Dark Horse Penguin Picks: March 2023
Above-the-Board Recommendation:
Oh My Goddess! Omnibus vol. 7
This series had the distinction of being Dark Horse’s longest-published manga series up until October 2017 when the sixth omnibus came out. When no subsequent omnibus was solicited in the months afterward, I had assumed that the fanbase for Kosuke Fujishima’s “Oh My Goddess!” had well and truly moved on. Much later than I did after dropping the series with vol. 35.
Fate works in mysterious ways, however, and now these solicitations see the publication of the next omnibus over five years after the last one. Is it evidence that the “OMG!” fandom is more resilient than we initially thought? Or is this the result of passion within Dark Horse editorial combined with that sweet, sweet Embracer Group money? Whatever the case is, anyone who’s been waiting to read this series in this format should pre-order this volume right now to make sure that the publisher continues to put them out without another five year gap between them.
Clear #1 (of 3): Here’s another title that’s the result of Dark Horse having the physical publishing rights to the series Scott Snyder has delivered via his publishing deal with ComiXology. It’s the near future and mankind no longer needs to see the world as it is. With the advent of neurological filters, we can see the world however we want. Black-and-White movie? No problem. Zombie Apocalypse? You got it. Anime? It’s one of our most popular options? There are those who choose to live without filters, and neo-shamus Sam Dunes is one of them. So it’s only natural that he’d wind up investigating a murder that takes him from the lowest to highest reaches of this society.
It’s an interesting concept, to be sure, and I don’t doubt that Snyder has thought about how being able to see the world your own way relates to our current sociopolitical landscape. “Clear” is also being illustrated by the very talented Francis Manapul, and seeing how he illustrates the various worldviews should make this book a visual showcase for him. My only issue is that it’s not immediately clear how the murder mystery makes use of this concept. It seems like a story that could be done just as well without the concept of neurological filters, so we’ll see if Snyder and Manapul can show us what the solicitation isn’t making clear *rimshot*.
Order & Outrage #1 (of 4): It is the future and gene optimization is all the rage… if you can afford it. For those who can, the world is theirs. For everyone else, it sucks to be you! However, there’s a lot of “everyone else” in this new series from writer Jim Starlin and artist Rags Morales, and they’re coming together to try and tear the whole system down. Starlin is a living legend in the superhero comics space mainly due to his work in Marvel’s cosmic space which gave us “The Infinity Gauntlet.” Years later and you probably already know if this series is going to be for you based on seeing his name here. It’s nice to see Morales providing the art here as he’s someone who has done lots of good work in the past at Marvel and DC, but never quite managed to hit the big time at either publisher.
Lot 13: Just your average story about an ordinary family that moves into a new apartment, only to find out that the land it was built on was the site of a gruesome family murder over 300 years ago. Written by horror maestro Steve Niles, it features art from Glenn Fabry, who’s no stranger to ghostly and gruesome stories. Though this doesn’t sound like a particularly novel horror story, I’m mentioning this because it was originally published in single-issue form by DC a decade ago. This will be the first time those single issues have been collected in a single volume, which is something Dark Horse should be commended for.
Lady Baltimore: The Dream of Ikelos (One-Shot): Sofia Baltimore continues her fight against the Nazis. This time she’s racing them to a magical artifact in the Italian Alps that could give them the edge in the war. Though the initial “Lady Baltimore” miniseries was better than I was expecting it to be, I can’t say that it left me eager for a full-on continuation of her story. Co-writers Mike Mignola and Christopher Golden, along with artist Bridgit Connell appear to be testing the appetite for future stories with the character via this one-shot rather than a full-on sequel miniseries. Not a bad idea and I’ll certainly be willing to read it after they’ve published enough stories for it to be collected in another volume. Whenever they get around to it, because I’m a patient man when it comes to reading things in collected editions.
Avatar: The High Ground – Library Edition HC: “The Way of Water” is in theaters now and it looks like there was a lot more appetite for more “Avatar” than its critics were expecting. To the point where writer/director James Cameron’s five-film plan for the series now seems like it’s going to be fulfilled based on the box office for this second film. Which is good news for Dark Horse, as they’ve been publishing “Avatar” comics for a while now. This includes the three volumes of “The High Ground” which serve as a direct prequel to the current film. While the $50 cover price may seem a bit steep, it’s actually a bargain when you realize that the three volumes it collects were originally published as $25 hardcovers. So the Library Edition is essentially a physical “Buy 2, Get 1 Free” deal.
What about the stories themselves? *shrugs* I liked “The Way of Water,” but it really felt like more “Avatar” and not necessarily better “Avatar.” Let me know when Dark Horse finally gets around to publishing comics about the series’ most interesting character, Col. Miles Quaritch, and then I’ll likely start to care.
Skinner HC: Wherein six internet celebrities and a superstar survivalist crash-land in the Canadian Wilderness and find themselves facing off against the titular horror who tracks, kills, and skins his victims. It, uh… does seem to be kind of difficult to determine who to root for in this situation. Maybe the survivalist isn’t as much of a douche as his superstar status implies? This comes to us from co-writers Mickey Neilson and Samwise Didier, and artist Piotr Kowalski, whose presence assures that this will at least look good even if it fails to rise above familiar slasher movies tropes.