Dark Horse Penguin Picks: August 2025
Above-the-Board Recommendation:
Innocent Rouge Omnibus vol. 1
It was a little frustrating to get to the end of Dark Horse’s release of Shin’ichi Sakamoto’s “Innocent” manga and realize that it wasn’t an ending at all. That the story would continue in the follow-up manga “Innocent Rouge,” which hadn’t been confirmed for U.S. release at the time. Given that the publisher has a history of just stopping the publication of certain manga titles without warning, it wasn’t guaranteed that we’d see this follow-up anytime soon.
So imagine my surprise (and relief) that the publisher eventually announced that they’d picked up the sequel series for release and saved me the trouble of finding the time to read the scanlations to find out what happens next to Marie-Joseph Sanson. That’s right, Charles-Henri’s younger sister is now the protagonist of the series as she sets out to avenge the death of her lover Alain at the end of the previous series. Even if she does manage that, the specter of the French Revolution looms and business will soon be booming for the members of this executioner family.
While Marie’s actions as a twelve-year-old executioner beggared belief in the second omnibus, she quickly established herself as the most compelling character in the series. She was driving the action by its end, so it’s no surprise that Sakamoto had made her the de facto protagonist by “Innocent’s” end with the follow-up series making it official. I’m expecting that the mangaka will be able to keep the momentum going as the series heads in this new direction, and certain that it’s going to look just as stunning as it did before.
Space Scouts #1: What is a Space Scout? Apparently they’re the winner of an interstellar reality competition who are then shipped off to participate in some kind of never-ending space war. So this is what you get when you combine “American Idol” with “Ender’s Game?” Whatever it is, it’s coming from writer Matt Kindt and artist David Rubin who previously teamed on the pretty good “Ether.” Kindt has been very hit-or-miss with me, but always delivers, and after their previous collaboration, I’m willing to give this one a shot.
Orphan and the Five Beasts: Bath of Blood #1: James Stokoe’s gonzo martial-arts extravaganza returns for another round. Orphan Mo is back to take on the next Beast, only to find out that she’s not the only one looking to take this one out. Given that there are five beasts and two were taken out in the previous series, I got the feeling that this was actually meant to be a twelve-issue maxiseries that had been chopped up into thirds. As it has been more than a year since it finished, I was also sure that this series was effectively dead. So seeing this new miniseries solicited here is certainly a relief to see that the publisher and its creator are sticking with this series.
Powers 25 #1: Bendis and Michael Avon Oeming’s superhero police procedural series returns with an all-new (mini?)series to celebrate its 25th anniversary. Picking up years after the previous series ended, Detective Kutter finds herself working with new Detective Moebius Moon – the first superpowered individual to work in the Powers division. For a good long while, “Powers” melded police and superhero drama really well, until constant reboots and scheduling issues sapped the series of all its momentum. I don’t know how long Bendis and Oeming are planning this series to run – no indication is given here whether this is a mini or ongoing series – but the hope is that they’re going to bring their A-game and deliver something worthy of the title’s legacy.
Or at least on the level of their last collaboration, “The United States of Murder Inc.: Jagger Rose.” The less said about their last proper volume of “Powers,” the better.
The Adventures of Lumen N. #1: The year is 1901 and thirteen-year-old Lumen is wondering why she has to learn so many languages, fighting techniques and so much about seafaring. Then a horde of steampunk assassins break into her home and she winds up being rescued by her father… one of the most recognizable characters in Victorian adventure fiction. Now the race is on for them to save the world from a cabal of evil masterminds who are determined to bend it to their will. This is the latest series from writer James Robinson, who has been quite prolific of late with all of the series he’s been pushing out through his imprint at the publisher. It sounds like a promising adventure too, made even better with the promise of art from Phil Hester.
Avatar: Tales From Pandora Omnibus: Collecting five stories set before, during, and after the events of the 2009 film. I’ve been kind of interested in some of these, more for the fact that some of these have been illustrated by talented veterans of Dark Horse’s “Star Wars” comics – Jan Duursema and Doug Wheatly, primarily. Still, my interest in the “Avatar” franchise isn’t all that strong. Sure, I’ll go see the next one when it comes out later this year, but I can’t say that I’m anticipating it at the moment. Which is pretty much how I feel about this collection, too.
From the World of Minor Threats: Welcome to Twilight: Now we’ll see if professional comics writers Matt Fraction, Gail Simone, Bendis, and Gerry Duggan can do Patton Oswalt and Jordan Blum’s comics-inspired world better than they can. I’d give even money on whether or not the last three, working with artists Gene Ha, Soo Lee, and Mark Torres can do it. However, if the team of Fraction, working with living legend Mike Allred, can’t do it then I’ll be genuinely shocked.