Maleficent Comic (2023)

The **Maleficent** comics is a five issue limited comic book that focuses on the character of Maleficent from *Sleeping Beauty* before the film's events. The first issue was released on May 17, 2023. They are written & drawn by Soo Lee, with cover art by Jae Lee.

## Production and overall

Carmilla: The First Vampire artist Soo Lee is stepping up to write and draw a special one-shot comic book Disney Villains: Maleficent coming this summer. (thepopverse.com)

"I think Maleficent is kind of an icon as a character herself," Lee says in the announcement. "She is stylish, beautiful in her way and very powerful. Even though she’s a villain I really liked that she was a powerful woman. I mean, she transforms into a dragon! That’s pretty cool."

According to the publisher Dynamite Entertainment, Disney Villains: Maleficent will be "a sort of prequel peek into her past" - specifically the original, animated version of her story.

"The focus is on her as the main character of the story and her own life, not playing second fiddle to princesses and princes," reads Dynamite's description.

## Issue #1 - May 17, 2023

Disney and Dynamite proudly present Maleficent, Queen of the Forbidden Mountain! Her realm is shrouded in darkness, and evil, and full of all things that go bump in the night. Her soul is cold, hardened by a lifetime of small-minded wanderers seeking to steal her powers to satisfy their mortal greed. Her patience wears thin. Her mystical might grows. It is a matter only of time before she descends the mountain and unleashes her horrible magics upon the powerless people below. A stunning vision of villainy from writer and artist Soo Lee!

*A young man called Reynaud wanders into the woods, chased by wolves and night creatures, only to be saved by Maleficent. After he introduces himself and tells her he seeks adventures and freedom from his boring life, she gives him a wish-granting compass. Dissatisfied and power-hungry, he stole Maleficent's staff, only to fail to keep it. As punishment, she transforms him into a wolf.*

## Issue #2: The Well-Meaning Prince - June 7, 2023

Chapter Two: “The Well-Meaning Prince.” A brave lad approaches the Forbidden Mountain, eager to find his lost brother, who is said to have wandered where he shouldn’t have. The prince will be espied by a foreboding crow, stalked by an ominous serpent, and shown the true, awful personification of evil...Maleficent.

*Prince Gavin looks for his brother Reynaud, only to be greeted by Maleficent, as her raven spied on him. Maleficent talks to him in serpent form, and after revealing his brother's fate, she also battles him, but he managed to flee.*

## Issue #3: The Beast - July 5, 2023

Chapter Three: The Beast. Maleficent’s familiar, the crow, scours The Forbidden Kingdom, hunting for anything that might threaten the Queen. But when the crow finds a strange creature, helpless and weak, a choice must be made: destroy the creature, or show mercy?

## Issue #4 - August 9, 2023

A QUEST TOO FAR! A fearsome Knight is sent to the Forbidden Kingdom to demand the immediate surrender of Maleficent. Never defeated in battle and burdened with glorious purpose, the Knight is confident in his success. But like all the others who have underestimated Maleficent, he is in for a rude awakening...

## Issue #5: The Magician - September 13, 2023

WHO’S THE FIERCEST OF THEM ALL? FINAL ISSUE! Chapter Five: The Magician. Spring has come again, and just as the vines of the forest have sprouted fresh thorns, so too have grown Maleficent’s power and her dominion over her Kingdom. But such a reputation provokes rivals. A powerful sorceress arrives to challenge Maleficent, and the ensuing battle will test her abilities to their limits — and make her heart grow even blacker...

## Characters

* *Maleficent*
* *her raven*
* *Prince Reynaud*
* *Prince Gavin*
* *Sorceress*

## Trivia

* It's unknown whether Reynaud and Gavin are related to Aurora's family.
* This is the third project to focus solely on Maleficent and her past, after her movie Maleficent, and its franchise, and the backstory novel *Mistress of All Evil: A Tale of the Dark Fairy*.