Why let the hero make every choice and control the story when you can do so yourself? Well, that’s the idea behind the concept of gamebooks. This genre of storytelling, also known as “choose your own adventure” after the original Choose Your Own Adventure book series, is one where you, the reader, get to decide the actions and paths taken by the protagonist in the story, having to face the consequences, whether positive or negative, of your choices.
Perhaps the most influential gamebooks to date aside from the original Choose Your Own Adventure, the Lone Wolf and the Fighting Fantasy series—both published throughout the ’80s and ’90s—were seminal to the resurgence of this type of interactive storytelling, the consequences of which still reverberate in fiction today — including in the world of comic books.
So here are six comic books that have adopted choice-based storytelling. Get yourself ready to become the protagonist of the story… If you dare!
1. You Are Deadpool
Who’s better suited to star in his own choose-your-own-adventure comic series than the Merc With a Mouth? You Are Deadpool takes you on an adventure to retrieve a time-travel helmet as part of a job for the Tomorrow Man. Needless to say, chaos ensues — as you can never trust Wade Wilson with time travel objects, can you?
Using a system that includes 2d6 throws, inventory slots, and “badness” and “sadness” scores, this comic will take you through a wacky journey across the Marvel Universe with lots of randomness and fourth-wall breaks just the way you’d expect from anything Deadpool.
You Are Deadpool was written by Al Ewing with art by Salva Espin and colors by Guru-eFX.
2. Doctor Strange and the Sorcerers Supreme #6
While Doctor Strange and the Sorcerers Supreme—written by Robbie Thompson, drawn by Nathan Stockman, and colored by Tamra Bonvillain—is not a gamebook comic series, its sixth issue breaks the usual sequential storytelling format to allow the reader to make their own choices as Doctor Strange.
After being betrayed by one of their own teamates, the group of time-displaced sorcerers supreme led by Stephen Strange is hurled into a dimensional trap from which they shouldn’t be able to escape. Luckily, Strange was in possession of the powerful Bones of Eh-Yuh, a mystic object capable of sending its user back to a specific point in time. With them, you get to choose the order in which the doctor saves his friends, but choose wrong and you will be stuck in a looping maze of possibilities. In this issue, the only way out is through.
3. Star Trek: Lower Decks – Warp Your Own Way
Get aboard the Cerritos in this Star Trek choose-your-own-adventure comic book spinning off of the animated show. Written by Ryan North and with art by Chris Fenoglio and colors by Charlie Kirchoff, Star Trek: Lower Decks – Warp Your Own Way is a graphic novel that puts you in the role of Beckett Mariner as she starts her day with choices to make—choices that will determine the fate of our beloved crew.
While you help Mariner through an invasion of Gorn hatchlings, an attack of the cybernetic Borg, and a party with the Greek God of Wine from Pollux IV, be careful, because not everything is as it seems. Something is amiss and it’s up to you to take the path that will bring a resolution to this madness and and end to the threat behind it all.
4. Batman: Arkham Origins
Acting as a prequel to the game of the same name, Batman: Arkham Origins follows a still inexperienced Bruce Wayne as he uncovers a corrupt plot by the villainous Black Mask and the Penguin to take control of Gotham. The one putting their detective skills to use this time, however, is the reader, as it’s up to you to decide what steps the Dark Knight takes to protect Gotham, whether that be what locations to visit or what people to follow in order to find the clues that will help you advance in the story (and keep Batman alive).
As Adam Beechen, one of the writers, tells us in the introduction: “…stories about Batman are fun, but it’d be much more fun to be Batman and live the adventure”. Here, you wear the cowl.
Batman: Arkham Origins was plotted by Adam Beechen, Doug Wagner, and Frank Hannah, with art by Victor Drujiniu, Vicente Cifuentes, Tom Derenick, and other various talented artists.
5. Adventuregame Comics: Leviathan
Describing itself as “Part comic! Part maze! Part game!” this fun graphic novel by Jason Shiga tells the story of a young adventurer from a village under the dominion of the terrible Leviathan, a god-like sea creature. While in the tavern, she receives a job offer to find the Starlight Wand, a magical object capable of controlling the monster and bringing an end of its rule.
Your mission is to explore the coastal village by following tubes that connect the panels and often split into different paths, allowing you to decide the choices of our adventurer. As you venture further, the backstory of the village and of the Leviathan will be unveiled. Will you be able to find the wizard who keeps the Starlight Wand?
6. Adventuregame Comics: The Beyond
You are dead. Welcome to the Beyond. Another interactive graphic novel authored by Jason Shiga, The Beyond is an intriguing tale of a boy who dies and wakes up in a mysterious waiting room with a receptionist and a book. Looking through the window, he spots a far-away castle that looks just like the one he once drew on the back of his schoolbook.
Anxious to find answers, the boy sets off on a journey to explore the Beyond and that’s where you come in. As you read, you will guide him through the place and discover secrets that you won’t see coming.
Just like in Leviathan, you will follow tubes that connect the panels like a maze, but you will also need to pay attention to the numbers on the books you find, because they’ll be the key to advancing through the mind-bending place that is the Beyond.
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