Gravity Falls: Lost Legends (2018)

Gravity Falls: Lost Legends is a graphic novel published by Disney Press, based on the animated television series Gravity Falls. Written by series creator Alex Hirsch, the comics in the book are illustrated by various artists, including Asaf Hanuka and Dana Terrace. The comics explores four new adventures taking place within the show's continuity. A second book, The Book of Bill, was published in 2024.

First announced at the fifth D23 Expo in July 2017, the book was released on July 24, 2018, alongside the complete series box set. Barnes and Noble released a special exclusive edition as well which includes 16 extra pages with behind the scenes production art and drawings from the book. Lost Legends was generally positively received by fans, with praise for its "brilliant application" of the comic medium. The book appeared on The New York Times Best Seller list in August 2018.

Plot

The story begins with narration by Shmebulock the gnome. Because he is only able to say his own name, the other gnomes believe he is stupid and ridicule him. In actuality, his impediment was caused by a curse from an evil warlock, and once every millennium, he is able to speak fluent English. Shmebulock tells the reader four tales about the Pines family and their untold adventures.

Face It

Stanford Pines puts Dipper in charge of looking after his journals while he searches for the Mothman, who owes him money. A little later, Pacifica Northwest shows up at the door and asks Dipper if she can look for information in the journals to remove a wrinkle for an upcoming photoshoot with her parents. Knowing how dangerous the journals are, Dipper refuses to help, so Pacifica sneaks into the twins' bedroom to view the journals. She summons a monster called Mr. What's-His-Face, who promises to give her a flawless face. Pacifica accepts his deal, but their exchange is interrupted by the twins. Mr. What's-His-Face steals Mabel's face instead of Pacifica's, then flees.

Dipper and Pacifica track the monster into the Crawlspace, a paranormal black market underneath the town. Dipper tricks Pacifica into covering herself with garbage in order to blend in with the paranormal creatures. During an argument, they are caught by other monsters and sold to an unknown buyer. While in the burlap sack, Dipper assures Pacifica that she is "more than just a pretty face" after she reveals her insecurity with regard to her appearance due to pressure from her parents.

Finding themselves at Mr. What's-His-Face's study, the two demand to have Mabel's face back, but he instead steals Dipper's face. Facing a choice on whether to have an everlasting beautiful face or fight him to get back the twins' faces, Pacifica sets Mr. What's-His-Face's head on fire by tossing explosive beauty pills at him. The three escape into an outhouse, where Ford incapacitates the monster with a freeze ray. With little time left to clean herself up, Pacifica decides not to care about her appearance and attends the shoot covered in trash, which disgusts her parents.

Comix Up

Soos brings his collection of comic books to the Mystery Shack and shares them with Dipper, Mabel, and Wendy. However, Stanley confiscates Soos's collection due to his disdain for comic books and locks them in a cursed chest. A malicious narration box follows Stan around and traps him inside one of the comic books. Dipper, Soos, Mabel, Ford, and Wendy go into the book and enter a world of shifting art styles and genres. They chase a mysterious purple man, believing that he knows Stan's whereabouts. After they corner the purple man, he sets off a bomb that sends everyone flying out of the story's panels and into the margins.

Soos finds Stan in a comic called Li'l Stanley, which Stan created as a child, but the comic was rejected by publishers due to its excessive use of profanity, causing him to resent the medium. Soos urges Stan to continue his childhood dream and apologize to the cursed chest, but Stan refuses to refer to the medium as "graphic novels". The narration box attempts to kill Stan and Soos, but Ford, Wendy, Dipper, and Mabel appear, and Mabel defeats the narration box with white-out. After the group returns to the real world, Stan reproduces his childhood comic and sells copies of it in the Shack's gift shop.

Don't Dimension It

During an expedition through the forest of Gravity Falls to check for leftover dimensional rifts in the aftermath of Weirdmageddon, Mabel falls into a wormhole while retrieving her pig Waddles, prompting Stan and Ford to enter it in order to find her. She ends up in a pocket dimension, along with other lost Mabels of the multiverse. However, all of the other Mabels are preoccupied with their own tasks, so none of them are willing to help Mabel return to her dimension. She meets another Mabel who resembles her and shares her determination to leave the dimension. The two Mabels work together to retrieve a flare gun and manage to alert Stan and Ford to their location. However, the other Mabel locks Mabel into an outhouse, revealing herself to be Anti-Mabel, "the most evil Mabel in the multiverse", and intends to take Mabel's place in her dimension and conquer the dimension itself. Stan and Ford arrive and pick up Anti-Mabel. Leaving the outhouse, Mabel tries to get help from the other Mabels but becomes aggravated when they are too preoccupied to help. Realizing how similar their selfish behavior is to her own past actions, Mabel manages to rally the other Mabels to help her defeat Anti-Mabel.