Dark Horse Previews Picks: May 2022
Above-the-Board Recommendation:
Jinx
This is the story of a couple of two-bit hustlers, Goldfish and Columbia, who each wind up with half of the location to where a major cash stash is located, and the title character, a bounty hunter who crosses their paths. It’s also the longest series Brian Michael Bendis did by himself prior to hitting the big time with his success at Marvel. Speaking of someone who has a lot of love for most of the comics the writer did for the company during that time, I also have to say that “Jinx” is still the best series he’s ever done. The memorable characters, the stylish black-and-white artwork, the twisty plot, and the thrilling dialogue all combine for a story that’s incredibly hard to put down and complete in this volume. While it’s great to see that Dark Horse is committed to putting all of the writer’s previous creator-owned work back into print, this is the one you’re going to want in your library if you can only buy one – but you should also buy “Fortune and Glory” as well.
Pearl vol. 3 #1 (of 6): So you may be wondering why this didn’t get the “Above-the-Board Recommendation” since it’s a new miniseries from Bendis and artist Michael Gaydos following up from the two previous miniseries they did featuring the titular Yakuza heiress at DC. Well, that’s because I didn’t think those two miniseries represented their best work. Their version of the Japanese mafia felt undercooked and inconsistent, while Pearl’s journey through it being defined by the actions of people she met along the way rather than her own initiative. While neither of the previous miniseries were bad, I’m not expecting things to finally click with this third one. Instead, I’ll keep hoping for an Endo Twins spinoff featuring the endearingly dumb wannabe crimelords from the previous miniseries.
Shaolin Cowboy: Cruel to be Kin #1 (of 7): Geoff Darrow’s zombie-killing kung-fu machine gets another (lengthy) miniseries. Except he might not be killing zombies this time as a story “ripped from yesterday’s twitter feeds” has him combating crazed humans in an outbreak of violence. Really, this series is all about Darrow drawing whatever the hell he wants and if that’s your thing then you’ve got seven whole issues of it to look forward to starting in May.
Art of Star Wars Visions Deluxe HC: If there was one thing that all nine of these shorts from Japanese anime studios and creators had to recommend them, it was their visuals. The stories they were telling… not so much. With this, you can enjoy those visuals without any of the annoying dialogue or trope-filled stories to distract from them. Comes with a slipcase, cover, and three gallery-quality prints.
Jenny Zero vol. 2 #1 (of 4): Well, this is surprising. You don’t see many follow-ups to Dark Horse miniseries these days, so writers Dave Dwonch and Brockton McKinney, and artist Magenta King must’ve done something right with their first one. “Jenny Zero” is the story of a superpowered kaiju fighter whose hard-drinking and hard-partying ways got the better of her. She was offered a shot at redemption in the first miniseries, and that appears to have worked for her… only to now find herself dealing with a whole new kind of fame and a kaiju death cult as well.
Critical Role: Vox Machina Origins vol. 3: Hey, it’s the latest volume of the series detailing the backstory of characters from a hugely popular podcast that I’ve never listened to! It has an animated series on Amazon Prime now, so maybe I’ll check that out at some point. In any case, the previous two volumes of this series were fun, and I’m expecting the third volume to continue in that vein. Especially since it’s retaining the same creative team of co-writers Matthew Mercer and Jody Houser, and artist Olivia Samson. This time Vox Machina finds themselves enjoying the luxury offered by Westruun’s Winter’s Crest festival… up until the point their coin runs out. Their solution? Taking part in an underground fight club before the whole town gets frozen and they have to figure out what to do about it.
Hellboy and the B.P.R.D.: Night of the Cyclops: Hellboy has encountered a lot of monsters from a lot of pantheons over the years. However, my memory is failing me in regards to any encounters he’s had with the gods and monsters of the Greek pantheon. Writer Mike Mignola looks to rectify that issue here as he teams with artist Oliver Vatine for a story about Hellboy crossing paths with a jealous god after being detoured there by a goat. Which sounds about right for the kind of adventure you’d expect this character to have.
Hellboy: Bones of Giants HC & The Silver Lantern Club HC: Are hardcovers the future of Hellboy/Mignoalverse collections? The first is a four-issue adaptation of Mignola and Christopher Golden’s illustrated novel, with art from Matt Smith. The second is a collection of the five-issue miniseries from Mignola and Christopher Roberson with art from Ben Stenbeck that sees Hellboy learning about the club’s involvement in mysterious happenings in London during the late 19th Century. If I was going to just by one of these collections, it would be “The Silver Lantern Club” as the team of Mignola, Roberson, and Stenbeck has been a more reliably entertaining team over the years. “The Bones of Giants” can wait until it gets a softcover edition.
Mob Psycho 100 vol. 9: It’s good to know that new volumes of this series are still coming. In this one, Mob and Reigen’s relationship reaches the breaking point as the latter’s arrogance and demands on his pupil’s time have caused the former to walk out on him. Reigen sees this as a sign that he needs to change and decides to start running his spirit exorcism operation in a legitimate fashion. Which might prove to be a problem after he’s asked to exorcize a spirit on live TV. Knowing Reigen, I’m sure he’ll find a way out of that issue without looking like a complete fraud. The real question is whether or not he’ll be able to do it in a way that mends his bridges with Mob as well. While answer to that is obviously, “Yes,” the storytelling of the series so far does make you wonder what kind of twisted route it’s going to take to get to that point.