Dark Horse Penguin Picks: October 2026
Above-the-Board Recommendation:
Tales From Lands Unknown: Uri Tupka and the Devils
After a first volume that was more weird than it was good, all it took for Mike Mignola’s latest fictional universe to be interesting was for him to take his own advice and have a protagonist to focus all his worldbuilding through. That’s what I got from the second “Lands Unknown” book, “Uri Tupka and the Gods,” where the titular character was branded a heretic by the powers that be and then went on a roundabout quest to find out why the gods had departed his world. The answer he got portended an even greater threat and now Uri seeks to find a way to help by seeking a book about the darkness before the world from the secret library of a mad baron.
The previous volume may have ended in a cliffhanger, but it was the right kind that left you eager to know what was going to happen next. Especially with Uri being a charmingly honest and unassuming protagonist who’s able to keep his head regardless of the utterly strange situations he constantly finds himself in. Toss in Mignola’s inimitable art and you get what promises to be a stellar follow-up to a great story.
Arrivals #1 (of 3): A generation after his disappearance, the children of explorer Tajo Vallar are called home to solve a new mystery. Getting there promises to be half the fun, however. Last month saw the solicitation for the “Foundations” one-shot in the “Three Worlds, Three Moons” cosmology from Jonathan Hickman, Nick Spencer, and other talented creators. Now we’re getting a proper miniseries from them and artist Mike Del Mundo and I’m all for it. Not just because this promises to be the kind of high concept sci-fi married to relatable human drama that they specialize in, but because they’ll be able to package “Foundations” with the collected edition of this miniseries. I mean, they’re going to do that. They’d be crazy not to. Right?
Hellboy in Hell: Nothing But Blood #1 (of 2): Meanwhile, Mignola’s signature fictional universe keeps trucking along with its own series of miniseries. This one is a bit different than most as it takes place during the events of “Hellboy in Hell,” as the title implies – right after issue #8, in fact. It involves Big Red stepping up to save a woman being chased by winged beasts, but that’s just the start of things. Expect them to only get more bizarre from there, particularly with the art from European artist Cyrille Pomes, who impressed Mignola so much with their work that the creator instantly wanted to work with them and this is the result.
We’re not done with Mignola in these solicitations yet…
Minor Threats: Welcome to Twilight – Villains & Vignettes #1 (of 4): It’s another anthology series with shorter stories this time out. This is apparently how Mike Mignola was able to contribute an eight-page story from creators Patton Oswalt and Jordan Blum about how a dead kaiju’s skeleton wound up as such a significant part of Twilight’s landscape. Miniseries artist Scott Hepburn writes a story this time about Frankie Follis’ past with art from Cary Nord, while Mark Waid writes a story for Scott Kolins to illustrate about superpowers, fanaticism, and manosphere supplements. “Welcome to Twilight” was definitely one of the better “Minor Threats” miniseries and if the presence of Waid, Kolins, Nord, and Mignola is a sign of the additional talent that we can expect to see in subsequent issues, then this follow-up promises to be just as good if not better!
Invisible Kingdom Omnibus: Four years after the entire series was collected in a pricey hardcover, it now arrives in a more affordable paperback edition. It’s the story of a religious initiate in the far-flung future who finds a sinister connection between her galaxy-spanning order and the conglomerate who controls most of the universe’s commerce. G. Willow Wilson wrote good characters, Christian Ward delivered some solid art, and I still remember this as just being “okay.” Mainly because it tried to deliver a feel-good ending when a much darker and cynical one would’ve been more appropriate. Still, this is also an Eisner-winning series, so maybe give it a shot if you’re a fan of the creators and haven’t checked it out yet.
Usagi Yojimbo: Kaito ‘84: This represents a couple things I thought I’d never see. The first is an “Usagi Yojimbo” story set in the (relatively) modern day. The second is an extended “Usagi Yojimbo” story not written and illustrated by creator Stan Sakai. “Kaito” does feature a descendant of the Rabbit Ronin who makes his living as a master thief in this era and this time his target is an ancient spear. It may be just another job for Kaito, but he’s about to come face-to-face with his family’s legacy in a way he never thought possible. The short version is that after Sakai has kept incredibly tight control over his signature creation after all these years, allowing Zack Rosenberg to write and Jared Cullum to illustrate a new story in his universe is a big deal. That said, if Sakai trusts them then that’s reason enough for me to check this out – even though the goddamned covers to the single issues spoiled the real threat Kaito will be facing here!
Babanbabanban Vampire vol. 1: Ranmaru Mori (yes, the same Ranmaru Mori who was Nobunaga Oda’s attendant in feudal Japan) is a 450-year-old vampire who is working at a bathhouse in present-day Japan. While his centuries of experience would seem ideally suited for use in Japan’s culture of public bathing, he’s really just staking out the bathhouse’s 15-year-old heir to prevent him from falling for a girl so he can suck his sweet virgin blood himself. You either read that summary and wish that I hadn’t typed it, or you’re placing an order for it right now. Me? I’m struggling to understand why Dark Horse licensed the manga of an anime that came and went last year with little attention, save for Anime News Network’s reviewers raking the first episode over the coals for using predatory gay grooming as an excuse for comedy. I didn’t watch the anime and this is the last you’ll see me write about this title here. Now is there something I can talk about to end this column on a positive note?
Cat + Crazy vol. 5: Hey, a new volume of “Cat + Crazy!” It’s great to see that this series looks to have found enough of an audience to keep being released over here. We’ll see if that continues after Kensuke considers committing a War Crime in this volume: Putting Tiger and Princess into holiday outfits for a Christmas card. I imagine he’s going to learn a painful lesson about cats in clothes here, and I’m all for that.