10 Must-Read Comic Book Prequels to Famous Movie Masterpieces

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Comics have long worked closely with Hollywood, dating back to their early days. Publishers like Dynamite, Marvel, and Dark Horse have become known for adapting popular franchises like Star Wars. Often, these comic book stories – including tie-ins, sequels, and reboots – actually enhance and build upon what audiences see on the big screen. Expanding a successful film with a comic book sequel is a great way to provide more background and detail to the story.

Comics based on movies can be tricky – they don’t always satisfy fans, particularly when it’s unclear whether the story stays true to the director’s intent or reflects the comic writer’s own ideas. Because of this, people sometimes miss out on excellent prequel comics that expand on films they love, even stories created by the original filmmakers themselves. From retro favorites to recent hits, these comic tie-ins are essential reading for anyone who enjoys great movies.

Paul W.S. Anderson’s film, Event Horizon, centers on the crew of a starship investigating a missing experimental spacecraft. They find a horrifying scene aboard the ship, discovering it traveled to a terrifying dimension and brought something evil back with it. Nearly thirty years later, Christian Ward and Tristan Jones collaborated to create a detailed comic book adaptation.

The prequel to Event Horizon doesn’t shy away from intensifying the horror of the original, featuring much more graphic violence than the studio allowed in the first film. Based on a comic that brilliantly explored the terrifying dimension the spaceship encountered, it truly understands cosmic horror. It’s the ideal read for those who wanted to know what caused the disturbing events in the 1997 movie, but be warned – it’s intense and not for the squeamish, though ultimately rewarding.

In 2015, George Miller released his fourth film, Mad Max: Fury Road, starring Tom Hardy as Max. The movie centers on a group of women escaping the tyrannical Immortan Joe, and the intense desert chase that follows. Before the next film comes out, Miller collaborated with DC’s Vertigo to create stories detailing the events that led up to Fury Road, including Max’s journey into Joe’s domain.

When the Fury Road prequel comics by Miller were first released, they didn’t get much attention, largely because people weren’t sure what to think of them. It took time for word to spread, and by the time fans realized how good they were, the limited Vertigo series was already finished. Thankfully, the comics feature artwork that’s as stunning as the movie itself—something you rarely see in tie-in comics—and they’ve become highly sought-after collectibles.

With the release of John Wick, director Chad Stahelski redefined action movies and launched Keanu Reeves back into the spotlight with his iconic role as a skilled assassin. The film’s success led Dynamite Entertainment to create a prequel comic series that expands on the hidden world of assassins and reveals John Wick’s beginnings. This comic officially transformed John Wick into a larger, multi-platform franchise.

Written by Greg Pak and illustrated by Giovanni Valletta, this story explores the origins of the notorious Belarusian killer and reveals how he rose to power in the criminal world. It’s a fast-paced action story considered one of the best of recent years, and a must-read for fans who enjoy the detailed universe established in the later films.

Following the huge success of the first Star Wars movie in 1977, the franchise quickly expanded into comic books. While Marvel initially published the comics, Dark Horse eventually took over and became the most important publisher for the series. Dark Horse’s creative teams developed a vast “Expanded Universe” alongside George Lucas’s prequel films. Starting with a regular comic book series that explored the story before, during, and after The Phantom Menace, writers like John Ostrander played a key role in shaping the Star Wars universe.

Thanks to Lucasfilm’s approval, these comics boldly expand the Star Wars galaxy far beyond what the original movies showed. As fans increasingly express disappointment with Disney and Marvel’s recent Star Wars content, these comics are widely considered some of the very best Star Wars stories ever created.

John McTiernan’s Die Hard is a landmark action movie that launched Bruce Willis’s career, establishing him as an action hero through his portrayal of John McClane. The film, inspired by the novel Nothing Lasts Forever, became famous for its depiction of a lone NYPD officer rescuing hostages at a Christmas party from a group of criminals. Now, Boom! Studios is delving into McClane’s beginnings as a new police officer with a new series.

Howard Chaykin and Stephen Thompson’s Die Hard: Year One throws John McClane into the action during America’s bicentennial, where he battles serial killers like Son of Sam and stops a terrorist attack. More reminiscent of Dirty Harry than the Die Hard movies we know, this series is a gripping neo-Noir mystery that deepens the backstory of Willis’s iconic character.

Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner showed us a dark future where artificial people were used as slaves in space, and bounty hunters were tasked with eliminating those that rebelled. The film follows Rick Deckard as he hunts down Roy Batty and other replicants who come to Earth hoping to live longer. In 2021, Titan Comics commissioned K. Perkins and Fernando Dagnino to create a story set ten years before Deckard’s hunt for these rogue machines.

Blade Runner Origins explores the rise of the Tyrell Corporation and the origins of the bounty hunters who hunt superhuman machines. The story centers on LAPD detective Cal, who investigates what seems to be the suicide of a scientist from Tyrell. As he delves into the case, with a new type of replicant at large, he uncovers implications that will change policing, robotics, and the future of artificial intelligence.

Steve Niles and Ben Templesmith teamed up in 2002 to create the thrilling comic book series, 30 Days of Night. This intense vampire story follows Alaskans struggling to survive a month-long darkness where vampires hunt them. Becoming a fan favorite, the creators later expanded the story, exploring events during World War II and what happened after the original story’s conclusion.

The world built around 30 Days of Night offers a fresh and expansive take on vampire horror, almost like its own alternate history. Writers Steve Niles and Ben Templesmith have created stories that explore events both before and after the movie. Titles like Falling Sun and Red Snow work well as both sequels and prequels, delving into vampire culture and how it impacts the world.

In 1981, Harrison Ford became a movie icon when he first played Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark, complete with his famous fedora and whip. The film revitalized the adventure genre and sparked public interest in archaeology, as the hero raced to keep the Nazis from discovering the Ark of the Covenant. Later, fans got even more of the story through various sequels and prequels, including The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles published by Dark Horse Comics.

Similar in spirit to the opening of Raiders of the Lost Ark and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles follows a young Indy on adventures seeking historical artifacts. The show, which complements the television series of the same name, takes the character beyond the typical desert landscapes into exciting jungle settings. Set in early 20th-century colonial Africa, Europe during wartime, and the vanishing American West, the series offers a glimpse into the world of archaeology that the films didn’t fully explore.

In 1964, Sergio Leone and Clint Eastwood revolutionized Western films with A Fistful of Dollars, the first film in the Man With No Name saga. The movie, about a mysterious bounty hunter in the Old West, redefined action cinema and launched a new style of filmmaking. Later, in the 2000s, Dynamite Entertainment also contributed to the genre’s popularity.

Whether you see the Dollars Trilogy as a complete story or not, the miniseries The Good, the Bad and the Ugly offers a great way to continue the character’s adventures. Because Sergio Leone’s films are shown in reverse chronological order, anything that comes after A Fistful of Dollars actually tells an earlier part of his story. These new tales explore what happened after the 1966 film, following the legendary gunslinger as he searches for wealth and tries to evade the law while holding onto the money he earned during the Civil War.

With the highly anticipated release of Matt Reeves’ The Batman in 2022, DC Comics quickly capitalized on the excitement. One result was a three-issue comic series called Batman: The Imposter, written by Mattson Tomlin, who worked with Reeves on the film. Illustrated by Andrea Sorrentino, the series features a new Batman tracking down a killer who’s imitating him, and delves into the mind of Bruce Wayne himself.

As a huge Batman fan, I was really excited to see a fresh take on the character, and Batman: The Imposter absolutely delivered. It nailed the atmosphere of this new world, giving us a really compelling and realistic murder mystery, but it’s also a deep dive into Pattinson’s Batman and the tragedy he carries. With The Batman Part II coming up, I think this book is a must-read for anyone who loves DC or a good mystery.

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2026-06-10 06:08