Has anyone ever released a story in both comic form and novel form? (I mean written novel, not graphic novel.) What do you think of the idea? Would it give people more options in enjoying the story and possibly open up a door for different readers, or would it just be redundant?

Also, I'm talking about actually RELEASING both versions to the public (via internet or publishing or whatever), not writing a novel to be used as a script and kept to yourself.

I really liked the manga "GOTH" by Kendi Oiwa, which turned out to be based on a book by Otsuichi. The print version included thought processes, motivations, and speculations that there couldn't be room for in the manga version, whereas the manga was more visceral about the horror scenes. So I enjoyed both without feeling like it was redundant.

Both mediums have their advantages, so they can be different enough to be interesting. I think it's a good idea.

It could be done. The novel could have the reader picturing all the characters and places looking different than they really are though. But isn't that the fun of reading books? Imagining what everything looks like, when only described through words?

But I wouldn't do it myself. I'm an okay writer, but I'm really not that good. I like to focus more on art (even though I'm not that good)

But it does seem like a good idea!

It could be interesting to combine them, so both the novel and the comic have to be read to get the full story.

Custard Trout
It could be interesting to combine them, so both the novel and the comic have to be read to get the full story.

That's genius. :)

That would be mad insane!

I thought about it. Exploring my comics in another format like that would make for greatness, but it'd be also be so time-consuming. From time to time, though, when I'm planning scenes, I try to think of how I'd write it in prose. It helps.

We need to shoot somebody with crazy gas so they can do this and tell us what it's like.

SarahN
Has anyone ever released a story in both comic form and novel form?

I think Whirlwynd is doing that with The Many Misfortunes of Lady Luck . Not entirely sure, but many of the Author's Comments on the comic pages certainly seem to suggest that.

Also, within the world of mainstream comics, the Death of Superman story arc was definitely "novelised". Parts of it read quite well but much of it felt as you'd expect it to ... like the novelisation of a movie.

I saw a comic that did that once years ago but I can't remember now.
But I figure it should definitely branch out your audience. The comic reaches people like me who can't read books and the novel reaches those who prefer not to read comics. It's a win win!

I think it should be optional though because If I needed to read a book to get the whole story I would go on not knowing the whole story...D:

I did that back in 2006. I posted a webcomic and meanwhile I wrote a book based on those pages. Then, I uploaded it to lulu and no one bought it. That made me sad, but oh well, I was never really that popular anyway and the book wasn't actually that well written.