Shades of Magic: The Steel Prince (comic series)

***Shades of Magic: The Steel Prince*** is a series of comics written by V. E. Schwab and illustrated by Andrea Olimpieri, Budi Setiawan, and Enrica Eren Angiolini‏‎. It is chronologically the first series in the *Shades of Magic* series, taking place roughly 30 years before the *Shades of Magic* trilogy.

The comics tell various stories about Maxim's time at the Blood Coast when he was Rhy's age, specifically how he killed the pirate queen, survived the Night of Knives, and defeated the rebel army.

After individual releases in 2019 and 2020, a box set was released on October 19, 2021. It came with art cards featuring the cover art from the single issues.

## Comics

### Titles

* *Shades of Magic: The Steel Prince* (2019)
* *Shades of Magic: Night of Knives* (2019)
* *Shades of Magic: The Rebel Army* (2020)

## Teasers

### Teaser #1

Isra: "Don't worry, you're not my type."

Maxim: "Let me guess, you don't like royals."

Isra: "I don't like men."

## Gallery

### Designs and previews

Character design of Maxim Maresh.Character design of Nokil Maresh.Design of the emblem of Arnes and the House of Maresh.
## Trivia

* The plot of *The Steel Prince* comics was originally a side story in *A Conjuring of Light*. However, it did not fit and was later retooled.
	+ V. E. Schwab also chose to turn Maxim's story into a comic series rather than into a prequel novel series as it would have been too "distracting" while simultaneously working on the upcoming sequel novels—*Threads of Power*. Furthermore, Titan Comics had talked with her about potentially writing comics before.
* When Schwab teased Maxim's backstory in *A Conjuring of Light*, she mentioned the pirate queen, Night of Knives, and rebel army because those events sounded "cool." She did not know any specifics about them until she started working on the comics; thus, she had "to go about it in reverse-fashion."
* The conversation from Teaser #1 is based on an actual conversation Schwab had with a male author.
* More LGBT characters were introduced. One of them is Isra.

## References

1. ↑ "Shades Of Magic Prequel, The Steel Prince, To Launch From Titan This Fall" — Comicon
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "V.E. Schwab announces new *Shades of Magic* prequel comic series" — EW
3. ↑ "STEEL PRINCE is a prequel, set roughly 30 years before ADSOM."
(V. E. Schwab on Twitter)
4. ↑ "It's set 30 years before A DARKER SHADE OF MAGIC"
(V. E. Schwab on Twitter)
5. ↑ "VENGEFUL: V.E. SCHWAB ON FEMALE ANGER & AMBITION" — Book Riot
6. ↑ "Interview: V.E. Schwab Talks Continuing the Magic in 'Shades of Magic: The Steel Prince'" — Comicbook
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 "I had a side story that didn't fit into A Conjuring of Light, one that went back instead of forward. And it was about Maxim Maresh when he was Rhy's age."
(V. E. Schwab on Twitter)
8. ↑ *Shades of Magic: The Steel Prince* — Character Breakdown
9. ↑ *A Conjuring of Light* — Kindle notes and highlights
10. ↑ "Yes, The Steel Prince is going to be 12 issues! 3 volumes! 1. The Steel Prince and the Pirate Queen. 2. The Steel Prince and the Night of Knives. 3. The Steel Prince and the Rebel Army."
(V. E. Schwab on Twitter)
11. ↑ "Shades of Magic: The Steel Prince: 1-3 Boxed Set" — Amazon
12. ↑ "TITAN COMICS THE STEEL PRINCE: 10 MINUTES WITH V.E. SCHWAB" — Book Riot
13. ↑ "V. E. Schwab Returns To Her Hit Fantasy World Shades of Magic" — Previews World
14. ↑ *Shades of Magic: Night of Knives* — An Interview with V. E. Schwab
15. ↑ "Snippet brought to you by a conversation I had with a male author at a con one time. He fell backward in his chair."
(V. E. Schwab on Twitter)
16. ↑ "can we expect any lgbt characters in steel prince?" — "Yep!"
(V. E. Schwab on Twitter)
17. ↑ Teaser #1 — V. E. Schwab on Twitter
18. ↑ "Isra is [gay]."
(V. E. Schwab on Twitter)