Dark Horse Previews Picks: February 2021
Above-the-Board Recommendation:
Autobiographix HC
This is a full-size hardcover reissue of an anthology that Dark Horse published seventeen years ago. We all know that the people at Dark Horse are fans of short stories, and they’ve published a lot of anthology collections over the years. What makes this one stand out? For one, the hit-to-miss ratio is a lot better than most collections. I’d say two-thirds of the stories here hit their mark and the ones that don’t are still at least interesting from a stylistic perspective. Then there’s the sheer amount of talent involved in this collection: Sergio Aragones, Stan Sakai, Paul Chadwick, Matt Wagner, Will Eisner, and more! All of them are here, telling stories about their lives, life itself, or giving you their favorite Italian chicken recipe.
I own the original small trim size version of this collection and while I’d like to upgrade to this fancy hardcover edition, that’s not going to happen. That’s because my copy was autographed by Aragones himself after I bought it from him at Comic-Con several years back. I picked it up at his booth where it was advertised as telling the story of the time the artist met Richard Nixon. Even though I didn’t get it at a discount, it didn’t matter because the stories inside justified the cover price.
Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla HC: The prequel to the latest game is collected. While I just waxed poetic about how a collection of autobiographical short stories was worth buying at cover price, I can’t muster up the same enthusiasm for this story. Maybe it’s because paying $18 for a 72-page comic based on a videogame seems excessive. It’s not that I’m not interested, or that I don’t think the comic will be at least decent, but just have this feeling that I’ll get a better value for my money picking up the three issues when they’re on sale, digitally.
Black Hammer: Visions #1 (of 8): It’s no secret that this series and its co-creator/writer, Jeff Lemire, have lost a lot of appeal in my eyes over the last couple of years. “Black Hammer” initially seemed like a compelling, character-driven mystery drenched in the history of comics before it (and its spinoffs) revealed themselves as uninspired navel-gazing about the industry’s past. Lemire himself has also shown himself to be a writer who loves to take the conventional, safe path and let his artistic partners do the heavy lifting when it comes to the actual storytelling.
“Visions,” however, is something different. While it’s described as a “reimagining” of the “Black Hammer” mythos, it actually looks more like an anthology project with some talented people involved. Patton Oswalt writest the first issue, with Dean Kotz illustrating the story of how Golden Gail maintained her sanity during the early days on the farm. Subsequent issues promise contributions from the likes of Geoff Johns, Mariko Tamaki, Kelly Thompson, and, uh, Chip Zdarsky. So while it’s clear that not every issue of this series promises to be a winner, it wouldn’t surprise me to see the majority of the writers on this project do “Black Hammer” better than Lemiere did.
Fear Case #1 (of 4): Another month, another new creator-owned miniseries from Matt Kindt. This time he’s back with his “Grass Kings” collaborator, artist Tyler Jenkins, for a story about the title object. It’s a box that has appeared throughout history at sites of great disaster or tragedy. It has become the job of two Secret Service agents to track this box down, and to stay one step ahead of the cult that wants to seize the object for their own purposes. This sounds fine, though I’m wondering how it became the job of the Secret Service to track this box down, given what their day job is. On a semi-related note: I’d like to read “Grass Kings” someday. However, I’m stuck waiting for BOOM! to release an omnibus edition of its three volumes or for those three volumes to receive softcover editions. I’m not going to pay $30 a volume to read a three-volume collection of a 14-issue series.
Resident Alien vol. 6: Your Ride’s Here: The latest installment in this series may wind up being the first one I’ve bought in print since the first. Scratch that — it will be the first one I’ve bought in print since the first. Even if the TV series that’s being spun off from it turns out to be junk, I can at least appreciate the fresh interest it has brought to this underappreciated title. Getting an omnibus edition of the previous titles and this new volume is pretty great, regardless.
Shaolin Cowboy: Shemp Buffet: Softcover volume of Geoff Darrow’s series about a martial artist, who dresses like a cowboy, and does nothing but murder zombies. That’s it. There is no plot to this series at all beyond that. Darrow makes this all look good, but this is the very definition of style over substance.
Young Hellboy #1 (of 4): The Hidden Land: If I’m not mistaken, this is the first Young Hellboy miniseries we’ve seen. Creator Mike Mignola is co-writing, of course. Joining him is fellow co-writer Tom Sniegoski and artist Craig Rousseau. Together, they’re going to tell the story of the time that Young Hellboy and Professor Bruttenholm wound up on a strange island after their trip to a South American dig site goes badly. Expect lots of monsters, the title character learning some life lessons, Bruttenholm being overprotective, and what sounds like a potential supporting role for Lobster Johnson based on the solicitation text.