Dark Horse Previews Picks: March 2014
Remember “Xerxes?” The sequel to “300” to be written and illustrated by Frank Miller that was previewed back when “Dark Horse Presents” launched back in 2011 and to serve as the basis for the upcoming film sequel “Rise of an Empire?” Well, after turning in two issues a couple years back, Miller has yet to finish the sequel. Apparently his Hollywood commitments, including co-directing the next “Sin City” movie with Robert Rodriguez again and planning a TV series for the same, have prevented him from putting pen to paper recently. While this certainly sucks for Dark Horse as they won’t have a new graphic novel or comic to promote in time for the movie’s release, it may be for the best in the end. Given the quality of his recent output and the furor that resulted the last time he made a sequel to one of his classic works, the reputation of “300” the graphic novel may be better served without a prequel to complement it.
Plants vs. Zombies: A Visual Retro Retrospec Book HC & The Art of Wolfenstein: The New Order HC: Two videogame-related artbooks this month. I’m not planning on getting either, but the description of the “Plants vs. Zombies” book at least makes it sound interesting. At 88 pages it’s not just a collection of art as it also serves as a zombie memoir of the conflict between the plants/anti-plant screed. It’s a cute concept, to be sure though the main thing preventing me from finding out whether or not it’ll be any good is that there’s more compelling things to spend my money on this month.
Blade of the Immortal vol. 29: Beyond Good and Evil: Case in point. Were I capable of squealing with glee, I would certainly do so now. It also looks as if they have been successful in speeding up the release of these final volumes, so we’re still on target to get the final one in early 2015.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 10 #1: I’m honestly surprised that they’re doing this, given how sales for the comic have dropped off significantly over the years. Remember how “Season 8” launched with huge media attention and sales? One has to wonder how many of those fans are even aware that they’re still publishing “Buffy” comics. That said, they’ve got Christos Gage writing and Rebekah Isaacs illustrating this so the fans who are still reading are certainly in good hands.
Conan and the People of the Black Circle HC: A hardcover for a “Conan” miniseries? They haven’t done that since… P. Craig Russell’s “The Jewels of Gwahlur,” which never made the transition to paperback. Though this has a solid creative team in Fred Van Lente and Ariel Olivetti, I really can’t see myself paying full price for this. The same fate that “Gwahlur” had — I picked it up at Comic-Con for a discount — likely awaits this collection too.
Elfquest: The Final Quest #2: Quite a wait from #1 to #2. Though it’s nice to see that they’re going to be continuing this as an (apparently irregular) ongoing, I’m still waiting to hear what the company’s plans for reprinting the previous volumes in this series is going to be. C’mon Dark Horse, throw us a bone here! I can’t be the only one out there waiting to fill out my collection of this series.
Empowered Special: Internal Medicine: Hospital Hijinks await in this latest special, which I believe brings the total up to six now. It’s more than enough for a trade paperback at this point, which is what I continue to hold out for. Of course, if they’re NOT going to reprint these in a collection, it’d be nice to know so that I can go out and actually buy these as opposed to continuing my wait. As for the comic itself, Adam Warren is the writer again here but this time he’s joined by Brandon Graham on art. It sounds like a great writer/artist match as both seem to operate at the same level of maturity and I’m looking forward to seeing how it turns out — regardless of what form I read it in.
Hellboy in Hell vol. 1: The Descent: It’s the story that Mike Mignola was destined to tell with the character. At this point it doesn’t seem like it’s a spoiler to say that the character died in the last proper volume of his title and now he has wound up in Hell. What awaits him? I’m sure we’re all waiting to see his heart-to-heart with “dad” though the solicitation text doesn’t offer up any specifics. Also worth noting is that for the first time in years, Mignola is writing and drawing everything in this volume. So if you’re a fan of his art this is not to be missed.
Mind MGMT vol. 3: The Home Maker: I can’t bring myself to be excited about this. What I feel about this volume is akin to a kind of cautious optimism after the second volume turned out to be a significant improvement over the first. Based on that alone, I have to see if that trend continues here, and if it can turn this “cautious optimism” into “genuine excitement.”
Murder Mysteries Second Edition HC: Over the course of the last decade, Dark Horse published four hardcover “novella” adaptations of short stories from Neil Gaiman from John Bolton, P. Craig Russell, and Michael Zulli. Bolton’s was weird, Zulli’s were quite good, and Russell’s contribution was the best of the bunch. In it, he told the story of a murder in Heaven and the efforts of one angel to track down the killer as told to one man by a hobo who claims to be the angel. The story was haunting with the “murder mystery” aspect of it being quite well thought out given the characters and the setting. While I mentioned that Russell’s “Conan” story was only worth paying half-price for earlier, this is worth the increased cover price regardless of what the extras for this edition are like.
Resident Alien vol. 2: The Suicide Blonde: I’m still waiting for the TV movie adaptation of the first volume. Until then I’ll have to content myself with more of the investigative practices of Dr. Harry Vanderspiegel — actually an alien waiting for rescue while posing as the doctor — in comic form. Based on the quality of the first volume, that’s really not a bad thing.
Samurai Executioner Omibus vol. 1: If you like the team of Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima — the legendary creators behind “Lone Wolf and Cub” — then you’re probably like me and already own all ten volumes of this title. If for some reason you’re a fan and haven’t picked this up, then this omnibus is for you. Everyone else is recommended to start with “Lone Wolf and Cub” to get the best taste of their style.
Sledgehammer 44 vol. 1: Mignola and Arcudi team up to give us what appears to be their own riff on an “Iron Man”-type hero fighting in WWII. That’s enough to get my attention, but what seals the deal is the mention that he’ll be fighting against The Black Flame. Readers of “B.P.R.D.” already know that he’s one of the more notable antagonists from that title, and he originally showed up during this war. Will we get his proper origin and hints of his agenda in that title? I’m up for finding out.
Star Wars Legacy vol. II (Book 2): Outcasts of the Broken Ring: Or, “Where Glick Hopes This Title Finds its Direction.” Based on the solicitation text, Ania Solo and Imperial Knight Jao Assam are teaming up to take down Darth Wredd. I hope they succeed and kill him, and the other Sith Lord mentioned here takes his place as the main villain. There’s no mention of his name here, but it has to be better than Wredd!
The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys (Trade Paperback & Ltd. Ed. HC): Gerard Way proved with “The Umbrella Academy” that he could write great comics. I’m eager to see if that trend continues with co-writer Shaun Simon and artist Becky Cloonan in this story. At least with Cloonan’s involvement, it’s guaranteed to look great. That said, the paperback is listed as being 160 pages for $20 while the LE HC is at 232 pages for $80. I can understand the difference in price as the LE HC is limited to 2500 copies, but is the extra content in those extra pages worth $60? Not to me it’s not.
Veil #1 (of 5): From the solicitation text, “A beautiful girl wakes up in an abandoned subway station with no memory of how she got there. When men try to hurt her . . . they wind up dead. Where did she come from? And what is she capable of?” It’s written by Greg Rucka and I believe this is the first thing he has written for the company. Regardless of how it came to be, his involvement has my interest. One possible cause for concern: Though the main character is described as a “beautiful” woman, the image of her on the cover from series artist Toni Fejzula is anything but. Will that be a dealbreaking issue for the series? Expect my thoughts on it sometime next year.
