Dark Horse Comics have announced several new titles for July, including “Paranoid Gardens,” a surreal six-issue series written by Gerard Way and Shaun Simon, with art by Chris Weston (“Judge Dredd”), colors by Dave Stewart, and lettering by Nate Piekos. The book follows Loo, a nurse at a care facility, whose staff and patients includes aliens, ghosts, superheroes and more.
“Despite a recent failure at her job, [Loo believes] she’s been given some sort of higher calling in this mysterious place, and decides to rise to the challenge. Along the way, she must fight her way through corrupt staff members, powerful theme park cults, and her own personal demons and trauma to meet this challenge and discover what secrets the gardens hold.”
Way, who previously collaborated with Simon at Dark Horse on “The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys” and “Tales from The Umbrella Academy: You Look Like Death,” said he was excited to co-create the “visually powerful and emotionally tangible physical object that is this comic. I’m now more complete getting to share something we’ve wanted to for a very long time, and working with this fantastic group of individuals in the process.” Issue #1 will be released on July 17, 2024, with a die-cut cover by Weston, and a variant by Japanese illustrator Motohiro Hayakawa.
Other announcements from Dark Horse consisted of:
– “Grendel: Devil’s Crucible — Defiance,” the first in a new trilogy of series from Matt Wagner. Picking up from 2019’s “Grendel: Devil’s Odyssey,” the book sees Grendel Prime return to Earth, where “things are not as he left them. The pockets of humanity that remain, and the ‘Necro Lords’ that rule them, have turned against the Grendels. Grendel Prime will need to hide his identity as he explores his suddenly hostile home planet.” Issue #1 (of 4) will be on July 3 with covers by Wagner, and his son, colorist Brennan Wagner.
– “From the World of Minor Threats: Barfly,” a four-issue spin-off of Patton Oswalt, Jordan Blum, and Scott Hepburn’s supervillain series, written by Kyle Starks (“Assassin Nation”) with art by Ryan Browne (“Eight Billion Genies”). The book follows $#!%eater, a mutant fly henchman struggling to find a new boss. Oswalt quips, “It’s a punk rock human/fly hybrid that pukes and does crime! What are we NOT doing?” It will begin on July 10.
– Details on “Nemesis: Rogues’ Gallery,” Mark Millar, Valerio Giangiordano and Lee Loughridge’s new five-issue outing for the titular supervillain, which will begin on July 24. Picking up from the Millarworld crossover “Big Game,” the series finds the broken and defeated Nemesis rebuilding and plotting his revenge. It marks the first new series from Millarworld at Dark Horse, following their relocation from Image last year.
For more on all these series, and to check out cover art in the meantime, head to the links provided.
