Dark Horse Penguin Picks: December 2023
One thing I noticed in this round of Penguin Picks is that there are no longer prices attached to any of the items solicited. I can’t say that this is directly related to all the talk I did about the prices of single issues of Dark Horse comics in the last round of these Penguin Picks, but I can’t disprove it either. I guess you’ll just have to determine whether or not these comics are interesting to you based on their concept alone and not how much it’ll cost you to read them. Comics like…
Above-the-Board Recommendation:
Murder, Inc. vol. 3: Jagger Rose
Hope springs eternal again that the latest installment of a series written by Bendis will remind me why I keep buying all of his stuff and won’t be another “Close, But Not Quite” reminder of his glory days. This time the offering is the third volume of his and Michael Avon Oeming’s “What if the Mafia rule the United States” title, “Murder, Inc.” Vol. 1 introduced us to soon-to-be made man Valentine Gallo and how he was thrust together with A-list assassin Jagger Rose after a revelation from his mother turned his life upside down. That was an interesting start to the series, and vol. 2 was entertaining in a style-over-substance way with a darkly compelling ending. Rose didn’t feature too much in that volume, but this looks to change for this volume (her name is the subtitle after all). There isn’t much to go on regarding what this volume is going to be about, save for the fact that Jagger is going to meet the Pope. Which is going to be a “really good idea” or a “really dumb idea” with no space in between.
Borealis #1: Around my household, Mark Verheiden is known for a few things. Writing the original run of “Aliens” comics at Dark Horse. Writing the “Timecop” movie. Executive producing (and writing at least one episode of) the modern “Battlestar Galactica” series. It’s that last bit which is most relevant to this new miniseries as Verheiden is co-writing it with Aaron Douglas who played Chief Engineer Galen Tyrol on that series. “Borealis” represents a break into sci-fi horror as it’s about an Alaskan State Trooper investigating some alcohol smuggling who winds up involved in some brutal murders by potentially inhuman perpetrators. Cliff Richards illustrates what sounds like a decent enough premise.
Hellboy Winter Special: The Yule Cat: Hellboy is in Reykjavik where the children are disappearing and a legendary monster has been spotted. Just another Tuesday for this employee of the B.P.R.D., in other words. While creator Mike Mignola’s name is on the cover to this one-shot, the solicitation text states that Matt Smith will be writing and illustrating this special. Which is fine as he’s become a much better artist over the years. Still, there’s an art to writing these kinds of stories, one that Mignola still has a better hand on than anyone else after all these years.
Masterpiece #’s 1&2: Emma may only be sixteen years old, but she’s already a famous inventor and webcomic artist who’s already set for life. She has no plans to coast, though, which is good when a vindictive billionaire shows up at her place one day. It turns out that her parents were some of the greatest thieves who ever lived and they took him for a cool billion many years ago. They’ve since disappeared and now he wants to extract repayment from Emma by having her set up a heist to disadvantage one of his corporate rivals. This comes to us from the team of Bendis and Alex Maleev, and this would be an easy sell to me… ten years ago. These days, I’m expecting some stylish art, individually compelling scenes and dialogue, and a plot that reads like it could’ve used another pass from editorial. This is a good setup. These are good creators. I want to be excited for this, but recent history has taught me to temper my expectations.
Cat + Gamer vol. 4: Office worker Riko Kozakura thought she was getting a handle on raising her cat Musubi. To the point where she was now considering her skills to be “intermediate” rather than “beginner.” It’s at this point that mangaka Wataru Nadatani decided to introduce a PLOT TWIST to this series – another cat joins Riko’s household! Will she be able to manage owning two cats? Will this new cat get along with Musubi? Is Riko going to turn into a crazy cat lady by the end of this series? All, or maybe none, of these answers and more in this volume of “Cat + Gamer!”
Den vol. 3: Children of Fire: It’s safe to say that Dark Horse’s reissue of this classic series from Richard Corben has been a resounding success. I say this because vol. 1 has been going in and out of print at both Amazon and Cheap Graphic Novels.com for a few months now. I’m still planning on getting it; though, I may have to bite the bullet and pay full price for it instead of trying to pick it up at a discount.