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One of the most popular series in graphic novels for the past six years has been The Adventure Zone series. Published by First Second, The Adventure Zone is a rollicking adaptation of the weekly podcast of the same name in which members of the McElroy family live-play a game loosely based on the rules of Dungeons & Dragons (we have a guide for it all here!). The graphic novels, illustrated by Carey Pietsch, take that audio adventure and push it past a simple adaptation into its own unique experience.

So far, all five volumes of The Adventure Zone graphic novels have landed on the New York Times bestsellers list, with a sixth - The Adventure Zone: The Suffering Game - bound to do the same when it's released on July 16, 2024. But that book will signal the beginning of the end, as Popverse has learned the graphic novel series is ending in 2025.

During a presentation earlier this week at the B2B comics event ComicsPRO Annual Meeting, First Second's senior designer Johanson led a short segment about the series and mentioned the end in passing.

"They're wonderful, and the final volume comes out next year so its a great chance to get up on this series."

As she says, this ending isn't on a dour note - it's a perfect time to come in and enjoy the whole series. According to Johanson, the comics are better than the podcast even.

"I've been working on the series since the beginning, and I think these are better than the podcast. They're wonderful, and the final volume comes out next year."

It's unclear why the comic adaptions are ending. Although this year's Suffering Game is the penultimate chapter of the 'Balance' arc of The Adventure Zone podcast, there are eight more arcs on the podcast, with a ninth - 'Versus Dracula' - that launched in January 2024. Maybe I'm too optimistic, but perhaps each arc will be its own graphic novel series and First Second's talk of 2025 being "the final volume" means the final volume of this arc.

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The McEloys have been guests of ours at several convetions, and we filmed it all! You can watch thier Next Gen Nerds panel with Janet Varney, Joalda Morancy, Kat Leyh from C2E2 2022, a Travis & Clint McElroy spotlight panel from C2E2 2022, and a 2021 panel with Travis, Clint, Justin, and Griffin about The Adventure Zone.