Ernest Cline’s 2011 novel Ready Player One was an enormous hit, engrossing readers with a dystopian adventure filled with nerdy ‘80s references. A prominent early example of the LitRPG boom, it’s set in a near future where humans spend most of their time in a virtual world called the OASIS. The simulation began as an MMORPG, and its brilliant creator, James Donovan Halliday, bequeathed control of the OASIS to whoever can find a set of keys to pass through various gates. The quest that requires an encyclopedic knowledge of Gen X music, movies, and games.
Those references proved tricky to translate when Steven Spielberg adapted Cline’s book in 2018. Cline and Zak Penn co-wrote the action-packed screenplay, which is also loaded with nostalgia, but many of the book’s specific references had to change because of licensing restrictions. The filmmakers omitted a challenge inspired by the classic Dungeons & Dragons module Tomb of Horrors, for instance, and replaced a section based on Blade Runner with one set inside The Shining.
A new adaptation, however, hews much closer to Cline’s original work. Ready Player One: The Graphic Novel is written by Scott Peterson (Batgirl, Batman: Gotham Adventures) and illustrated by Meredith Laxton. Ahead of the book’s release, publisher Ten Speed Graphic gave Polygon an exclusive look at seven pages that introduce Ready Player One’s heroes. While Wade may be determined to find Halliday’s Easter eggs on his own, he’ll need the help of fellow hunters Art3mis and Aech to do it if he hopes to beat a corporation bent on seizing control of the OASIS and monetizing it.
“As a longtime reader and lover of graphic novels, I’m incredibly excited to have Ready Player One adapted to this unique medium, because it allows the story to be retold visually, through a marriage of prose and stunning artwork that is also freed from the running time and licensing constraints we faced when I helped Steven Spielberg adapt my novel into his blockbuster film,” Cline told Polygon in an email statement. “I’m incredibly proud of our movie, and I truly believe we made the best possible film adaptation of my novel. And now I’ve been blessed enough to have lightning strike twice, because I think this is the best possible graphic novel adaptation of Ready Player One.”
Ready Player One: The Graphic Novel will be released exclusively at Target on Oct. 6 and at all book retailers on March 2, 2027.