CD Projekt RED - Witcher Comic Interview
Polygon interviwed CD Projekt RED's Business Development Manager Rafal Jaki at the New York Comic-Con about the Wither comic book.
Dark Horse's upcoming take on The Witcher will explore the gaps in time found between the franchise's novels.
Specifically, the five-issue run, which kicks off on March 19, will see Geralt hired to deal with an undead witch wife that has taken over the mansion in which she used to live.
The run's story, written by Eisner Award-winner Paul Tobin, will be treated more like the tales found in The Last Wish, a collection of short stories written by franchise creator Andrzej Sapkowski, that details the one-off, everyday adventures of Geralt, rather than the main storylines of either the novels or the games.
"In the books there are several times when Geralt's whereabouts are not accounted for anywhere," said Rafal Jaki, business development manager at CD Projekt Red, during an interview at New York Comic Con. "There are actually several years even where we don't know what's happening with him. In our heads he was just doing his job so we thought this is a cool place to pick up and try to tell stories. What happened with him in that specific timeline.
"The short stores (from The Last Wish and The Sword of Destiny books) are the essence of what's really cool about The Witcher world and Geralt himself. We think we really captured the essence of the short stories in the comic book. This is about the witcher, Geralt, just being a witcher. He's trying to make a living killing monsters and in the process he's encountering people and dealing with the human condition as we call it. That's the same for the comic book as well."
Jaki said the team at CD Projekt Red decided to work with Dark Horse on the comic, both because they appreciate their ability to turn other video games into meaningful comics but also because they love their take on fantasy as seen in Conan, Elfquest and, in particular, Hell Boy.
"At the office, we are huge comic book fans," he said. "We obviously know Dark Horse properties very well. Actually we had one property in mind that for us was a really perfect fit with what we are trying to do with the comic books. That's the Mignolaverse, Hell Boy.