Zelda Books

Aside the the usual game guides published throughout the years, Zelda has had some of its very own literature available for purchased. Sadly, most of these books are now discontinued, though you can sometimes get hold of them through Amazon marketplace sellers second-hand or the online auctions like Ebay. The Nintendo Adventure Book Series by Mammoth had two Zelda titles in its range and these were a 'choose your own adventure' book, where the reader could make decisions on how the action panned out, including plenty of alternate endings and puzzles to solve. They were based on the original game and featured characters such as Impa, you could play as either Link or Zelda. Moblin's Magic Spear was made by Golden Books, and was a charmingly illustrated tale based as a prelude to The Legend of Zelda. In 1999, a novelisation was written to coincide with the release of Zelda V: Ocarina of Time. You can find information about these titles below.

The Zelda Comics

In 199, in America, several issues of a Zelda comic were published by Valiant. I've never had the chance to read any of them, for they were never printed here in Britain. There were 5 issues all together, which contained similar drawings to that of the cartoon, and based on the characters from Zelda I and II. They expanded much more on the Zelda universe and of course, Link and Zelda's relationship (with nods to the cartoon in that sense!), and in the Nintendo comics series there was also a Zelda special. The full, scanned versions of the comics are available for download at Zelda Legends. You can also view one of my favourite issues in full over at The Missing Link. Link experiences the dire consequences of obtaining the Triforce of Power and Zelda actually admits.... :D Hehe anyway, below you can check out issue 1, courtesy of Ted Anderson who was kind enough to scan it for North Castle.

Issue 1 View the front cover here Missing In Action View page 1 here View page 2 here View page 3 here View page 4 here View page 5 here View page 6 here View page 7 here View page 8 here View page 9 here View page 10 here

He Also Serves View page 1 here View page 2 here View page 3 here View page 4 here View page 5 here View page 6 here View page 7 here View page 8 here View page 9 here View page 10 here

There was also a series of comics published after Zelda III was made. These were written and illustrated by Shotaro Ishinomori, and from what I can gather, they were given away with Nintendo Power magazine. These never did reach British shores, either, sadly for us. Courtesy of David Mahn, I have a few viewable copies of scanned pages below. Again, for a full downloadable copy, check out Zelda Legends.

View the front cover of Issue 1 here View page 10 of Issue 1 here View page 11 of Issue 1 here View page 12 of Issue 1 here

 Like most of the older Zelda merchandise, these comics are now long out of print, and unavailable to buy, unless you find them second-hand. I have friends who have also purchased them through on-line auctions like ebay, so those are obviously worth checking out, too.

Zelda Manga and Doujinshi

 In Japan, Zelda is adored by many gamers so much, that a lot of artists produce official Manga comics based on the games and fan comics known as Doujinshi. These beautifully illustrated comics can be purchased but some sites are lucky enough to have scanned (and sometimes even translated) versions for readers to enjoy who otherwise wouldn't ever get to see them. Some Manga can be purchased via certain book stores but unfortunately it can be very expensive. Try these sites for tasters;

History of Hyrule Melora has one of the biggest collections of scanned Doujinshi and a lot of information on the various manga available and where they can be purchased. Zelda no Densetsu This is the home of the fully translated Ocarina of Time Manga. Kasuto Net There are plenty of scanned Zelda Mangas at this site.

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