Wicked: The Graphic Novel Part I

A Paperback Original

Experience the magic of Oz as you’ve never seen it before with this brand-new graphic novel adaptation of Gregory Maguire’s masterpiece Wicked, the inspiration for the Broadway show and major motion picture—the first in a two-part series featuring gorgeous full-color illustrations by Scott Hampton.

Like Dorothy when she crash-landed all those years ago, prepare to be swept into a new and colorful world in this first-ever graphic novel adaptation of Wicked. While the long-running Broadway musical and major motion picture take inspiration from this iconic novel, this is Oz as Gregory Maguire wrote it—a fantastical story with dark edges that explores morality and ambition, love and friendship, and discovering one’s inner power.

Elphaba was born with emerald-green skin—no easy burden in a land as mean and poor as Oz, where superstition and magic are not strong enough to explain or overcome the natural disasters of flood and famine. Still, Elphaba is smart, and by the time she enters Shiz University, she becomes a member of a charmed circle of Oz’s most promising young citizens.

But Elphaba’s Oz is no utopia. The Wizard’s secret police are everywhere. Animals—those creatures with voices, souls, and minds—are threatened with exile. Young Elphaba, green and wild and misunderstood, is determined to protect the Animals—even if it means combating the mysterious Wizard, even if it means risking her single chance at romance. Ever wiser in guilt and sorrow, she can find herself grateful when the world declares her a witch. And she can even make herself glad for that young girl from Kansas.

Gregory Maguire is the New York Times bestselling author of the Wicked Years, a series that includes Wicked—the beloved classic that is the basis for the blockbuster Tony Award–winning Broadway musical of the same name and the major motion picture—Son of a Witch, A Lion Among Men, and Out of Oz. His series Another Day continues the story of Oz with The Brides of Maracoor, The Oracle of Maracoor, and The Witch of Maracoor, and his other novels include A Wild Winter Swan, Hiddensee, After Alice, Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, Lost, and Mirror Mirror. Some of his novels for children include Cress Watercress, Leaping Beauty, and Egg & Spoon, winner of a Boston Globe–Horn Book Award Honor. He lives in New England and France.

Scott Hampton has illustrated such iconic properties as Batman, Sandman, Black Widow, Hellraiser and Star Trek. He began his career following in the footsteps of brother and fellow comic book creator, Bo Hampton. Scott’s work on Silverheels, from Pacific Comics in 1983, is regarded as the first continuing painted comic. His latest works include American Gods for Dark Horse Comics and The God List, cowritten with Steve Niles for Storm King.