Dark Horse Penguin Picks: January 2025

Above-the-Board Recommendation:

The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service Omnibus vol. 6

“Wait a second,” I hear you say, “Didn’t he already put this omnibus in this spot back in the May 2024 round of solicitations?”  Yes.  Yes I did.   I also wrote there that my biggest concern was whether or not that omnibus vol. 6 would actually hit the July 2024 release date advertised there given that a lot of Dark Horse books were (and still are) being resolicited at the time.  No points for guessing what happened and now this omnibus is scheduled to arrive in March 2025.  Better late than never, of course.  Better still that everyone who still reads this series picks up a copy of this as soon as it comes out so that any future collections don’t get bounced around on the publisher’s release schedule like this one has.

Oh, and in case anyone is still on the fence about picking this up, here’s what you can look forward to:

• A fujoshi acupuncturist finding herself at the mercy of a politician who’s out to ban certain manga!
• A Chinese zombie movie… with real zombies!
• Finding out about Kereellis’s puppet sister!
• Another 10/10 no notes localization with notes from localizer/editor Carl Gustav Horn!
• Three all-new volumes of “Kurosagi” goodness!

As for what else would’ve made this spot had this omnibus of “Kurosagi” not made a reappearance in these solicitations, it would’ve been one of two volumes of manga being released by the publisher.  One of which is releasing its final volume next March, while the other is a long-awaited return that needs no help from me when it comes to promoting it.  No points for guessing which is which.

Into Unbeing, Part Two #1 & Jumpscare #1:  Two new series start this month, both following on from previous installments.  I can’t remember anything about the first volume of “Into Unbeing,” from writer Zac Thompson and artist Hayden Sherman.  However, this series is likely to get a sales bump now that it’s coming from the artist of “Absolute Wonder Woman.”  As for “Jumpscare,” this is billed as a spinoff of “Beyond Mortal” from writer Cullen Bunn and artist Danny Luckert, except that this is also coming from both of them as well.  I remember wanting to check out the first volume, which is out in paperback now, so maybe I’ll do that the next time I order a batch of comics.

Frankenstein:  New World – Sea of Forever #1:  Wherein the title character and Lilja navigate the world above while being stalked by a familiar evil.  This is the follow-up to the “New World” series which showed us what happened to the Mignolaverse after its end in “The Devil You Know.”  I didn’t pick that up because I’m now being a lot more choosy about what projects to follow after they’re put into an overpriced $25 hardcover.  Eh.  Maybe I’ll get caught up the next time there’s a digital sale on Dark Horse’s app.

Let This One be a Devil #1:  Wherein co-writers James Tynion IV and Steve Foxe, and artist Piotr Kowalski explore the origins of the Jersey Devil by the way of some unlucky protagonist in the 1900’s.  It sounds pretty straightforward, which is generally a bad thing when Tynion is involved since his strength is in making complex ideas accessible, and tends to make ordinary stuff come off as boring.  He’s good at attracting quality artistic talent to his projects as Kowalski’s presence shows.  The man has always done good work in the horror genre, and he’s being especially prolific at the publisher as this is the THIRD miniseries to feature his art in these solicitations along with the latest issues of “Where Monsters Lie” and “Christmas 365.”

Berserk vol. 42:  When Kentaro Miura passed away in 2021, everyone assumed that his masterwork “Berserk” would remain unfinished.  I guess it goes to never underestimate the desire of the public, the publisher, and the staff Miura relied on to produce the manga to see something finished.  While Miura is still credited as providing the Original Story on the cover, the manga is now being produced by his studio, Studio Gaga, and supervised by his friend and fellow mangaka Kouji Mori.  Whether or not they’re up to the task, I’m definitely going to keep buying the series to find out.  Even though the late mangaka really didn’t make things easy for them as vol. 41 left off at a moment that will require them to hit the ground running to continue its momentum.

From the World of Minor Threats:  Barfly:  Writer Kyle Starks and artist Ryan Browne working off of notes left from Patton Oswalt and Jordan Blum’s coke-and-booze-stained cocktail napkins?  Sign me up!  I mean, that’s (probably) not how the creators of “Minor Threats” passed their notes to Starks and Browne, but the latter two’s involvement is what really sold me on this spinoff.  It’s about $#!%eater, a humanoid fly who spends his wretched existence as a henchman for a boss who doesn’t appreciate him.  Until that boss dies and $#!%eater has to figure out what to do with his life now.  That sounds depressing, but in the hands of these creators it’ll also likely wind up being darkly comic and deeply strange as well.

Gunsmith Cats Omnibus vol. 1:  Reprinting the previously out-of-print omnibus for everyone who wants a copy, but doesn’t want to pay insane after-market prices.  If you don’t already have a copy in your library, do yourself a favor and pick one up when it arrives in March.

Mob Psycho 100 vol. 16:  Mob has finally found the courage to confess his love to Tsubomi… after she told him that she’s going to be transferring to another school.  Before he can go do it in person, he’s going to have to deal with a new threat in his path that promises to push him to his limit, beyond his 100% emotional threshold all the way to ???%.  I thought that level was just mangaka ONE being clever, but it looks like we’re going to get an answer in this final volume.  I’ll be expecting nothing but the best, based on how the series has been so far, and hope that it actually does arrive in March.

Reversal:  Little Tre Grant is just doing her best to survive sixth grade as any kid her age would.  Except that she’s now having to do that in a world that has recently rediscovered magic and is now dealing with all of the problems that entails.  Like the monsters that routinely emerge from the forest next to her city.  So when she discovers a magical artifact that may lift the curse from the forest, everything’s going to be great for her after that.  Right?  Writer Alex De Campi and artist Skylar Patridge promise to dig into that answer and more in a way that I hope will be as entertaining and insightful as I’ve come to expect from the writer.