Dark Horse Previews Picks: August 2019
Above-the-Board Recommendation:
I Am A Hero Omnibus vol. 11
They made it.
Well, not yet as something could go wrong between now and this final volume’s scheduled release in October. You know, like an actual zombie apocalypse as depicted in this series. Assuming that doesn’t happen then we’ll all be able to read the final volume of “I Am A Hero” when October comes around. There’s no doubt that it’s going to be really goddam strange as the title’s detours into giant flesh-monsters and zombie hive-minds have shown in recent volumes. Ill-advised romantic hook-ups aside, the series has been a consistently entertaining look at the disintegration of society via this particular strain of zombism and the disturbed mangaka, Hideo, who is trying his best to navigate it with his companions and his gun.
That we’re actually getting this final volume is what I’m most happy about here. I’ve talked many times over the years about how Dark Horse has a real problem with being able to complete series. “Eden: It’s An Endless World!” and “The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service” are on indefinite hiatus — But not because everyone reading this has already bought up to the current volume of each series, right? RIGHT? — along with many other series, and while a new volume of “Drifters” was released in Japan last year it has yet to receive a release date here. “I Am A Hero,” however, has made it to its final volume, supported by its omnibus format and whatever buzz the live-action Japanese movie and TV series were able generate over here. I’m sure this series has taught the company a few things about how to release manga over here — notice how we’re getting “Elfen Lied” and “At the Mountains of Madness” in omnibus editions — and for that I am thankful.
Alien vs. Predator: The Essential Comics vol. 1: Reprinting the original best-selling miniseries, its sequel “War,” and the years-later follow-up “Three World War.” There’s a reason the original miniseries spawned a franchise and if you’ve never read it then it’s probably worth picking this omnibus up. I’ve only got vague memories of “War” and have never read “Three World War,” but writer (and Dark Horse co-founder) Randy Stradley has always done good work on licensed titles. This is also probably worth picking up because with the Disney/Fox merger there’s no telling how much longer Dark Horse will be able to hold onto these particular licenses.
Avatar: Tsu’tey’s Path: It may be the biggest movie of all time in terms of global box office (for now), but “Avatar’s” reputation hasn’t really grown at all since its release back in 2009. In fact, the general consensus I get from my friends is that it’s more like, “Can you believe that we were really into that film when it came out?” Even though James Cameron is currently working on multiple sequels to it, one has to wonder whether or not they’ll even be half as successful as the original. I’ll be there for them, however. Not so much because I thought the first film was particularly great, but because Cameron knows a thing or two about how to create a superior sequel.
So where does that leave this miniseries which focuses on a supporting character from the original film? I’m planning on picking this up because Dark Horse has shown time and again that they know how to deliver a quality comic book based on a licensed property. While I’m not familiar with the writer, Sherri Smith, for this miniseries the art is coming from Jan Duursema. If you don’t recognize the name, she provided the art for the best “Star Wars” comics that the company produced. Even if these things don’t suggest that this will be a great comic, they’re enough to get me interested enough to check this out.
Bad Luck Chuck: Charlene “Chuck” Manchester was cursed at birth with extraordinarily bad luck. It’s so bad that her main way of eking out a living involves bringing unwitting disaster to failing businesses so they can collect payouts on whatever insurance they have. Unfortunately, leveraging her luck in this way has now led to a mob boss, an evangelical cult, and an insurance fraud investigator all wanting a piece of Chuck. This comes to us from writer Lela Gwenn and artist Matthew Dow Smith. It’s not a creative team which demands that I pick up this volume, but I remember thinking that the premise for this miniseries sounded fun when it was originally solicited. I promised to keep an eye out for it when the collected edition arrived and I’ll likely pick it up when it arrives in October.
Baltimore Omnibus vol. 1: Lord Henry Baltimore is on a mission to rid Europe of vampires. He has become a bitter, driven man in this pursuit after his wife and children were murdered by an ages-old vampire he awoke during a battle in WWI. He’ll journey through ship graveyards, cursed towns, bloody battlefields, and cross swords with one of the Inquisition’s most ruthless members all in the name of vengeance. It’s very good stuff and this omnibus collects the first and best half of the series from co-writers Mike Mignola and Christopher Golden and artist Ben Stenbeck. One note, though: While Mignola’s presence may indicate that this is part of the shared universe inhabited by “Hellboy” and “B.P.R.D.,” “Baltimore” is very much its own thing and worth checking out as far as I’m concerned.
Berserker Unbound #1 (of 4): There’s a lot of snark to be found in the premise for this series, which is about a “Conan”-esque warrior who finds himself dealing with a wizard in a modern-day metropolis. You could say that it came around because writer Jeff Lemire was such a fan of that one issue of “What if…?” where Conan was thrust into the modern world. Or that artist Mike Deodato Jr. was having so much fun drawing Conan fighting alongside Wolverine and the Punisher in “Savage Avengers” that he wanted to keep the party going here. Snarkiness aside, this is a miniseries from two creators that I like so I’ll be picking up the collected edition once it arrives.
Black Hamer ‘45 & Black Hammer: Streets of Spiral: Jeff Lemire and Dean Ormston’s series about ersatz superheroes keeps rolling along in these collections. “‘45” is a story about superheroes fighting in WWII and it’s co-written by Ray Fawkes with art from Matt Kindt. Normally I wouldn’t be encouraged by the presence of a co-writer on a creator-owned title, but the previous “Black Hammer” miniseries “Sherlock Frankenstein” and “Doctor Star” were both kind of underwhelming. Let’s see if Fawkes can’t jazz things up a little. As for “Streets of Spiral” it’s a collections of odds and ends for the series: The “Annual,” the “Cthu-Louise” one-shot, the “World of Black Hammer” one-shot, and material from Free Comic Book Day 2019. I’m not sure about this one since it comes off as one for the completists and I’m not at that level of love for “Black Hammer.”
Hellboy and the B.P.R.D.: Saturn Returns #1 (of 3): Big Red has to deal with a pile of corpses uncovered in a small rural town that may be linked to supernatural sacrifice. Essentially just another Wednesday on the job as far as he’s concerned, I’d imagine. This Mignolaverse effort is co-written by Scott Allie with art from Christopher Mitten and I’ll likely pick up whatever edition it’s collected in because at this point I’m a completist for these things.
Invisible Kingdom vol. 1: Walking the Path: G. Willow Wilson and Christian Ward’s creator-owned series gets its first collection. It’s about a religious acolyte and hardened freighter pilot who discover a conspiracy between the galaxy’s biggest religion and its biggest megacorporation. I’ve liked Wilson’s work at Marvel and Ward’s style has grown on me over the years. That said, it looks like we’ll be in for a bit of a wait for the next volume for reasons I’ll get to in a bit.
Our Encounters With Evil: Adventures of Professor J.T. Meinhardt and His Assistant Mr. Knox HC: The vampire hunters from “Mr. Higgins Comes Home” get another adventure from Mike Mignola and Warwick Johnson-Cadwell. What should we expect from this one? The solicitation text is rather vague on that subject, but seeing the title characters be Very British in the face of unspeakable evil sounds like a safe bet. I liked the previous story featuring them well enough to give this one a try. As I wrote in my review, however, I hope that this one can inspire more than a few bemused chuckles from me.
Strayed #1 (of 5): It’s the far future and the military-industrial complex rules all. Our only hope lies in a woman named Kiara and her astral-projecting cat named Lou. SO TAKE THAT DOG-LOVERS! YOU THINK THOSE HAIRY DROOL-FIENDS ARE THE BEST! I DON’T THINK SO! THIS TIME IT’S A CAT WHO’S GOING TO SAVE US ALL SO YOU CAN JUST SUCK IT!
…I’m sorry I really don’t know where that came from. But it’s good to see a story with a cat for a protagonist here.
Tommy Gun Wizards #1 (of 4): What if “The Untouchables” but with magic is the high concept for this series. And I do mean the actual “Untouchables” as this involves Elliot Ness trying to take down an Al Capone who doesn’t deal in liquor, but instead a drug that grants magic powers to anyone who takes it. Christian Ward is writing this series with Sami Kivela providing the art and… I’m not sure what to think about this. The Ness/Capone rivalry has already been done many times before and unless Ward’s worldbuilding is really strong I’m not sure if the “but with magic” angle is going to add that much to it.