Umora, the fantasy world born from the actual-play podcast Worlds Beyond Number, is leaping from audio to the page. Collider got an exclusive first look at Worlds Beyond Number Presents: The Wizard, the Witch, and the Wild One – Book One, and sat down with cast member Erika Ishii to talk about the adaptation, the expansion of the world, and what they hope comes next.
For Ishii, revisiting Umora through the graphic novel was a revelation. Rather than simply retelling a story they already knew, seeing the world visualized made them fall in love with it all over again. "Just getting to see the world and live in the world was the real... I just fell in love with it in a different way," Ishii told Collider. "Seeing just the pastoral beauty and the way that magic is crafted and woven throughout it, it really made me fall in love with Umora in such a way that I want so much from it now."
That "so much" includes more than just another graphic novel. Ishii expressed a strong desire for an official campaign book, which would allow fans to tell their own stories in Umora. "I want more stories from Umora. I want the campaign book. I just want to live in that world," they said. However, they acknowledged the challenge of translating the vast worldbuilding from co-creator Brennan Lee Mulligan's mind into a book. "It's like... you have to crack open that one guy's head and somehow put it into a book."
The graphic novel isn't meant to replace the podcast, Ishii emphasized. Instead, it's a new interpretation that expands the story. "I don't think this is the canonical, perfect, correct version. In fact, there are alterations from the actual podcast," they explained. "I like to imagine... each of them is true and valid and canon in their own way. Every version of The Wizard, the Witch, and the Wild One is canon."
This philosophy guided the adaptation from the start. The creative team asked themselves what comics could uniquely bring to the story. "It's the first conversation that we all had of, 'Why do we want to adapt it to comics? What do comics offer that this already perfect and precious campaign doesn't offer?'" Ishii recalled. "This was an opportunity to add and to alter, to take advantage of this medium."
The graphic novel expands on moments that the cast always felt existed beneath the surface, even if they never made it into the original recording. "Sometimes there were themes or moments that we looked at and thought, 'Oh yeah, this absolutely happened, but we didn't get to say it on mic,'" Ishii said.
The artwork also changed how Ishii sees key story moments. They pointed to an early scene where Ame discovers her broom's magic, which is depicted differently than they originally imagined. "Seeing it and seeing it be real is... that's it. That is another slightly different and perfectly true version of Ame. I love that," they said.
Ishii hopes the graphic novel will be seen as one of many valid interpretations, alongside the countless versions fans have imagined over years of listening. "I've seen some fan art where I see different versions of the same exact story and thought, 'Oh yeah, that's absolutely real as well,'" they noted.
Whether Umora's future includes more graphic novels, an official campaign setting, or something else entirely, Ishii's biggest hope is that fans continue finding new ways to experience the world. For now, readers can get another glimpse through Worlds Beyond Number Presents: The Wizard, the Witch, and the Wild One – Book One, which wraps up its campaign on Kickstarter today.
For more on the evolution of fantasy storytelling, check out our article on Erika Ishii on Why Fantasy Needs to Move Beyond Tolkien's Shadow and explore The 10 Best Fantasy Books of the 1990s, Ranked.
