For all the technological advances and box office milestones the Lion King franchise has hit over the years, there’s a sense among fans that something has been left behind.
The original 1994 film wasn’t just a story about lions and legacy — it was an entire world. Hand-drawn, expressive, warm, and emotionally readable in a way that no amount of “photorealistic” fur has quite been able to replicate.
That longing to return to 1994's Pride Lands has only intensified in recent years.
Disney has revisited the property multiple times since the original film’s release, from The Lion King II: Simba’s Pride (1998) and The Lion King 1½ (2004) to Jon Favreau’s hugely successful but divisive 2019 remake.
Most recently, Mufasa: The Lion King (2024) expanded the photorealistic timeline further.
While the “live-action” projects have found their audiences, they’ve also reignited debate over whether realism was ever the right direction for a story rooted so deeply in stylization and animation. One of the biggest complaints is how their photorealistic characters aren't able to emote in the same way as their 1994 counterparts.
That’s where Dynamite’s The Lion King comic series comes in.
Set during the events of the 1994 film, the new series picks up shortly after the hyena attack in the elephant graveyard and focuses on the relationship between Simba and Mufasa as they navigate the Pride Lands.
Familiar characters like Zazu and Scar return, while Timon and Pumbaa are absent simply because the story hasn’t reached that stage yet. The tone is light, accessible, and intentionally restrained — content to exist between scenes rather than overwrite them.
Issue #1, written and illustrated by Edwin Galmon, feels especially significant. The artwork channels the expressiveness of traditional Disney animation, capturing the charm and warmth of the original film without directly copying it. It looks and feels like The Lion King we know and love— not a reinterpretation, not a technical showcase, but a continuation.
The transition to Carlo Lauro’s artwork in Issue #2 is noticeable and slightly jarring, even if the quality remains high. Still, the core appeal remains intact: this feels like a legitimate companion to the 1994 classic. And that’s what makes the series so interesting.
More than just a tie-in, The Lion King comics feel like proof of concept — a reminder that audiences are still eager to return to this world in its original form. Not hyper-realistic, not grounded in physics, but animated, expressive, and full of personality.
If Disney ever considers another theatrical sequel to the beloved 1994 classic, the success and reception of projects like this suggest that going back to that classic style might not just be nostalgic — it might be exactly what fans have been waiting for.
Will you be reading “The Lion King”? Let us know in the comments!
