Dark Horse Penguin Picks: October 2024
Above-the-Board Recommendation:
Bowling With Corpses & Other Strange Tales From Lands Unknown
Far be it from me to demand that the man write and illustrate more stuff himself, but it’s been a while since we’ve been graced with a full volume of stories and art from Mike Mignola. That will change this January when we get this collection of stories inspired by folklore from the legendary creator. The beating heart of a long-dead sorcerer. A pirate girl who makes a deal with the devil. A boy who wins a grim prize against some undead interlopers. Expect stories about these and more, delivered in Mignola’s signature weird and wondrous style. Yes, this is a $25 hardcover for 112 pages of content (thanks for the heads-up Amazon), but it’s an OGN written and illustrated by the man himself. I think the price is right. This time.
Arcbound #1: Earth may be a barren wasteland in this new series, but humanity is still reaching for the stars. All thanks to the efforts of the Zynitec corporation who have harnessed the energy provided by Kronium to make them and their army of mediators an interstellar force. Until one day when one of their mediators, Kai, gets a message from an unknown source that forces him to question all that he’s ever known. Such is the way these things go in this familiar setup which comes to us from actor Tom Hardy, and writers Scott Snyder and Frank Tieri. I’ll leave it to you to guess which one of those I think is doing the heavy lifting of actually writing “Arcbound. Art comes to us from Ryan Smallman, who I’m not familiar with, but is at least described as an “acclaimed” artist here.
Assassin’s Creed Mirage: Soar of Eagles #1: A prequel to the game that came out last year, from writer Michael Avon Oeming and artist Mirko Colak. That’s a solid enough creative time to make anyone interested in this consider giving it a look. Not me, though, as I’m still working my way through “Valhalla.” It’s also worth noting that while this was originally solicited to come out last year alongside the game, it will now be arriving in time for the next one, the Japan-set “Shadows.”
Barstow #1: The title city is described as being at the center of the Mojave Desert “at the crossroads between hell and gone,” which sounds kind of harsh given my memories of it. Anyway, one agent is lost and another agent is looking for them. What are they agents of? Who can say except for co-writers David Ian McKendry and Rebekah McKendry, and possibly artist Tyler Jenkins. The McKendrys look to be making their comics debut after making and producing several horror movies and shorts, so expect something creepy.
Borderlands: Moxxi’s Mysterious Memento #1: Is it a tie-in to the games, or the upcoming (as I’m writing this) movie. Whatever it is, it’ll either be riding the wave of success that the film will enjoy in August, or find its commercial chances cruelly cut down by the movie’s failure. Also, is this a one-shot, a miniseries, or an ongoing? Like a lot of things in these solicitations, it’s not specified. Amy Chu writes, while Mike Norton provides the art.
FML #1: From the team that helped redefine “Captain Marvel” for the modern age, writer Kelly Sue DeConnick and artist David Lopez comes this new series about a heavy-metal loving teen dealing with the usual stuff. You know, high school, a former Riot Grrrl mother, a goth sister, and bandmates who just don’t seem to be taking this as seriously as they should. At least the aftereffects of a ritual performed at a party he attends promise to provide a distraction as the dark objects of his imagination suddenly start springing to life. Lopez always delivers work that’s pretty great, but DeConnick is one of those writers who other people have liked a lot more than I have. So maybe you’ll like this, I think? Also, no points for guessing what the title is abbreviating.
Serpent in the Garden: Edward Grey and the Last Battle For England #1 (of 3): I know this is a three-issue miniseries because it was mentioned on The Beat over a week ago. Witchfinder Ed Grey was about to enjoy his final rest in the “Acheron” one-shot, until he was presented with one last thing to do. That being a request from the last Queen of England to defend the realm against Morgan Le Fay and her champion. Just one more end to tie up for the Mignolaverse at the end of the world courtesy of writer Mike Mignola and artist Ben Stenbeck. It’s also going to be something of a finale for Stenbeck as well as he’s said this will be his last Mignolaverse story for a while. So here’s hoping he goes out on a high note and continues to give us more interesting stories like “Our Bones Dust.”
Welcome to the Maynard #1: New from writer James Robinson and artist J. Bone. It’s a series about a hotel for magicians, witches, and otherworldly beings, where Phillippa “Pip” Dale has just started working. Sounds cute, and is apparently aimed at the “kids of all ages” demographic with its promise of magic, wonder, and danger around every corner.
Kill Me & Other Curiosities: This collects the title story and other shorts written by one Chad Lambert. I don’t know who he is, but Dark Horse thinks that collecting his work from the pages of “Dark Horse Presents” is worthwhile, so I’m at least curious about this. The title story also sounds interesting as it involves a man who finds himself stuck in a time loop and competing against himself to fix the biggest mistake of his life. There’s also a Harvey Award-winning story here, the autobiographical “Breaking Out,” so that’s got to be worth recommending here as well.
Operation Sunshine vol. 2: Already Dead: This story about young vampires heisting an object that can hopefully make them human again gets its second (and concluding?) volume. I’ve ordered the first one because the concept is neat and David Rubin is a hell of an artist. Now it remains to be seen whether those Last Podcast on the Left guys can actually write.
Space Circus HC: You’d think that Dark Horse has already published, or re-published everything that Sergio Aragones and Mark Evanier has done that isn’t “Groo” already. Apparently you’d be wrong as this miniseries from 2000 is finally being collected in hardcover. A sci-fi riff on the trope of a kid who decides to run away to join the circus, this will see the legendary artist show off what he can do when drawing spaceships, futuristic cities, and aliens. I imagine the story isn’t going to do much more than give Aragones a chance to do that, but maybe Evanier will surprise me. Amazon tells me that this will be a $30 collection for 112-pages of content, but that’s actually kind of reasonable when you see what the single issues are going for these days.