She reads the serial on a phone under fluorescent library lights and freezes at a line that makes her mouth go dry. Across town, a forum thread explodes as long-time fans trade theory and fury. I felt the same jolt when I first learned John McCrae’s Worm—the web serial that once pulled a million views a month and has accumulated roughly 80 million reads—was being pressed into paper.
I’ve followed Worm from midnight chapters to obsessive rereads, and you probably have a version of this world in your head. That private, sometimes brutal vision is exactly what IDW Publishing is trying to capture on the comics page.
At a comic shop counter I once watched a veteran fan defend a hardcover purchase.
Real-world collectors will tell you physical books change how you argue about a story. IDW’s announcement flips a decades-long internet text into its first physical incarnation, with big names attached: writer Meghan Fitzmartin, artist Javier Ortiz, colorist David Vaquero, letterer Andriy Lukin, and McCrae himself advising the project.
The move reads like a reclamation—bringing a seven-year serial that felt built for screens to a medium that rewards staging, panel timing, and cover beats. McCrae called the idea “bringing it full circle,” and there’s comfort in seeing the creator invited into the process rather than sidelined.
On a crowded train I watched someone scroll the Worm opener and smirk.
The story remains the same at its core: Taylor Hebert, after a violent bullying scandal, triggers a power to control insects. She could become a hero—or she could use that power to settle every vendetta she’s carried. The serial’s moral fog—where the line between protector and predator blurs—is what makes this adaptation risky and magnetic.
What is Worm about?
The short answer: a portrait of power, revenge, and messy choices. In a city packed with superpowered gangs, cults, and cold-blooded killers, Taylor must learn the unwritten code of the “cape” scene. The comic will dramatize those choices with panels that put faces and bodies to the internet’s long-form imagination.
At a convention panel last year, a line formed around a table of fan art.
Fandom matters here. IDW’s executive editor Heather Antos praised the serial for challenging hero/villain binaries, and Cassandra Jones—who brought the project to IDW—has a personal connection that helped make the pitch feel less corporate and more curatorial. That’s important when a community treats a free web serial like a shared mythology.
Who is adapting Worm into a comic?
Meghan Fitzmartin leads the scripting, Javier Ortiz handles the visuals, David Vaquero colors, and Andriy Lukin letters. Livio Baggio and Skylar Patridge are among the cover artists shown in early reveals. McCrae remains involved as a consultant, giving readers some protections against a careless adaptation.
A cashier once told me pre-orders can sell out in minutes.
Timing matters. IDW plans a special prequel issue for Comics Giveaway Day on March 1, 2027, which will include a new written piece by McCrae. Worm #1 is slated for July 2027, and retailers will accept pre-orders through local comic shops and standard distributor channels. Expect a single-issue price likely in the neighborhood of $4.99 (€5) for initial printings, and variants from artists like Livio Baggio and Skylar Patridge will likely drive collector demand.
When will the Worm comic be released?
Short version: a free prequel on March 1, 2027, then the first issue in July 2027. If you want editions with variant covers or numbered print runs, talk to your local shop about pre-orders now.
On social feeds I watch speculative threads circle like wary predators.
Fans are polarized—some want a faithful panel-for-panel translation, others expect changes that make the pacing work in comics. Fitzmartin’s quote is frank: she came to the text late but was immediately captivated by “complicated women, people with powers, feminine rage, and folks trying to do the right thing… with varying results.” That tone suggests the adaptation will aim for the brutal emotional logic of the original, not a softened superhero fantasy.
There are creative risks. Condensing thousands of web-serial pages into a serialized comic run is complex, and I’d compare the process to two things: McCrae’s world hitting comics pages like a fuse in a restless city, and converting the torrent of material into issues like rewiring a house while the lights are still on. Those two images capture the energy and the danger.
At an editor’s desk I once watched three versions of the same page compete for space.
Practically, expect the comic to highlight moments that play visually—ambushes, costume reveals, and cramped tactical fights. Artist Javier Ortiz and colorist David Vaquero are positioned to give the book a brutal, tempestuous palette; Fitzmartin’s scripts will need to sculpt Taylor’s internal monologue into external beats. IDW’s involvement signals distribution muscle and shop visibility across Diamond and direct-market channels.
Early art drops and the publisher’s gallery (including the Livio Baggio and Skylar Patridge covers) are already circulating on Gizmodo and Movies & TV, and the fan reaction there is a useful thermometer. If you follow comics retailers, Publishers Weekly, or Bleeding Cool, you’ll see pre-order tallies and variant announcements surface fast.
I’m not promising perfection. Adaptations rarely please every corner of a fandom. But this feels intentional—McCrae is on board, the creative team is experienced, and IDW has the logistics to put the book in hands and storefronts, not just screens.
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If you’re a long-time reader, the question is whether printed pages can carry the same moral discomfort you felt at 3 a.m.; if you’re new, the question is whether this is the right place to start with Taylor’s messy ethics. Which side will the comics version fall on—faithful shrine or reimagined battleground—when it reaches store shelves this summer?