The classic stories from the early years of the twentieth century, the tales that our parents enthusiastically read to us when we were young, remain fertile grounds for more modern mythmaking here, at the beginning of the new millennium.
Of course, we’ve seen and enjoyed fascinating takes and re-takes on numerous Victorian, Edwardian and pre-World War eras of famous stories and protagonists in a plethora of media.
We’ve seen Jules Verne’s Journey to the Center of the Earth (2008) in film, the Aesop fairy tale and Lewis Carrol inspired Once Upon A Time (2011-2018) in television alongside The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (1999-2019), Fables (2002-2024) and the Alice Ever After series of comics and graphic novels. This is just to name a select few pop culture occurrences that have mined works from a past age.
And that’s where we pick up today. With comic books. And with the characters Peter Pan and Wendy, the famous creations of Scottish novelist and playwright, J.M. Barrie, in a new five-part miniseries titled, The Last Boy.
Written by Dan Panosian (the previously mentioned Alice Ever After, Alice Never After, Canary) and lushly illustrated by artist Alessio Avallone (James Bond: 007 For King and Country) and published by Boom! Studios, The Last Boy is a tale that takes place years after the J.M. Barrie original story and shows us a truly lost Peter Pan, still stuck in his adventurous, child-like ways while living within a Neverland that has grown up around him. The natives are now led by the shrewd Tiger Lily (a girl leading a Neverland tribe? Unheard of!) have turned to politics and brokered commerce. Even infamous Captain Hook has gone legit, his once-plundering pirate ship and crew of ne’er do wells now a trade vessel staffed with laborers. Meanwhile, in London, England, the burgeoning novelist Wendy is stuck in womanly duties while readying herself for marriage. Still, she yearns for the excitement she remembers in her days of youth.
Is this the end of childlike wonder for both Peter and Wendy…or is there one more grand adventure left for the both of them, together?
With a number of collective covers to choose from a host of the comic book industry top talents including Adam Hughes and Bill Sienkiewicz, set your responsibilities aside and make the run to your local comic book shop today to pick up the wholly entertaining and very modern sequel to the classic Barrie tale with The Last Boy #1!
You can watch the riveting trailer for The Last Boy directly below:
