QUICK ON THE DRAW

Artist turns his NY Marathon run into a comic

It’s the New York Marathon as you’ve never seen it: as a comic book.

A French cartoonist who ran the New York Marathon with zero experience has turned his extraordinary journey into a graphic novel. An English translation hits shelves in the Big Apple just in time for this year’s big race on Nov. 4.

In “My New York Marathon,” Sebastien Samson offers a unique runner’s-eye view of the worldrenowned race’s sights, sounds and struggles — a pursuit he says helped him get through the five-borough ordeal.

“I absolutely needed to finish running the New York Marathon for the story to have an ending, and this motivated me,” he told The Post.

Samson first decided to enter the marathon on a whim almost a decade ago. His wife and some friends — all experienced runners — wanted to attempt it in 2011, and he didn’t just want to cheer from the sidelines. Samson, a couch potato, had just a year and a half to prepare for the 26-mile slog, and the book illustrates his bumbling attempts to whip his creaky body into shape by jogging solo three times a week. But he still somehow managed to finish the whole marathon, in five hours and 44 minutes. He also strapped a GoPPro camera on his head to record every costumed competitor and sign-waving local, and used the footage to draw his book. “What comes back to me the most is really the moment at the start, the waiting, the sensation of being really a part of the world, with all the languages, the nationalities and the cheering crowds in Brooklyn that greet you like a real hero, a champion,” Samson said.

And since first releasing “My New York Marathon” in France in 2016, he says far more seasoned runners have praised him for capturing the magic.

“The people who come to ask me to sign their books have stars in their eyes when they talk about [New York], really, it’s something unique,” he said.

Samson’s take also caught the attention of George Hirsch, the chairman of marathon organizer the New York Road Runners, who called it “really fresh and charming.”

Now Samson is headed back to New York — not to run, but to speak about his book, including at the New York Public Library’s St Agnes branch on Oct. 31, the Road Runners’ Run Center in Midtown on Nov. 2 and Kinokuniya bookstore on Nov. 3.

Samson, who kept racing back in France, is also hoping to tackle New York again in 2021.

‘GRAPHIC’ DETAILS: Sebastien Samson’s graphic novel “My New York Marathon” (inset), out in English this week, depicts his running the race in 2011 despite a lack of training.