Summer is almost over, which means the last of the fall solicits are in! That’s right, it’s time once again for Soliciting Multiversity, which means I get to kick it off with my favorite publisher: Dark Horse!
There is a lot of good stuff coming out from Dark Horse these days, and I can’t highlight them all, so I highly encourage you to check out the full listing, which I’ll link to at the end of the column.
Enough time wasting, let’s get to it!
47 Times the Ronin, Minus the Rabbit Ears
The big news for me this month is the start of Stan Sakai and Mike Richardson’s “47 Ronin,” a miniseries retelling the historical legend of Lord Asano’s death and dishonor, and the revenge sought by his loyal retainers. As you know, Stan Sakai is the creator of “Usagi Yojimbo,” the longest-running single creator comic of all time, with over 200 issues published so far. After working so long telling stories about one character, Sakai is taking a well-deserved break. Being the workaholic that he is, “taking a break” means he’s working on something else, instead! They have meticulously researched this story and its visuals, with Sakai visiting the actual locations in Japan where these events took place, as well as the graves of the 47 Ronin. With Mike Richardson (“The Secret,” “Star Wars: Crimson Empire”) handling scripting duties and assistance from the legendary Kazuo Koike (of “Lone Wolf and Cub” fame), Stan Sakai is sure to outdo even himself! Sadly, there will be no rabbit ears.
Hyrule Hysteria
The big announcement for nearly everyone else, it seems, is the release of an English language version of “The Legend of Zelda: Hyrule Historia,” the original Japanese version of which is already a bestseller on Amazon. Packed full of extras, this hardcover compendium is a must-have for Zelda and Nintendo fans. It includes a comprehensive timeline of the history of Hyrule, concept art, articles by the games’ creators, and much more!
EDIT: The English language version has already stolen the #1 spot on the Amazon bestsellers list from “Fifty Shades of Grey!”
The Temperature’s About to Drop
One of the more interesting announcements to come out of Emerald City Comicon was Paul Tobin and Juan Ferreyra’s “Colder,” a five-issue miniseries about a former insane asylum inmate whose body temperature is getting lower every day. He must discover who he is and what is happening to him before it gets too low for him to survive. Combining elements of mystery and horror, and with some pretty insane art teased so far, this is something I have been looking forward to for a while. And just check out that creepy cover!
Use the Wand, Willow!
(Okay, wrong Willow. Sorry, couldn’t resist!)
I’ll admit I’m not the world’s biggest “Buffy” fan (which is weird, because I’m obsessed with everything else Joss Whedon has done), but one of the characters I definitely appreciate from the show is Willow, the simultaneously awkward/bad-ass lesbian sorceress. She’s perhaps the most prominent supporting character in the show, being the only character besides Buffy herself to appear in every episode. However, except for a couple one-shots and a two-issue mini shared with Tara, she hasn’t had her own comic–until now! In “Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Willow–Wonderland,” a new five-issue mini written by Jeff Parker, she embarks on a quest to restore magic to the Buffyverse. With Brian Ching on pencils, Jason Gorder on inks, Michelle Madsen on colors, and some gorgeous covers by David Mack and Megan Lara, this should be one beautiful book!
Back to Baltimore
Mike Mignola, Christopher Golden and Ben Stenbeck begin a series of three one-shots centered on the peg-legged vampire hunter Lord Baltimore. If you’ve missed this series until now, this is going to be a fun place to start. I’d tell you why, but the solicit already says it better than I could:
Continued belowBALTIMORE: THE PLAY
Mike Mignola (W), Christopher Golden (W), Ben Stenbeck (A/Cover), Dave Stewart (C)
On sale Nov 21
FC, 32 pages
$3.50
One-shot
A mad playwright puts on a Grand Guignol featuring actors that are real vampires. The evil financer of the play makes a bizarre discovery when he finds out that the playwright is a fraud and the true author is a disembodied head of a famous American author kept in a glass case.
– From Mike Mignola and Christopher Golden!
Poe + Corben = The Creepiest Horror Comics Ever
Edgar Allan Poe is considered one of the greatest pioneers in American horror fiction, and Richard Corben is a modern legend in horror comics. To have Corben adapting Poe stories to this medium may just be the greatest thing to happen to horror comics since the birth of Bernie Wrightson. The first stand-alone issue in a series of such Corben/Poe adaptations for Dark Horse is “Edgar Allan Poe’s The Conqueror Worm.” You can find many more Corben/Poe works in past and future issues of “Dark Horse Presents.”
One Hell of an Anthology
Speaking of “Dark Horse Presents,” November’s issue may just be one of the best in this Eisner-award winning reboot of Dark Horse’s flagship anthology. In addition to one of the aforementioned Corben/Poe adaptations (“Shadow”), “DHP” #18 will include the beginning of the second volume of MC staff favorite “Resident Alien,” more “Alabaster” from Cailtin R. Kiernan, the beginning of a modern take on Golden Age TV/radio/comics hero Captain Midnight, more “Finder” by Carla Speed McNeil, and some sort of “post-apocalyptic Pokemon” story by Ulises Farinas. And that’s not even all!
Queen of the Black Coast Hardcover!
Brian Wood, Becky Cloonan and James Harren’s new take on “Conan the Barbarian” has received rave reviews–and with good reason! This series has impressed long-time Conan fans and pulled in many new readers (such as myself) who never gave Conan a second thought. If you missed the series so far, or want to add the collected version to your shelf, don’t miss this hardcover collecting the first six issues!
Reset Gets a Hardcover, Too
When you hear the term “alternative comics,” one of the names that will inevitably enter the conversation is Peter Bagge, creator of “Hate!” and frequent contributor to “MAD Magazine.” However, his latest miniseries, “Reset,” has been criminally under-ordered. As Paul Mellerick said on The Comics Beat, “I don’t know if I want to live in a world where a Peter Bagge comic only sells three and a half thousand copies.” So please, for his sake, mine, and Peter Bagge’s, order this wonderful book from Dark Horse. Very few creators have the talent and the honesty to write stories about awful, insensitive people like protagonist Guy Krause, a failed comedian and alleged wife-beater, and actually make us like them. This is a book that shows life with all of its warts and pimples, and yet somehow finds something beautiful in all the muck. Hooked up to some sort of virtual reality device, Krause is forced to relive some of the most difficult moments in his life, and given the chance to make different choices. However, not everything is as it seems… Look for this in an upcoming installment of “Off the Cape.”
…And A Whole Lot More!
This column is getting pretty lengthy, and we’ve barely scratched the surface of all the good stuff Dark Horse has coming out in November. There’s a new five-issue “Star Wars: Dawn of the Jedi–The Prisoner of Bogan” miniseries starting up, as well as “R.I.P.D.: City of the Damned,” a four-issue miniseries about undead crime-fighters in the Wild West (you gotta love comics!). We’ll also get new issues of “The Massive,” “The Goon,” “Buffy,” “Angel & Faith,” “B.P.R.D.,” “Ghost,” “Conan the Barbarian” (now with art by Declan Shalvey), “Robert E. Howard’s Savage Sword” #6 (with Matt Kindt, Paul Tobin, Ian Edginton, Francesco Francavilla Richard Pace and Keu Cha all contributing!), a “Criminal Macabre” one-shot, collections of “Creepy” and “Eerie,” and volume #26 of “Gantz.” Go check out the full solicits here, if you want more. (Let’s be honest, you do.)
Up next for Soliciting Multiversity: Marvel!
