The first comic book series that really grabbed my imagination was Marvel’s Conan series way back in the previous millennium. But collecting those monthly pamphlets was always problematic, so I was happy when the industry started producing graphic novels. I sort of think of them as “movies in print form.” Often, they fit my busy schedule better than reading a novel.
I’ve been collecting graphic novels for years, but mostly the SF, Fantasy and Mystery ones rather than the more common Superhero ones. I’ve decided to start sharing some of my favorite graphic novels each month.
For this month, my selection is the Winterworld series written by Chuck Dixon, which consists of two graphic novels and a prose novel. Scully is a trader traveling the frozen wastes of a post-apocalyptic world in a salvaged snow-cat, getting by in a world reduced to survival mode, where every encounter can bring danger.
Winterworld: Scully and his pet weasel, Rah Rah, end up rescuing a young girl named Wynn from a brutal regime thriving on slavery and salvaged Old World tech. This does endear them to the regime for some reason.
Better Angels, Colder Hearts: Scully, accompanied by Wynn and Rah Rah, attempt to find the enclave of Wynn’s parents, encountering numerous obstacles on their way. They all encounter several other savage cultures in a world where brutality is common.
The Mechanic’s Song: This prose novel is a prequel to the graphic novels. Long before Scully became a roving trader, traveling the world in a rehabilitated snow crawler, he was a child growing to manhood in a harsh and brutal world. It’s a coming-of-age story that also explains how Scully learned to be a mechanic, a key skill for his later career as a trader.
- Note: I liked this novel, but I recommend reading it last. I feel it works best as an origin story for Scully, further illuminating a character you’ve already come to like from the graphic novels.
Notes on Publishing History
The series has a fairly tangled publishing history. Winterworld debuted as a three-issue color miniseries in 1986, which was when I first encountered it. Unfortunately, I was only able to procure the first and third issues. Despite that, I enjoyed the story and was particularly impressed by the stark artwork of Jorge Zaffino.
Sometime around 2012, I ran across the mini-series when I was rummaging in my collection for some other comics. I got curious as to whether that original mini-series had ever been published as a graphic novel. I soon discovered that a graphic novel version of Winterworld had been published in 2010, which included not only the original mini-series (which I FINALLY got to read in its entirety), but also an entire new and equally long story called Wintersea that had been completed by the Chuck Dixon and Jorge Zaffino but never previously published.
Weirdly, the graphic novel was in black and white, even though the original story had been published in color. However, Zaffino’s artwork proved to be surprisingly evocative in black and white, perfectly capturing the stark beauty of Dixon’s glacial post-apocalyptic future.
Sadly, I also learned that Jorge Zaffino had passed away. I can’t help but think that his death was a major loss to the comics field.
So, great, I finally had the complete story. Open-ended, of course, because Scully and Wynn were still seeking Wynn’s parents and still wandering through an arctic wasteland looking for a place to call home. But still, a fun and satisfying arc.
In 2025, I was rebagging some of my old comics when I came across the original mini-series again, which naturally led me to re-reading the graphic novel. And then checking Wikipedia to see if any more stories had ever been published.
It turned out that there had been a seven-issue series, plus an eighth issue (#0) in 2014-2015. Those had been collected in a couple graphic novels, La Niña (1-4) and The Stranded (5-7). Plus issue #0 provided Wynn’s backstory. There was also another three-issue mini-series, which was collected as Frozen Fleet.
You’ll notice that I haven’t provided links to those relatively short graphic novels. That’s because I’m not recommending that you buy any of them. All eleven of these new issues were subsequently collected in a 2016 graphic novel called Bitter Angels, Colder Hearts, which is a much better bargain. These stories are in color and the new artists are universally excellent.
A prequel novel, Winterworld: The Mechanic’s Song, was published in 2015, which tells Scully’s origin story. Natur
I will note that the final story, Frozen Fleet, ends on a cliffhanger. However, if history is any guide, this has pretty much been “the series that refuses to die,” so I expect we’ll see additional issues at some point.
Bottom Line: I enjoyed the stories by Chuck Dixon and the artwork by Zaffino and others. If you’re the type of person who would appreciate a Mad Max sort of story in an Arctic wasteland, these are the books for you.
Leave a Reply