The hugely successful illustrated middle grade series The Last Kids on Earth (Viking) now includes an animated Netflix series, a comic spinoff series, a toy line, and a video game. This November it’s expanding again with a graphic novel series. Adapted from stories by series creator Max Brallier, the graphic novels are illustrated by Brian Churilla, known for his work on Hellboy, Big Trouble in Little China, and The Secret History of D.B. Cooper. Always highly visual, the new format extends the storytelling in the Last Kids series in new directions, according to Brallier. “It’s about taking the story and the world and really blowing it out in a big, eye-popping way. Every single moment has now been brought to life in full-color paneled art. We’re not just adding a fresh coat of paint to the story—it’s a vastly different reading experience.” The cover of the first book in the new series is seen here for the first time.
The original illustrated Last Kids on Earth novels debuted in 2015; there are now 15 books in the series (including two comics spinoffs released in 2023, co-written by Joshua Pruett and illustrated by Jay Cooper and Doug Holgate) with more than 10 million copies in print, and the books have been translated into 29 languages. Brallier, who maintains a busy schedule of school visits, says that kids and parents often tell him that the books are the first that kids read on their own, and that the series got them excited about reading. He even heard from fellow author Jasmine Warga that kids at her child’s school were engaging in Last Kids on Earth games on the playground, including Doomsday Ball or Escape-the-Zombie-Horde Tag.
Creating the original series has long been a collaboration between Brallier and illustrator Douglas Holgate. In the originals, Brallier said, readers “spend time inside Jack’s head as narrator.” The graphic novels offer the reader a different experience. “Brian has this incredible talent for simultaneously capturing emotion and action and humor in his art,” he said. “His framing and dynamic use of panel shapes and sizes keep the reader on their toes while adding a sense of rhythm that my writing could never convey.”
Entering into the popular series was “a little overwhelming at first,” Churilla said. “There’s such a wealth of material from the original series.” He soon found his footing, though. “The Last Kids on Earth lends itself to the graphic novel format really well,” he said. “From pacing and staging action, to setting up jokes and gags, the story is served well by having a wide-open format such as sequential comics.”
While the original series is illustrated, the graphic novel format required a different approach, said Jim Hoover, Viking’s senior director of art and design. “Adapting a novel to this format is tricky, because you really have to boil the story down and streamline details to focus on moments for big action or establishing shots and explore new moments to show.” Still, bringing the Last Kids books to a graphic novel format “is a natural fit to the franchise and another way to share these characters to a wider audience,” he said, along with reaching a new generation of middle schoolers, graphic novels can reach beyond to older kids who might be “returning to the story like an old childhood friend.”
Series editor Dana Leydig said that in recent years “kids have been coming to graphic novels in a huge way,” because they give readers “a new way to read that they are excited about.” In the graphic novels, series main character Jack Sullivan “reaches out to the reader with little nods, asides and jokes” offering a more intimate connection that invites readers to come along on the adventure. “It makes you feel part of the story, as if you are one of the Last Kids on Earth,” she said.
With each additional format, the series can reach new readers. While graphic novels have long been associated with older readers, Leydig said that they are also ideal for younger readers who may not feel ready for the prose novels yet. By the same token, the graphic novels can appeal to kids who love the prose novels and are waiting for the next book to come out. Churilla’s versatile style, she said, calls back to Holgate’s original illustrations and brings something new that spans both the darker elements of the story and its playfulness and fun.
Reflecting on this new way of storytelling, Brallier said, “My hope is that it will surprise and excite existing Last Kids fans while also bringing in a new audience that will then be eager to seek out the original.”
For Churilla, involvement in the project has brought “cool dad cred. My son has been a fan of the books since their debut,” he said. “He’s over the moon that I’m involved.”
The Last Kids on Earth: The Graphic Novel by Max Brallier, illus. by Brian Churilla (Viking, Nov. 5 $23.99 ISBN 978-0-593-62216-2; $13.99 paper ISBN 978-0-593-62217-9
