The War of the Worlds: Thunder Child takes place parallel to H.G. Wells’ seminal novel, chronicling the events leading up to the Thunder Child’s final showdown with the Martian invaders.
‘War of the Worlds: Thunder Child’ is written by Matthew Hardy and Rob Jones, illustrated by Kevin Castaniero, and coloured by Simon Gough.
After the BBC’s lacklustre The War of the Worlds adaptation and, more recently, Ice Cube’s downright diabolical movie, the story has become something of a poisoned chalice for adaptations in recent times. But when you get together a team of creators with a clear goal, whom obviously have a dedicated and ardent love for the source material, good things can come. And that’s exactly what happened with The War of the Worlds: Thunder Child, the new graphic novel published by Titan Comics.
I’ve been a massive fan of The War of the Worlds for many years. I love everything from the seminal H.G. Wells novel, to the 1953 movie, to Jeff Wayne’s musical, to Steven Spielberg’s big screen reimagining. Of course, there have been more than a few disappointing War of the Worlds projects (which I have written about extensively), so when I first heard about the graphic novel companion story, I was a little apprehensive. But as soon as I picked up the graphic novel, that worry almost instantly melted away. Thunder Child is created by a team who, very clearly, have a comprehensive knowledge of the original work, and they deal with delivering a companion story with utmost respect to the source material. It feels authentic, not like a total fan-fiction.
Thunder Child tells a story that was never covered in the original work. It explores the crew of the Thunder Child, a Royal Navy warship that sacrifices itself destroying Martian tripods to save refugees. H.G. Wells describes the battle surrounding Thunder Child in great detail, but the more personal tales of the warships’s crew are not greatly explored, and this graphic novel does a stellar job at picking up grey areas of the original novel. Writers Hardy and Jones being the action in droves, but also explore the Martian attack from a moral and philosophical standpoint, which I found to be particularly interesting.
The characters are all fantastic. I enjoyed Captain Teressa MacDonald, a ruthless and no-nonsense leader but a heart-strong one. And then there’s Major Makepeace, a headstrong but flawed military man; he’s firm and rigid in his beliefs, and clashes with MacDonald on several occasions. Other members that make up the crew include Miriam and Simon Young, a couple who work on the warship. The characters are rich and well thought-out with interesting backstories, making them feel real, flawed, and human rather than representatives of ideas and personalities.
The artwork is top tier, visually delivering the fast-paced dramatic action of the story. It’s closer to stylisation over realism with bright and striking colours. While I thought (and still think, to an extent) that a grittier and more realistic tone would’ve worked better for a story like this, the clean line work offers highly readable emotions and thrilling action sequences. There’s a few breathtaking splash pages scattered throughout, showing the magnitude and scale of the martian tripods. It’s not afraid to get bloody.
Verdict
The War of the Worlds: Thunder Child will please all fans of the story, offering a fresh perspective that fills a gap in the original story. It’s also perfectly accessible to people who’ve never picked up H.G. Wells’ classic.
It very quickly dawned on me that this graphic novel is worthy of carrying the War of the Worlds title, something that’s proven hard to accomplish over the years.
The War Of The Worlds: Thunder Child releases on June 2, 2026 from Titan Comics. Pre-order your copy here.
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