Dark Horse Previews Picks: April 2022
Above-the-Board Recommendation:
No One Left to Fight II
The choice this month was between the latest collection of a miniseries from a creator that I really like or the latest volume in this series – the first issues of which both received the “Above-the-Board” treatment when they were solicited. I decided on “No One Left to Fight” because I think it could do with any boost to its word-of-mouth. That’s because while Dark Horse was likely right in calling the first miniseries “critically acclaimed,” “smash-hit” only works if you consider it against the other creator-owned titles they publish.
In case you’re not familiar with this series, the premise is simple: What happens when all of Goku’s battles have been won and alzheimer’s strikes? Of course, he’s not called Goku here, and any other homages to “Dragonball Z” have been changed enough so that they resemble the best kind of distinct. Legally distinct. That’s not a bad thing as writer Aubrey Sitterson did a good job in distinguishing the cast and setting up a story that Akira Toriyama would never consider telling. Better still was the art from Fico Ossio who delivered gorgeous, flashy, over-the-top work that sold the drama and made the volume a visual delight. Myron, Rob, and myself have already talked about how much we liked the first volume, and I’m looking forward to hearing what they think about this follow-up.
Grendel Omnibus vol. 1: Hunter Rose (2nd Ed.): This volume was originally issued in the smaller-trim omnibus editions that used to be the standard at Dark Horse. Now they’ve been making a move towards regular trim-sized omnibi and “Grendel” is the latest series to benefit from it. So if you’ve never read any comics featuring Matt Wagner’s seminal villain and are curious about the legacy he spawned, or if you heard about the fact that this is soon to become a Netflix series and and want to find out what the big deal is, then check this out. It collects the original “Devil by the Deed” miniseries, the two anthologies “Back, White, & Red” and “Red, White, & Black,” and the interquel “Behold the Devil.” While I already own the first and last miniseries, I don’t actually own the anthologies as they were out of print before I got interested in “Grendel.” So it’s likely that I’ll be picking this up when it comes out.
Torso: The Bendis reprint train continues apace, this time with extra Marc Andreyko. Not only did he co-write this series with Bendis, but according to “Fortune & Glory” he’s the one who originally told the writer about the story told here. You see, after Eliott Ness put Al Capone away, he decamped to Cleveland where he made some big strides in cleaning up that town as well. Until body parts started washing up along the coast of Lake Erie. Dubbed “The Torso Killer” this person was never caught… but the actual truth of the story was even more shocking! This is another highlight from both creators’ early days, and worth adding to anyone who likes a good true-crime story. I’ll also take the chance to hype up “Fortune & Glory” again because its third issue is all about the (hilarious) pain that Bendis and Andreyko went through when they tried to pitch this story to Hollywood.
Break Out #1 (of 4): It’s just another day on Earth when SUDDENLY OUT OF NOWHERE CUBE SPACESHIPS FROM ANOTHER DIMENSION MATERIALIZE! They start abducting teenagers from across the globe, including the younger brother of one Liam Watt. While the governments of the world are ready to write these abductions off in the face of a superior force, Liam isn’t going to take this lying down. Which is why he’s roping in his talented high school friends to stage an inter-dimensional prison break! It’s not that the premise defies my suspension of disbelief that it shoots it in its head and dumps it off a cliff. I have to respect that, while also acknowledging that this sounds like something Younger Me would’ve loved to have read back in Junior High or High School. Zack Kaplan writes while Wilton Santos illustrates.
The Collector: Unit 731 #1 (of 4): Will Conrad is another creator who has done lots of work for Marvel and DC over the years without getting the recognition that his usually very good art should’ve afforded him. So here he is over at Dark Horse giving the creator-owned approach a try. Unfortunately the solicitation text doesn’t do this series any favors as it talks about a guy named Michael, who has been around a while and gone by other names, who sees the obituary for a friend in the newspaper and is reminded of the time they spent at the infamous Unit 731 research (read: torture) facility in Manchuria during WWII. Outside of trying to bring more awareness to Unit 731, it’s hard to see what Conrad is going for here. Or why this miniseries is called “The Collector.” At least we’ll have some good art from the creator to look forward to here.
Orphan and the Five Beasts: It’s James Stokoe doing an over-the-top fantasy martial arts extravaganza. What more do you need to know?
Cat Gamer vol. 2: Vol. 1 isn’t out yet, but if the concept behind this series, about a gamer who becomes a cat owner and how her experience with gaming informs her cat ownership, sounds interesting to you then be sure to get it when it comes out. Otherwise, it’s not likely that we’ll get any more volumes after vol. 3.
Blade of the Immortal Deluxe Edition vol. 6: Just keep these coming and I’ll continue to be a happy camper…