Dark Horse Comics kicked off the major panels today at the Emerald City ComiCon with an overview of what the studio has coming up in the next few months. DH Publicist Jeremy Atkins lead the panel, which featured a updates on a laundry list of Dark Horse titles.
The End League
Rick Remender (Fear Agent) introduced Eric Canete (Iron Man: Enter the Mandarin), who joins the book as artist (including covers) for a four-issue stint, beginning with issue six. Canete had served as the art director for the CN animated series ‘Ben 10’. The book will also begin shipping monthly. Remender describes the book’s tone as being “The Watchmen meets the Lord of the Rings” and that the next four issues will contain a number of surprises. It essentially takes place in a world where the villains have won, and it’s up to a group of eight heroes to find the legendary hammer of Thor. According to Atkins, End League is quite brutal and is “Rivaling Conan as far as the number of decapitations per page”.
Star Wars
Atkins asked how everyone was enjoying the Star Wars line wide crossover, Vector, with a favorable response. Asked later is there were plans for Vector style crossovers passed the current year, Atkins responded that the folks working on the books have some pretty grand plans, but it’s too early to talk about what those are or if they’ll actually see the light of day.
The Great Outdoor Fight
The latest web-comic series to be collected by Dark Horse is Achewood by Chris Onstad. Dark Horse has more collections in the works, including a second Perry Bible Fellowship collection from Nick Gurewitch. The Captain Sweeto collection from Gurewitch was amazing (check our review here) so a second volume is highly anticipated.
Dark Horse Presents MySpace
Dark Horse continues their search for new talent to showcase on their ‘Dark Horse Presents’ MySpace page. In September they will release a print collection of the first six months of online comics. June will be Robert E. Howard month at the site and July will feature a new Umbrella Academy short story involving the team during their ‘punk band’ days in the 80’s. Joss Whedon has some new DHP stories in the works as well.
Umbrella Academy
Speaking of the Umbrella Academy, July sees the first six issue mini-series collected along with the rare Free Comic Book Day giveaway issue. The collection will also feature a slew of sketches and character designs by Gerard Way. Umbrella Academy will return in November for a second series.
BPRD
July sees the new BPRD mini called ‘The Warning’, featuring an appearance by Lobster Johnson. Also, Joshua Dysart follws up BPRD: 1946 with 1947, which Dysart says will be a little less story-intensive and focus more on the art. 1947 will include more background on a young Hellboy. Dysart’s plans for 1948 will return things to a more dense, political style (and will be Bruttenholm-centric).
Hellboy
On the Hellboy front, the new mini ‘Wild Hunt’ has been pushed back until late 2008/early 2009. Mike Mignola has a one-shot in mind he wants to draw first. ‘Wild Hunt’, which will be a three-issue series with covers by Richard Corben, is a follow up to ‘Darkness Calls’. Another upcoming Hellboy series, ‘The Crooked Man’ will focus on a witchcraft story set in the Appalachian mountains.
Gigantic
If you love stories about huge robots destroying cities, then Rick Remender has the book for you. Eric Wen provides artwork and Remender compares the story to “A robot in the Truman Show”.
Conan
The current Conan book will be wrapping up soon but that doesn’t mean the barbarian will get any rest. The character will be relaunched in July with a new #1 and new direction. Conan returns home to Cimmeria and finally becomes a mercenary. Tim Truman writes and Tomas Giorello handles the art while Frank Cho provides the covers.
Kull
In late 2008, fans will see the premiere of Kull, the character that inspired the creation of Conan. Arvid Nelson and Will Conrad are the creative team behind the series, which was described as ‘high fantasy’.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
October sees the release of the Buffy 78-card Tarot deck with art by Paul Lee. And yes, Dark Horse will release a Buffy inspired ouija board, though it won’t be called a ‘ouija board’ for legal reasons. In the Buffy Season Eight series, the character of Fray (a slayer from the future) will meet her predecessor Buffy… wacky hijinks ensue.
Beanworld
Larry Marder’s Beanworld returns in a big way in the next few months. September will see the debut of a new short story on the DH MySpace page, followed by a collection of 21 classic Beanworld issues in early 2009. In addition, a brand new graphic novel will also be rolled out in 2009. Want more Beanworld before then? Watch out for a special holiday-centric comic at the end of 2008!
Aliens Versus Predator
Lastly, there was mention of a new longer-form Aliens Versus Predator comic series in development. However it is way too early for Dark Horse to release any additional details.
Fantastic panel. Thank you to Dark Horse for the presentations and giving fans some terrific books to look forward to!
Check out photos from the Dark Horse Panel at this year’s Emerald City Comic Con in our photo gallery!