From Mobile Game Icons to Graphic Novel Heroes: The Making of Books of Clash

As a professional gamer who's spent countless hours staring at those tiny, identical troop sprites from a god-like perspective, let me tell you—I never thought I'd care about a Hog Rider's interior life. Yet here I am in 2026, absolutely captivated by Terry's journey in the Books of Clash graphic novel series. Supercell's mobile gaming universe has somehow transformed from strategic battlefields into rich, character-driven stories, and I'm here for every panel of it. The first volume dropped back in May 2023, but the series has only grown since then, with new volumes continuing to explore the surprisingly deep lives of characters I used to deploy without a second thought.

When graphic novelist Gene Luen Yang first told me about this project, I'll admit I was skeptical. How do you take a game where all Barbarians look like Hulk Hogan clones and all Archers are carbon copies of each other and create individual stories? But Yang, the brilliant mind behind the first five Avatar: The Last Airbender graphic novels and various DC projects, had a secret weapon: his own experience as a high school teacher for 17 years. He described that first day of class phenomenon perfectly—students enter as "a mass of teenagers," but as the semester progresses, they become individuals like Sam, Rodrigo, or Stacy. That's exactly what he's doing with Clash characters, starting with Terry the Hog Rider.

The Challenge of Individualization 🎮 → 📚

Yang faced what he calls "fun challenges" in transforming a game where you command identical troops into a story about distinct personalities. The transition required shifting perspectives:

• Player's Eye View: Top-down, strategic, seeing groups as units

• Reader's Eye View: Ground-level, emotional, seeing characters as individuals

"The biggest challenge in the game is it's a very likable world," Yang explained. "It's beautifully designed with gorgeous environments and amazing sound design. But every group looks the same. All Hog Riders look the same. All Archers look the same."

He solved this by making Terry's journey one of discovery—as Terry moves to the diverse village of Jazzypickleton, he learns to see beyond stereotypes. His best friend becomes an Archer named Jane (who stars in Volume 2), despite initially seeing all Archers as identical.

Sibling Rivalry Meets 80s Nostalgia 👨‍👧‍👦🎸

What surprised me most was how Yang wove serious themes into Supercell's quirky world. The first volume explores sibling relationships, inspired by Yang's own children who bonded over Clash games despite typical sibling squabbles. Terry's story centers on escaping the shadow of his older brother, Rokkus—something that adds emotional weight to what could have been just another adventure tale.

And let's talk about that quirkiness! Yang absolutely nailed the 80s references that permeate Clash universe:

• Hog Rider's Mr. T vibes

• Barbarian's Hulk Hogan resemblance

• 80s-style heavy metal in commercials

"The creators are 80s kids," Yang noted. "That's why the world feels made for in-jokes and winks at the player."

Terry and Pim Pim: More Than Rider and Hog 🐗❤️👨

The decision to start with Hog Riders was genius from a storytelling perspective. As Yang explained, "It's essentially two characters—the rider and his hog. When you have two characters at the center, you can have dialogue between them, and that dialogue becomes a window into their interior lives."

Pim Pim functions as Terry's Jiminy Cricket—his conscience and companion. Their relationship embodies a familial love where they'd die for each other but still bicker like family. Artist Les McClaine apparently loved drawing the hog so much that Yang wrote a "hog-heavy" story in Volume 4 specifically for him!

Jazzypickleton: Terry's UC Berkeley 🏘️→🌍

Terry's constant refrain that something "isn't the Hog Rider way" when he arrives in Jazzypickleton mirrors Yang's own experience moving from a San Jose suburb to UC Berkeley. "Berkeley was much more diverse than my town," Yang recalled. "When you come from a small suburb, you have just one way of doing things. Meeting people who pursue life in different ways challenged that."

This became Terry's arc: moving from a homogeneous Hog Rider community to Jazzypickleton's diverse village forces him to grow. "I probably learned more from interacting with people who aren't like me than from my classes," Yang mused, and that insight fuels Terry's development.

Building Bridges: From Gamer to Reader 🌉

As an Asian American creator, Yang sees this project as bridge-building—between video games and books, between different communities. "Going from home to school felt like going from one community to another," he shared. "I had one name at home, another at school. One language at home, another at school. The act of going from one spot to the other felt like a bridge."

This philosophy extends to the books' purpose: creating a bridge between gamers and readers. Supercell has been actively supporting these connections, integrating game and book elements in ways that reward fans of both mediums.

The Series Plan: Eight Volumes, Eight Perspectives 📚1️⃣→8️⃣

The ambitious eight-volume plan ensures we'll get to know Clash's diverse cast:

1. Hog Riders (Terry) - Released

2. Archers (Jane) - Released

3. Golems - Released

4. Valkyries - Released

5. Goblins - Released

6. Barbarians - 2025 release

7. Wizards - Coming 2026

8. Finale - Coming 2026

What's brilliant is how volumes dialogue with each other. While Terry moves from homogeneity to diversity, Jane's story in Volume 2 does the opposite—she moves from diverse Jazzypickleton to an all-Archer community. Volume 3's Golem story plays with communication limitations (they talk like the Hulk because their tongues aren't suited for human language) while showing their rich interior lives.

Supercell's Quirky World Comes Alive 🏢👞

Yang's visit to Supercell's San Francisco office sounds like stepping into a Clash game. "They have a no-shoes policy," he laughed. "You enter a slipper room with shelves of employee slippers and a basket of guest slippers. Then you walk past giant life-size statues of Barbarians and a chicken from Hay Day."

That quirky, creative energy permeates the books. From the 80s references to the character relationships, Yang and his art team (Les McClaine and Alison Acton) have captured Supercell's unique spirit.

Why This Matters in 2026 🕹️📖

Three years into the series, Books of Clash represents something important in gaming culture: the maturation of mobile game narratives. What began as simple troop deployment has evolved into:

• Character Development: From stereotypes to individuals

• Thematic Depth: Family, identity, community

• Cross-Media Storytelling: Games informing books informing games

Yang's closing thought resonates more than ever: "The game itself builds bridges across cultural divides. Sometimes your opponents have names in Korean or Russian. When you're playing with somebody using emotes to communicate, in a small way, you're getting to know somebody from another culture."

That's what Books of Clash achieves—it turns the strategic gameplay we love into emotional connections we cherish. Terry's journey from seeing groups to seeing individuals mirrors our own growth as gamers who now appreciate the stories behind the sprites.

As we await the final volumes in 2026, I'm struck by how this series has changed my gaming perspective. Now when I deploy troops in Clash of Clans, I don't just see Barbarians—I see potential stories. I don't just see Archers—I see individuals like Jane. And I certainly don't see Hog Riders without wondering about their relationships with their hogs.

Yang and his team have accomplished exactly what they set out to do: build a bridge. Not just between games and books, but between our strategic gameplay and our emotional engagement. In a world where mobile gaming often gets dismissed as casual, Books of Clash proves there's depth in those tiny characters—if only we take the time to see them as individuals rather than identical troops. And honestly? That's a lesson that extends far beyond gaming.