In 2013, work began on a Minecraft comic, with a theme that was basically “Dragon Ball meets Adventure Time”. It never got close to the finish line, for a variety of reasons, but we can still take a quick look at it thanks to writer Brandon Sheffield, who has shared some of the art and background to the project.
Artist Zac Gorman—who you may remember from his stint with Kotaku—was originally onboard, and with Minecraft creators Mojang interested in the idea the pair got working on “a proper pitch”.
Gorman left the book shortly afterwards, though, and despite efforts to secure a new artist (Guillaume Singelin took a pass) and a publisher, earlier this year Mojang said they “no longer wanted to go forward with the project”.
Guess they’ve got enough money as it is.
Note that even after three years everything was still in the relatively early stages of development. Sheffield writes “No money or contracts exchanged hands – this was all on spec, but there was always the idea that if we just got this one thing right, or that that thing solved, it would go ahead. I’m disappointed at where we’ve ended up, but that’s the inherent risk of trying to work with someone else’s property.”
You can see some of Gorman’s art from the comic’s planning stages here, but Sheffield’s site has a ton more, including some of his writing.