Dark Horse Penguin Picks: January 2024
Above-the-Board Recommendation:
Usagi Yojimbo Saga: Legends
Dark Horse’s omnibus reprinting of everything “Usagi Yojimbo” finally reaches the stuff that’s not directly part of the ongoing series. I’m talking about the first three “Space Usagi” stories, the end-of-the-saga miniseries “Senso,” the color OGN “Yokai” and the color short “Gagged.” All of that is collected here along with a color gallery and unspecified “creative process” features. I’ve read everything here except for “Gagged” and if you’re worried that apocryphal tales like these won’t be on the same level of quality compared to what creator Stan Sakai has been delivering in the ongoing series for decades, you’d be mostly – but not entirely – wrong.
The “Space Usagi” miniseries collected here are all quality sci-fi romps that give Sakai the chance to show how the character can work in a far-future setting. As well as the chance to draw a lot of dinosaurs. I’ve talked about “Senso” before, and while it’s not a bad story – it gave us the Usagi Gundam – it’s just not what I wanted in a series finale. “Yokai” was fun, featured great painted art, but ultimately feels a bit inconsequential. All of this is to say that this collection is likely to be for “Usagi” completists, but it’s a case where they’re likely to get some genuine enjoyment out of what’s on offer here.
If You Find This I’m Already Dead #1: New from writer Matt Kindt and artist Dan McDaid. It’s another one of the writer’s high-concept ideas about a female reporter who’s embedded with a group of marines… A group of marines who are about to enter a hostile pocket universe known as Terminus! Unfortunately for the reporter, the marines are wiped out and now she has to survive in a world where its science-fiction gods are in the middle of a power struggle. Sucks to be her. Kind’s hit ratio on the miniseries he’s produced here at Dark Horse isn’t great, but the setup sounds like something that could actually fill the four-or-five issues we’re likely to get from this. So that’s something.
Kill All Immortals #1: It’s pitched as “Succession” meets “John Wick,” but with immortal vikings! After Erik the Red discovered a source of immortality for himself and his family they now exist in the present day as a mysterious billionaire banking family. They’re all content with this, save for Erik’s daughter Frey, who wants to finally be free of her family’s influence. Start the violence! This comes to us from writer Zackary Kaplan, whose name isn’t ringing any bells with me. However, it’s illustrated by “No One Left to Fight’s” Fico Ossio, which gives me hope that this could actually live up to the standard set by “Wick” even if he doesn’t go full “Dragonball” like he so magnificently did in his signature title.
Blue Book: 1947 #1: Still haven’t picked up the first volume because $25 for a book written by James Tynion IV is still kind of a big ask for me. Even if it’s illustrated by Michael Avon Oeming. It appears that the original miniseries was successful enough for Dark Horse to keep putting these comics from the writer’s Substack into print, which has to count for something. This time around we start off with the experience of a civilian pilot who had an encounter with a flash of light and some UFOs in the Pacific Northwest.
Empowered vol. 12: Delayed again, it would appear. Doesn’t matter. I’m a patient man. It’s enough to know that this is still coming and if creator Adam Warren needs a couple more months to put the finishing touches on this then he should get them.
Groo in the Wild: Wherein the Cheese Dip Wanderer tries to figure out how man and beast can live together in harmony. I’m not worried for the beasts in this scenario so much as I am for the people around them. Unless they’re poachers. In which case Death by Fray will be too good for them. The “Gods” cycle of this long-running comic wasn’t its finest hour, so let’s hope for a return to form for Sergio Aragones and Mark Evanier here.
Panya: The Mummy’s Curse HC: One more Mignolaverse miniseries from the man himself, co-writer Chris Roberson and artist Christopher Mitten. Since they started publishing these in hardcover I no longer feel the need to buy every one of them. This story about the history of the B.P.R.D.’s mummy girl doesn’t strike me as something I should make an exception for. Unless I can find it for cheap in a digital sale.