Dungeon Crawler Carl, Vol. 1 (Graphic Novel)

Dungeon Crawler Carl (WEBTOON Graphic Novel) #1

by Matt Dinniman, Aethon (Editor), Tevagah

The Apocalypse WILL be televised!

You know what’s worse than breaking up with your girlfriend? Getting stuck on a sadistic alien game show with her cat. Join Carl and Princess Donut as they try to survive the end of the world — or just get to the next level of a trap-filled fantasy dungeon.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Manga, Comics, Adventure

Kindle Edition

First published May 19, 2026

About the author

Matt Dinniman is the best-selling writer and artist from Gig Harbor, Washington. He is the published author of dozens of short stories and a gaggle of books. In addition, his art publications—from greeting cards to stationery kits to calendars—can be found in boutique and stationery shops around the world. Also, he strongly feels like a pretentious twat when he writes about himself in third person.

Reviews

[Ben A · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun adaptation of the novel that brings the characters to life in an entertaining way even if the visuals didn’t quite live up to the same events in my head from reading the original. Nevertheless, I will continue to look for these graphic novel versions.

Special Thanks to Vault Comics and Edelweiss Plus for the digital ARC. This was given to me for an honest review.

[Mikal Lorraine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Was a very pleasant surprise when a customer purchased this at work yesterday as I had no idea we had them already 👀

Naturally, I loved it. Anything in the DCC universe is top tier. Although not everything was pictured the same in my head, the art rendition was so funny to follow. I would certainly give this to someone who is overwhelmed of the series. A great starter point to see if you want to continue.

[becca · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have always been hesitant on starting this book series. It’s not like the normal books I usually read, so I decided to give the graphic novel a chance once I was able to read it.

lol now i’m obsessed and going to pick up the first book asap because I love princess donut and the whole concept of this series. I will def continue the graphic novels along with the series as a whole.

[Ali · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was pretty cute, Donut's coloring isn't right but I'm sure tortoiseshell probably isn't easy to draw so much. It's really just part of book one and seems to follow exactly. Prerry fun for any fan

[Nia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I demolished this comic as soon as it was delivered. It was extremely well done and I can’t wait for volume 2 😍

[adna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a fan of the art at all.

[Jeff Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Follows the book storyline well. has the same feel as rhe book. illustrations are great!

[Tina Clayton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent art. It’s a really fun way to enjoy again something I already knew I was gonna love.

[Katherine]

episodes 1-30

as far as i can tell this is the only goodreads entry for the webtoon, so i'm just logging it for everything that's out so far.

one of the great things about having a graphic novel adaptation of the first book in a series, when 6 follow up entries exist, is they can add a whole lot of foreshadowing. and boy did they.

some of those flashback scenes are gonna fucking haunt me.

can't wait for more from the webtoon.

(more so can't wait for a parade of horribles but yk)

now that i've finished this how am i going to stop myself from starting the audiobooks over again...

[Simon Gonzalez · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was SOOOOO good. I work at a bookstore and the book series this graphic novel is adapting is absolutely booming in sales right now, so I decided to use the graphic novel as an entryway — a tester — to see if I’d be into the tomes…. and holy crap, it was so good.

Never would I have expected something this good to come out of something so impromptu for me. I was immediately fascinated by the clear intricacies of this world. How matter-of-fact everything felt while still being a new experience for Crawler Carl.

The control over the world and its role-playing/video game elements made for an exciting, hilarious, and stupendous read. Truly, this might be my favorite graphic novel to date— this single volume fully surpasses all of the “Saga” books for me. It is just so full of thrill and has a light air due to its surreal, limbo-type state.

Instead of feeling trapped and suffocated under the confines of the dungeons and being out of control, I was instead along for the ride completely, believing everything happening from the external world and all of its details to Carl’s sharp inner-thoughts, which hold a quippy level of control and precision like no other MC in this type of story. And the technology feels fully integrated within the video game aspect, instead of taking over with some horrible AI voice. A talking cat is better.

This book is a game, and it plays out as such while still holding your hand through it, for the newness of the world is felt on your skin even through the end of the volume, yet I never felt confused or bored or felt as if the book was trying too hard, because it wasn’t. It simply was being good. It jumped from one thing to the next but in the smoothest of ways, laying the groundwork for what’s to come while distracting me with the pretty cat and the goblins and all the fun rules and the awesome character growth that is already clear as day.

I was also just fascinated by the immense connection I felt to Carl. Normally it takes me a second to really connect with a character, especially if we are in such a detached situation, but the confidence of the story led me to lean heavily on Carl, lean on him as a character to react to this plot of events in a way that will convince me all of this is real, all of this is worth stressing over and reading. The key to what makes the book so good isn’t in the story itself but in the way Carl is presented to you, almost like a blank canvas MC for you to put yourself into but still having a character with history, with past motivations and plans, with intense intention, and genuine bond with the cat— what this type of story really needs to complete its circle.

The premise is also absurd, but it works so well! Not something that can be pulled off like pulling feathers out of pillows. It takes effort and making everything count in this world is indispensable. There could be a lot of aimless running around but there isn’t, so I liked that. Aliens broadcast our pain?? What?? Yet Matt Dinniman just says, go along with it, you’ll see! It’s that perfect combination of fun and purpose, of a sense of humor that had me laughing out loud (Princess Donut accidentally joining a royal line of succession because of her magical crown lol), and of a story that feels and breathes ORIGINAL and CREATIVE in beautiful, colorful, and unique ways.

It’s safe to say I will definitely be reading the first novel in the book series, and if this promise Dinniman has made — with such awesome characters and such a cool story — is to unravel as best as it can, I’m all in for the ride!!!

[Tiffany Seward · Rating 3 out of 5]

Comic | Book Adaption | RPG

Thank you to Vault Comics for this ARC in exchange for my honest review!

•Plot: Dungeon Crawler Carl, Vol. 1 (Graphic Novel) starts off at 2:22 am, the end of the world, with MC in his undergarments and crocs holding his ex’s cat named Donut. That cat saved his life by running away from him. He’s immediately given the option to enter a world dungeon where he has to complete 18 levels. The story unfolds from here. The story's style is RPG & Game show-like. The art style is action-packed, and the pacing is smoother than the audio and original text of the book.
•What I liked: There’s comedy & horror. I like how there are recognizable RPG-level-up UIs throughout the comic. The MC has to be entertaining to earn level-ups, not just survive the dungeon.
•What didn’t work for me: Mostly women with dark hair have been harmed so far, besides an elderly lady. Haven't seen any other men beside the MC so far. Maybe will see them in the next volumes.
•Themes / Ideas: Survival, Gamer applying their skills in their actual life.
•Who I’d recommend it to: Adults. Fans of the original book. Fans of RPGs. Cat lovers.

Overall/Thoughts: At the moment, I enjoy this version of the Dungeon Crawler Carl comic more than the original book and audio book combined. I have listened to some of the audiobook where he sounds like Buzz Lightyear. I like how, in this adaptation of the comic, the character is portrayed as way cooler than someone like Buzz Lightyear. It ends on a decent cliffhanger. He’s barely out of the tutorial for the dungeon and hasn’t deep dived into it yet, with things occurring like running into goblins. If you have any RPG/MMORPG experience, this story will feel relatable in how you have to farm and collect things to be stronger to endure more difficult levels.

[LogFanJams · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh.

This is cute for what it is, but I wasn't as impressed by it as I was hoping. The art style really threw me off; it's just too anime and tries to be bit too silly. Even though the first book is the most lighthearted of the series, there's still a gravity to it and I don't think the style really worked for it. It also felt less dynamic than the text, which is not something that you would think when it comes to a comic book. I did like the design for Princess Donut - I loved her big eyes, and it was a good simplification of a Persian cat. I also liked how, with it being a comic book, we were able to see the other crawlers - 90% sure they showed Katia, Eva, and Hekla, along with Li Na, Li Jun, and Zhang so that was cool. The way that some elements described in the book were rendered visually like the notifications and the chests were also neat.

One thing I did not care for was how it made Mordecai into a sexy rat man, didn't like that at all.

I think the story itself also suffers since this is a condensed version of the first like...half (maybe) of the first book, so a lot of stuff got chopped or changed or introduced way earlier (like Cascadia - why is she a hologram? why is the system giving her name right away? that was a big deal in Masquerade; the kinder facility on the surface; the elites (though it was fun to see Signet again - hey girl). We also have a lot of Carl talking out loud when those statements were thoughts in the original book and it really would not have been that bad to keep them as thought bubbles.

Also, incredibly coward move to end the book BEFORE the goblin chief fight.

I will probably not continue on with this, but there are some good elements that do help with showing the story outside of Carl's perspective, which I always enjoy. I think I'm just gonna keep reading the books though.

[Frank Chillura (OhYouRead) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m two books into the series via audiobook, which is the way to go in my opinion. While it has only one actor, the things Jeff Hays can do with his voice makes it very easy to differentiate characters. I wasn’t sure how I would feel about reading it, because it is, seemingly, a very male focused book, which I tend to not like. But upon starting it, I realized that it’s actually not. The focus may be on our MC Carl, but his ex’s cat really feminizes the story in a way I didn’t think possible by just having a pet along for the action. Needless to say, I could see anyone falling in love with it.

When I saw that there would be a graphic novel, I got really excited. I’m a visual learner more than anything, so to really get the full experience of the story, I like that I have the graphic novels to fall back on to remember important plot points. Albeit, these will be coming out for a while over time, so it’ll be a big wait in between books. I don’t care. I’ll wait for them. Reading it this way was even better than listening. You can tell me a side character’s species or race, but having photo representation will help me understand. Mordecai is a rat person and while I remember that from the audiobook, seeing it solidified it to memory.

There is only one big difference I can see or that I caught was that Princess Donut is calico in the book and white in the graphic novel. I know that it would take FOREVER to match up every spot and draw her with that many colors throughout the entire book, so I understand why the change was made. She’s still adorable and prissy, so I can deal with that small difference.

I’m a big fan of the series and I love that even more people will have the opportunity to enjoy it as much as I do.

[Jennyfer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I adore the Dungeon Crawler Carl series. They're raw and messy and chaotic ... and so full of heart and empathy. Come for the chaos. Stay for the cat.

Premise: Late one winter's night, while Carl is standing outside in little more than his boxers trying to get his ex-girlfriend's cat out of a tree, the world ends. Those who were outside survived, and are given a chance to win back the earth from an alien race by entering the World Dungeon, a real life RPG where their deaths are broadcast to an intergalactic audience.

Its messy. So messy.

But Carl, accompanied by the cat, Princess Donut the Queen Anne Chonk, is determined to do what it takes for the two of them to survive.

This graphic novel is a faithful adaptation of the original, with treading a very fine line when it comes to balancing humour and gore. The pacing is spot on, and the colours are amazing, and I love the expressions the artist has given Donut - far and away my favourite character here!

This book, features Carl, Donut, their guild trainer Mordecai, and their bopca Tally, and covers book 1 up to the Goblin Chieftain (ending, of course on a cliffhanger).

On a technical aspect - I tested this on a Kobo Clara Colour; a Kindle Coloursoft and a tablet. The text was a bit blurry and too small on the Kobo; the Kindle wasn't much better (and I had a few glitches on the Kindle). The digital verson of this graphic novel is best suited for larger screens - a computer or tablet, so you can clearly see all the content.

I can't wait for this - and Vol 2 - to be published!

~This was an Edelweiss+ ARC. All opinions are my own~

[Online Eccentric Librarian · Rating 4 out of 5]

More reviews (and no fluff) on the blog http://surrealtalvi.wordpress.com/

This manga-esque comic depicts the first half of the first book in the hugely popular Dungeon Crawler Carl series. The story is very faithful to the book with only minor adaptations done for the forma. Fans of the book will feel right at home.

The story has the slightly absurd premise that the whole world is destroyed by aliens and a group of humans is placed in a World Dungeon—a D&D-style dungeon adventure game that functions as a Hunger Games along with deadly consequences and live entertainment for viewers. While it sounds (and is) bonkers, as long as you just suspend belief the story is actually very enjoyable and becomes quite deep further into the books.

For existing fans, the fun part is seeing visuals of the characters. These are primarily good, I especially liked Mordecai and Princess Donut. Carl himself is a bit of a disappointment, he looks too handsome and a bit too teenager compared to what I had imagined. The dungeon, the locations and the gear are all fun. The game popups are fun, though they don't have the same impact when splattered across the page where you can skip reading them. Overall, the art is fine, though simplistic and more of manga than western comic. Reviewed from an advance reader copy provided by the publisher.

[Rustic Red Reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

thanks for edelweiss and Vault Comics for providing this arc in exchange for an honest review

I heard so much of DCC from the r/fantasy subreddit, tried the first few chapters in audio and absolutely adored it - it's funny and the narrator is great. But unluckily I wasn't able to continue it since I got busy and read other books.

I think I stopped listening to the audiobook after the third chapter of this graphic novel and I'd say it feels it lacked something. But it hooked me, a few chapters after that especially during the first boss fight. That part made me more interested in reading the novel (and finishing this graphic novel).

I've read the first few chapters, around 4-5, before switching to the webtoon version, since the Adobe Digital app just sucks and feels laggy to read the comic. And I notice some things, like you could notice how they enlarge some panels, they seems to bit a bit blurry on some details. Aside from that, the re-ordering of the panels from the vertical WEBtoon to a standard graphic novel format is proper.

My ARC also ended in Chapter 13, which is weird, since the blurb mentions this one is supposed to be 1-14. And Chapter 14 is the better ending point.

Unless you're getting a physical copy, I highly recommend reading the WEBtoon version, instead of this, ebook graphic novel. The WEBtoon is the original format and it got some music playing, which makes reading this one way better.

[Cyrus · Rating 4 out of 5]

We got these in super early at work, so I was able to buy a copy in advance.

It's fine. I have a bad memory, but I felt like, based on what I remembered of book one, it does a good job adapting DCC up to the point it stops at. The art style is very nice, very pretty, well drawn, but not my cup of tea per se. The style and storytelling in the graphic novel feels super Webtoon, which tracks since that's where this was originally published. It's interesting how the tone can change so much even though it's based on a novel with a distinct voice already.

I am not really into the "Webtoon" vibe of the comic. I don't vibe with it as much as I loved the books. Something about it just feels off, I guess? But still, this adaptation is not bad. Just not the same.

Not everyone looks the way I imagined, but this isn't the end of the world since I usually tend to imagine characters wayyy off from what's actually described. The Kua-Tin weren't exactly what I expected, for example, but it was nice to have a visual for them.

If you like the series, you'll like this. It's kind of quaint to come back to the first installment to see how simple it used to be. Charming, even. It's not spectacular and the novels are obviously a much better way to enjoy the story, but it's fun and it's fine.

[Katie Hall · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m so excited for this series! I really enjoyed the first volume of the Dungeon Crawler Carl graphic novel. I love Carl and I’m absolutely obsessed with Princess Donut, both are such loveable and entertaining characters but I also just love their dynamic so much. The plot was a fun one to follow too, it’s like they’re put into a game, and everything is being broadcasted on tv! The elements of the dungeon, the enemies, loot system, side characters are all so intriguing and mysterious. I’m so excited to learn more about these characters and who will be joining Carl and Princess Donuts team. I’m also curious how things will unfold with the overall game and if we’ll get more information regarding how it came to be. This is a series I’ve heard so much about, I have the novels on my tbr, and I’m so excited to read them! Thank you to Edelweiss and the publisher for my complimentary review copy.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wasn’t initially a fan of the fact that Carl and Donut looked nothing like I pictured them, but I got past that quickly and found this to be really fun. Seeing the AI’s reaction to Carl’s feet illustrated made it twice as creepy and hilarious. They also did a great job summarizing so much content while staying true to the story and overall ambiance of the book. I was sad that my favorite scene was not depicted exactly as it is in the book, and there were a couple of other minor inconsistencies that made me pause.

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just as delightful as the source material.
Volume 1 covers chapters 1-13 of the Webtoon adaptation, which is roughly 1/4 of the first novel.
The illustrations are awesome and I'm enjoying the way some of the visual gags add to the humour of the story. It's also cool to be able to see what some of the characters look like, and look forward to seeing illustrations of more mobs as the story progresses.

[Erika · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Carl and Her Majesty, Princess Donut the Queen Anne Chonk and their adventures. The whole series is a lot of fun, and I am glad it is getting a graphic novel version. The graphic novel is very true to the books, and Laurel Pursuit Studios did a great job with a style that is definitely appealing to both women and men.

[Nikki_charis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Was able to read volume one of this graphic novel early, and it is every bit as good as you’d expect comic to be! The art design is great, and it has all the important moments and characters from the book. Seeing Carl and Donut drawn to life is so cool! Mordecai looks awesome!

Totally recommend if you’re a fan of the series.

[Savanah Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this on WEBTOON side by side with the novel and it is a very faithful adaptation. If anything it even adds more to the story. It was cool getting to read a chapter of the book then a chapter here to see an artistic rendering. Volume 1 also covered a lot of the book. About half. The entirety of part one of the book is here. Excited to read the next installments whenever they come out.

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Found this at Kinokuniya and since I've been enjoying the audiobooks I wanted to give it a try. It's faithful to the novel, taking us partway through the First Floor, though at this rate it's hard to imagine it catching up and actually finishing the series. The artwork is decent, a bit basic and lacking detail for my tastes. But a good effort.

[Jess · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this graphic novel, and it's a great representation of DCC! My only issues were some of the print was pretty small, and the AI descriptions were a yellow background with a white font... not the easiest to read. But I liked it so much, and love supporting this series so much that if they do a hardcover (and larger book size) reprint of it, I'd buy it in a heartbeat.

[Brooke Wright · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read via Webtoon
WOW THIS ART IS AMAZING.
The way this has been translated from prose to graphic novel is beautifully done. I love love love the way Donut’s character looks.

I may or may not have read the entire thing in Jeff Hays’ voice.

[Barry Haworth · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first part of the graphic novel adapation of Dungeon Crawler Carl. I read it on the Webtoon page.

A faithful adaptation of the printed book, with some pretty cool artwork.

[Amanda [Novel Addiction] · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay, I can see why people like this series. And it seems to be transposed well into Graphic Novel format. My library patrons are very likely to enjoy this one, so I'll have to get it for our system.

[Jamie Patterson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really fun seeing an artist’s interpretation of these characters after listening to the audiobook version. Art was fantastic. Goodreads made me identify where I got my “advanced copy” for this rating. Don’t understand that. I literally got it at a store lol.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

👑🐱🍩 (4.5/5)
i actually started reading this on webtoon last year and had no clue this was being published!

*advanced readers review