Beginning in 2007, Dynamite Entertainment began publishing comics based on Xena: Warrior Princess. Two four issue mini-series were released during 2007. Both were written by writer John Layman. The first (Contest of Pantheons) involved conflict between the Greek and Egyptian pantheons, as well as featured appearances by Callisto, Autolycus and Joxer. The second (Dark Xena) is actually set before its predacessor, but after the "A Friend in Need Part II" – explaining how Xena is alive again. Both mini-series were written by John Layman, with Fabiano Neves handling art duties for the first and Noah Salonga for the second. Each issue came had four variant covers, one of which was always a live-action still. Both mini-series were also released as trade paperbacks.