Dark Horse Previews Picks: July 2012
Two new manga series debut from Dark Horse in their latest solicitations. Well, one new one and one new edition of a series previously published by Tokyopop. As all of the collections are advance-solicited by two months, this means that a full year after “Eden vol. 13” came out there’s still no sign of the next volume. With that in mind, I’ll be hitting up the local Kinokuniya before the end of this year to see if I can get my hands on the Japanese editions so I can read the scanlations guilt-free. By doing this, I’m sure that this will cause Dark Horse to finish publishing the series in English to spite me for investing the funds to read it quasi-legally. I realize this comes off as terribly egocentric of me, but it worked when I imported “Xenoblade” from the U.K. Sooooooooo, maybe here too?
Angelic Layer Book 1 TP: Another CLAMP “license rescue.” The series was notable at the time as it was a shonen series from the group best known for its shojo titles. It involves a young girl, Misaki, who is newly arrived in Tokyo and winds up getting swept into the latest craze to sweep the country, “Angelic Layer.” It involves human operators controlling miniature robots with their minds as they battle it out in arenas. I only read two volumes of the original release before I gave it up because this is one of the very, VERY, rare instances where the anime is actually better than the manga it’s based on. “Angelic Layer” was only five volumes long, but the anime ran for a full 26 episodes and it had a lot more room to develop its cast and story in that space. If I recall, the TV series also had input from CLAMP, so that’s another reason it turned out so well. Problem is, it’s also out of print at the moment, so if you’re looking for a cost-effective way to experience the story, the manga is it.
Berserk vol. 36: It’s that time of year again! That said, it does feel a little odd to read this and realize that the next volume is still five months off. We’ll be getting a new volume of “Claymore” before then, and Viz has announced plans to release the movie trilogy which adapts the “Golden Age” arc, which was already covered in the anime version released over a decade ago. At least this version has to have a better ending, right? Anyway, given the way that stories unfold in this title I’m not expecting the “H.P. Lovecraft’s Pirates of the Caribbean” arc which started in the previous volume to be wrapped up here, but it should be a solid piece of storytelling nonetheless. Paradoxically, I’m actually encouraged by the solicitation text which describes nothing we don’t already know about the story. So what’s inside should come as a total and welcome surprise, right?
Bucko HC: This is a collection of Jeff Parker and Erika Moen’s webcomic about a guy who comes off a job interview only to find a dead body in the building’s restroom. What follows is a romp through the wilds of Portland, Oregon, to find the real killer and survive all the weirdness he encounters. I’ve heard good things about it, and I’ve been meaning to read more of Parker’s comics work since you never seem to hear a bad thing about what he has written. Hopefully I’ll be able to give him the same treatment Jonathan Hickman got when I go to Comic-Con this year.
Concrete: Three Uneasy Pieces: This one-shot collects the “Concrete” stories from the first three issues of the new “Dark Horse Presents.” I don’t doubt that these shorts will be great, but… is this all we’re getting? When it was announced that Paul Chadwick would be writing more stories with his signature character, I thought that meant we’d eventually get a new trade paperback out of the experience. But if this is it… then I guess I’ll have to pick it up.
Oreimo vol. 1: Short for “Ore no Imōto ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai” or “I Can’t Believe My Little Sister Is This Cute.” Based off a series of light novels it’s one of the bigger otaku-bait series to hit Japan in recent memory, the anime will be released here later this year, while a second season has already been announced for later this year. I’ve never seen or read any of these, but everything I’ve heard or read about this title has me thinking that it’s another in a long line of anime that continues to marginalize the appeal of the medium to the most specific, cash-friendly, and, uh… eccentric of fan demographics in its home country. As is, I could take or leave this title, unless Carl Horn winds up doing the English adaptation. Then I’ll buy this just to see him do what he does best.
Rex Mundi Omnibus vol. 1: It’s hard to recommend this based on how the series wrapped up with its, “That’s where you were going with this?” climax. However, for more than 5/6ths of its run it was an intricately plotted and constructed historical fantasy that drew you in with its mix of biblical conspiracies and alternate history. This omnibus collects the first three volumes and I can at least say that they are all good and certainly worth your money.
Star Wars: Crimson Empire vol. 3 — Empire Lost: A story over a decade in the making, if the information in writer/Dark Horse publisher Mike Richardson’s bio at the end of the second volume is accurate. After the well-done political intrigue of the second volume, this one has former Imperial Guard Kir Kanos looking to settle a score with Luke Skywalker for the death of the Emperor. Naturally there’s more to this story as Kanos and his sometimes rival/ally Mirith Sinn find themselves pawns in “a secret plot by an Imperial cabal.” Don’t you just hate it when that happens? Anyway, if this story really has been kicking around in Richardson’s head and on the page for the past ten years, I certainly hope he has taken his time to make it one of the best damn things he’s written. Also shipping this month is a hardcover collection collecting the entire “Crimson Empire” trilogy at a much lower price than if you had bought all three volumes individually. Normally these things take a little longer to arrive, but as the trade paperback will ONLY appeal to people like me who own the first two I can rationalize this omnibus as a way to get the story out to people who have never read any of them. That, I can live with.