munchkin can reduce any roleplaying group to hysteria. And, while they’re laughing, you can steal their stuff. The Munchkin card game debuted in 2001 and has since become a worldwide phenomenon. There are now 15 different stand-alone Munchkin card games (all of which can be combined) along with over 20 expansions, plus miniatures, shirts, and much more.
MUNCHKIN #1 will arrive in comic shops this Fall. Further details will follow.
The supernatural world of Korean folk horror movie Exhuma grows larger with the arrival of prequel spinoff webtoon Maengjong this weekend, Variety reports today.
Naver Webtoon debuts Maengjong on May 30.
The series hails from Haemuri (Olgami) and will trace the high school origins of how shaman duo Hwarim and Bonggil, played by Kim Go-eun and Lee Do-hyun in the 2024 film, came together to face occultish threats.
The story is set to begin when “Hwarim, who has been concealing her identity following a childhood encounter with a snake spirit called Jin, crosses paths with Bonggil at their school.”
Variety notes that Exhuma director Jang Jae-hyun participated in the project’s early concept stage.
“We are presenting ‘Maengjong,’ a new series capturing the appeal of the horror-occult genre, ahead of the full summer season,” said Lee Jeong-geun, Naver Webtoon’s Korea webtoon content leader. “With the high school story of Hwarim and Bonggil, who left a strong impression in the film ‘Exhuma,’ enhanced by Haemuri’s characteristic tense direction, we expect it will be a welcome work for genre fans.”
“It is meaningful that the spin-off story of ‘Exhuma,’ loved by many audiences, expands by meeting the new grammar of webtoon,” said Lee Hyeon-jeong, managing director of the film business division at Showbox, which distributed the film. “We hope it will be a fresh experience for both film fans and webtoon readers.”
Exhuma was a breakout hit in 2024, becoming the first Korean occult film to surpass 10 million ticket buyers and the country’s highest-grossing film of the year. I wrote in my review that “the intricately woven Exhuma delivers one of the year’s biggest surprises in horror so far.”
The bond between Hwarim and Bonggil was one of the film’s highlights, making this prequel webtoon a must for fans.
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