Dark Horse Previews Picks: March 2013
There’s a new “Star Wars: Legacy” in town this month. Nearly two years since John Ostrander and Jan Duursema’s thoroughly entertaining epic about Cade Skywalker, Luke’s ne’er do well, drug-addled grandson, we’re getting another series that focuses on Han and Leia’s granddaughter, Ania Solo. This comes to us courtesy of Corinna Bechko and Gabriel Hardman, co-writers with the latter providing the art, who apparently got some good notices for their “Betrayal of the Planet of the Apes” series. While the specter of the Disney/Lucasfilm deal continues to loom over the future of the franchise at Dark Horse, the fact that the company is going ahead with another ongoing title like this implies that they’ll have the license around for another couples of years at least. My main complaint here is that while this sounds like a solid enough premise for the title, I’d have rather had more stories from Ostrander/Duursema about Cade and their excellent supporting cast. Though the final volume wrapped up the main conflict very well, there were still a number of other threads that could’ve been followed up on — we never got to see the end of disgraced mandalorian Hondo Karr’s quest for vengeance. That said, I think I’ll probably pick up the first volume, if for no other reason than to see how well it ties in to the existing “Legacy” continuity.
B.P.R.D.: Vampire #1: Though “B.P.R.D.” was originally envisioned as an ongoing series-of-mini-series, the recent renumbering starting with issue #100 has essentially made the title’s “ongoing” status official. With that change, I thought we’d be seeing an end to mini-series like this, as they’d be folded into the main title, but since this takes place back in the past — after “B.P.R.D.: 1948” to be specific — that’s probably the reason. Anyway, this sees the return of the immensely awesome Fabio Moon and Gabriel Ba to Mike Mignola’s universe and (I believe) their first stint co-writing a series in it. Though the title gives away the fact that this will be dealing with vampires, these particular creatures enjoy a special significance in the “Mignolaverse” as the majority of them went to sleep in 1947 so that humanity would eventually forget about them and they could eventually rise up and take over the world. Of course, since not all of them did, I can’t really imagine it’s a plan that’s going to work anytime soon.
Criminal Macabre: No Place For Dead Men: I’ve never been that much into the adventures of Steve Niles’ monster-hunting private investigator Cal McDonald. Though the original mini-series he did with “30 Days of Night” collaborator Ben Templesmith was decently entertaining, parts of it also felt underdeveloped. As if Niles thought that the core concept was so cool that he could get away with filling the book with stock characters and setups. What I can remember of the Kelly Jones-illustrated follow-up was that all of the book’s weaknesses were more pronounced. Why am I bringing this up now? Because this volume collects the crossover with “The Goon” co-written by Eric Powell. That single issue won’t be enough to get me to pick it up, but I get the feeling that anyone who does will find that to be the highlight of the collection.
Exile to Babylon: “Soon to be a major motion picture,” with this adaptation written by David Lapham. The premise sounds fairly generic: It’s 2040 and the only hope of rescuing a vital fuel supply from tattooed warlords is a group of “reeducated gangbangers.” Lapham seems to be doing more of tie-in/adaptation work as of late and you have to wonder whether he either needs the money or if he’s just trying to raise his profile so that he can get attention for the projects he really wants to do. If it’s the latter, then he’ll have to choose more interesting or high-profile gigs than this.
Lone Wolf and Cub Omnibus vol. 1: The original reprint of this series remains Dark Horse’s best-selling manga ever with the 28 volumes selling over one million copies. For good reason too as the saga of Itto Ogami, the shogun’s executioner framed for treason by the Yagyu clan, and his son Daigoro’s quest for revenge is the most detailed and involving look into life in the Edo period you’ll find in any manga. It could’ve been boring, but writer Kazuo Koike’s talent for creating memorably flawed characters and artist Goseki Kojima’s vivid depictions of the era and the innumerable swordfights and deaths that populate the series made it stand out. You’ll get over 700 pages for $20 and that’s a damn good deal for material of this quality.
Mass Effect Library Edition vol. 1 HC: This, on the other hand, is $60 for over 400 pages. All of those pages are in full color, but does videogame tie-in material such as this really warrant such an edition? You’d think that putting all of the stories here into one of Dark Horse’s Omnibus editions would’ve been more appropriate. If the company thinks they can sell these comics in this format then more power to them (though as the name implies, this may be more up the alley for your local librarian than the general public).
Sledgehammer 44 #1: Though this isn’t explicitly stated to be a part of the Mignola-verse, it might as well be. In August 1944, a man in an iron suit jumps from an American plane into the French countryside to take the fight to the Nazis and to take out their secret giant war machine. Mignola himself is co-writing this with his “B.P.R.D.” co-conspirator John Arcudi while Jason Latour provides the art. Regardless of whether or not this is a stand-alone title or another part of an existing franchise, the premise and talent involved should give you a pretty good idea of what to expect. While I’m not averse to sci-fi pulp-influenced Nazi-beatin’, and I’m sure that it’ll be decently entertaining at best, there’s nothing to indicate that we’ll be getting something substantially different or surprising than what “Hellboy” has delivered in the past and “B.P.R.D.” continues to serve up on a regular basis.