Dark Horse Penguin Picks: October 2023
Above-the-Board Recommendation:
Operation Sunshine #1
Being a vampire can suck. For a small group of young bloodsuckers, it sucks so much that they’ve been trying to find a way to make themselves human again. They think they’ve found a way to do it, too. All they have to do is steal a magical object from some ancient vampires and their problem is solved. They’ll just have to make it through the monster underground, past some master vampire slayers, struggle through a plot being enacted by the vampire elite, and survive madness beyond imagining.
“Operation Sunshine” comes to us from co-writers Henry Zebrowski and Marcus Parks of “Last Podcast on the Left” fame. While their names mean nothing to me, you can’t say that they haven’t come up with a solid premise for this story. The real attraction for me here is that this series is being illustrated by David Rubin, the artist of “Ether,” “Rumble” and numerous other titles. His exaggerated, energetic style has always appealed to me and there’s no reason to doubt that seeing him draw a “monster underground” won’t be a feast for the eyes.
Canary #1: In 1891 a mine collapsed after a strange substance was found 666 feet underground. If that sounds like an ominous setup for a horror series, you may be mistaken. That’s because the solicitation text informs us that the substance in question was uranium and this is somehow connected to random killings that have started up in the mine’s vicinity decades later. As to how they’re connected, that’s going to be up to a federal marshal and a geologist to figure out. This comes to us from writer Scott Snyder and artist Dan Panosian, and while I’d normally say that I’m all for this… I’m starting to wonder if the writer might not be the sensation I thought he was. Out of all the things he’s done, I’ve only enjoyed his “Batman” run without reservation and everything else has had one thing or another holding it back. I’ve still got his and artist Francesco Francavilla’s “Night of the Ghoul” to read, and “Dark Spaces: Wildfire” has set a low bar for my expectations. So we’ll see how that goes and it’s possible that I may decide to leave this on the shelf when it gets collected.
Drive Like Hell #1: You know the drill, a crook pulls one last job to set him and his girl up for life. Only something goes wrong and the girl dies in the escape. Writer Rich Doueck and artist Alex Cormak decided to ask, “What if the girl got shot… BUT DIDN’T DIE?!” Which is a perfectly reasonable setup for a crime/horror series. I’m just left wondering whether or not the girl is going to be his zombie getaway driver companion, is she going to be chasing after him because he got her shot, or is there some other force out to get them here? They all leave me curious about what to expect here, just not quite excited, though.
Giant Robot Hellboy #1 (of 3): The surprise here isn’t that this miniseries is about the title character getting into a giant robot to fight evil on a faraway island. No, the surprise is that it took creator Mike Mignola so long to do a story like this. He’s only writing this miniseries, but don’t worry. The art is in the very capable hands of veteran “Hellboy” artist Duncan Fegredo.
The Midnite Show #’s 1 & 2: A new (ongoing? mini?) series from writer Cullen Bunn and artist Brian Hurtt who have previously worked together on the long-running “The Sixth Gun” series. I only bought the first couple of volumes and thought they were alright. A quick check on Amazon shows that the series is getting the omnibus treatment next February, so I might give it a re-appraisal then. As for “The Midnite Show,” this has them unleashing horror at a film festival after footage from a long-lost movie, “God of Monsters,” unleashes monsters on the unsuspecting attendees and the nearby town. Sounds fine. I imagine your mileage will be greater if you’re a fan of Bunn and Hurtt’s previous collaborations.
Space Usagi: Yokai Hunter #1: This is a one-shot featuring the far-future incarnation of the character who we haven’t seen for a while now. I mean, the last time he got so much as a cameo was in the final pages of “Usagi Yojimbo: Senso.” Now that creator Stan Sakai has his own imprint at Dark Horse, it appears he wants to feature the character a bit more. Or he just has a desire to draw things he can’t normally do, like dinosaurs, in the regular “Usagi Yojimbo” series. Far-future “Usagi” is still “Usagi” so I have no doubt this will be worth reading as a one-shot, or when it’s eventually collected along with other (hopefully forthcoming) one-shots.
Baltimore Omnibus vol. 2: Collects the back half of the series. A.K.A., the less good half. I’m not sure why this half wasn’t as entertaining as the first. Was it co-writers Mike Mignola and Christopher Golden telling an original story beyond the scope of their novel? Or was it that new artist Peter Bergting wasn’t quite as good as previous artist Ben Stenbeck when it came to telling the story? Or is it some other reason that you’ll discover for yourself because you bought the first omnibus and want to know how Lord Baltimore’s story is going to end? I don’t think you’ll regret finding that out, but I will say that you don’t have to buy this omnibus if you’ve read the first one.
Maskerade vol. 2 HC: While I like Kevin Smith, I don’t like him enough to pay $25 for the hardcover collection of the back half of this eight-issue miniseries. Which means that reading this entire series in collected form will set you back $50! No thank you. If I really want to find out if this miniseries is any good, I’ll buy it digitally.
Trigun Deluxe Edition HC: Collecting the first two extra-sized volumes of “Trigun” in one big hardcover. This is scheduled to arrive on December 27, 2023, which is a full year after it should’ve arrived to capitalize on any interest from the new “Trigun: Stampede” anime. At least Dark Horse is bringing the manga back into print, and there are plans to collect “Trigun Maximum” in the same format (assuming this volume sells well).