There are some pretty cool announcements coming from Dark Horse Digital this week. First of all they’re having a killer sale -- all digital issues of The Goon will only cost .99 cents this weekend! If you’ve never read this hilarious and over-the-top creator-owned book this is a perfect chance to jump in.

The bigger news actually has a lot to do with your local comic shop. In an attempt to help out the brick-and-mortar comics retailers Dark Horse has created the Digital Retailer Exclusive Program. The new program with last for three months and gives readers a chance to check out never before seen material from B.P.R.D, Mass Effect and Buffy the Vampire Slayer! Read more...

Tags B.P.R.D, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Comic Books, Comics Retailers, Dark Horse, Dark Horse Digital, Digital Comics, Mass Effect

The name of this new weekly column is "New Comics I'm Excited About!" because I just don't blog about comic books...I'm also a fan and go to the comic shop every week to pick up my stack.

Let's look at my pull list for this week...

PICK OF THE WEEK:

I chose Strange Adventures from Vertigo as my pick of the week not just because of the content, but the fact that I'd really like to see more anthologies like this and Dark Horse Presents on the stands. These books often serve not only as forums for familiar creators to let loose and try something new (Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso's "Spaceman"), but edgy indie talents who deserve more exposure to get their work out there (Kevin Colden's “Postmodern Prometheus”). Books like Strange Adventures are the cauldrons from which we might all get those exciting new concepts, characters and talent fans are always requesting instead of the "same-old, same-old" -- too bad it's only a one-shot, and here's hoping DC puts out more of the same in the future. Read more...

Tags Archaia, DC Comics, Image, Marvel Comics, Vertigo

After pretty sporadic publication throughout 2010, Eric Powell's hillbilly horror swamp comedy/drama The Goon is returning to Dark Horse starting in June. Powell has, of course, been keeping busy between two-fisted adventures of tough guys wrecking swamp monsters, but some of us have been missing his most famous creation.

Powell talked to MTV Geek recently about the return of the book, what he's been up to, and provides a (mini) update on the status of the much-anticipated movie.

MTV Geek: So where’ve you (and The Goon) been, man?

Eric Powell: Well, I was working on the Goon screenplay, my self published all ages book Chimichanga, Billy the Kid's Old Timey Oddities, The Buzzard mini-series, and Godzilla: Kingdom of Monsters.

Geek: Now that you’re back at it, what’s the overall plan for The Goon? It felt like a lot of last year was about clearing out the decks.

EP: Yep, I don't want The Goon to ever get stagnant. I try to change up the tone so no one knows what to expect. That's definitely the plan for the next few issues. Between Chinatown and the monthly run of "The Return of Labrazio" the book took on a more serious somber tone. I feel like doing some crazier stuff now.

Geek: You’ve mentioned in the past that you’re taking the Mignola route with your book, focusing on one universe. Will that ever mean bringing in other creators to expand the world of the Goon?

EP: I doubt it. When I mentioned Mignola, I believe I actually mentioned Mignola and Jeff Smith, [and] I was referring to maintaining focus on one project in order to build it's momentum. I've succeeded at that. Now I just have to maintain it! Mike has spread his characters out successfully to build his own little universe. I don't think that's the way for me to go. I don't want The Goon to have a universe.

Geek: What kind of schedule are you planning for the return of the book?

EP: We're going back to the original bi-monthly schedule.

Geek: Chinatown was, for me, the most incisive look at the character and how his mind works. When can we expect more looks at Goon’s past?

EP: I have a fun story planned in the next few issues about his teenage years. But that's all I can tell you.

Geek: Along the same lines, any plans for more spin-offs like last year’s Buzzard story?

EP: Nope. Buzzard needed some closure. That's why he got a mini-series. I might return to him, but nobody else needs their own book. Sometimes a supporting character is best used as a supporting character. Read more...

Tags Chimichanga, Dark Horse Comics, Eric Powell, Godzilla: Kingdom of the Monsters, The Goon

Today at MTV Geek!, we’re going to drop a bombshell worthy of a multiverse-style headline: Dark Horse Comics is making statues of Marvel Comics characters! Yes, you read that right. Indeed, our world has become a topsy-turvy pile of insanity! How did this happen? What the hell are we trying to pull with these lies?! We’ll let the folks over at Dark Horse explain:

Read more...

Tags Dark Horse Comics, Fantastic Four, Marvel Comics, mtv, MTV Geek, Spider-Man, Statues, Syroco

Dungeon Siege III will land on game consoles and PCs June 21st, but if you can’t wait that long to get familiar with the Kingdom of Ehb crew, Dark Horse comics and Obsidian Entertainment have joined forces to bring us the Dungeon Siege III digital comic tie-in!

The new comic will come as three separate vignettes each introducing us to one of the playable characters in the game. The fourth character’s book will be available exclusively as a pack-in when you purchase your copy Dungeon Siege III for Xbox 360, PS3 or PC from Walmart stores. Read more...

Tags Comic Books, Dark Horse, Digital Comics, Dungeon Siege, Video Games

By Brigid Alverson

Almost four years after they initially introduced the project, Dark Horse recently announced that they would publish Gate 7, the latest manga from the four-woman Japanese manga team CLAMP, on October 25.

The plot is vintage manga, or rather, vintage YA: shy teenager Chikahito goes on a trip to Kyoto and somehow ends up in a parallel world where he has special powers, and where he must team up with the fierce—but cute!—warrior Hana to protect the world from "violent elemental beasts."

Dark Horse first announced it would be publishing the manga in 2007, and the original plan was to release them in slim, 80-page volumes they called "mangettes." That format is now history, and the Dark Horse edition will contain the standard 200 pages for $10.99.

We reached out to Dark Horse Director of Asian Licensing Michael Gombos with a few questions about the story and how they will present it.

Brigid: There's a lot of manga on the market right now. What makes Gate 7 stand out from the rest of the crowd--and from CLAMP's other work?

Michael: I think the second part answers the first; the fact that it's CLAMP makes it stand out from other manga, or comics, for that matter, but CLAMP is never content to rest on their laurels, and they're really pulling no punches in Gate 7. Stylistically, I think it's really an achievement, too. The artwork is just fantastic, vivid, and the style always seems to fit the tone. I am beyond impressed with what I have seen so far, not only in terms of art, but in terms of story, as well.

Brigid: You first announced this project in 2007. Why has it taken so long? Was it delayed on the Japanese side?

Michael: Most of these deals take time, and especially the important ones. What we announced in 2007 is quite different than what we have today; indeed, we were announcing a format and story. I can't think of a single good deal that didn't take a protracted amount of time to get going. Gantz took me five years, getting some Evangelion series here took some time, too, as did a lot of our other series—so it figures in pretty normally that getting the best-of-the-best, CLAMP, would take a considerable amount of time. Another thing that impact things was the format change (below), and CLAMP is as amazingly busy as they are talented.

Brigid: The original concept was to release mini-volumes, "mangettes." Why did you decide not to go that route?

Michael: Initially, the buyers at the bookstores loved the idea—a great serial, much like American comics, and you get to read the manga exactly as it comes out in Japan! But times changed, and in 2008, the publishing marketing took a dive, and it seemed that value-packaging was what was working. Indeed, we're seeing this as true as our CLAMP omnibus editions (sometimes collecting 3-4 volumes of Japanese material in to one English edition) are moving extremely well. In terms of pamphlet format stuff, single issues or other serials (what the mangettes format was), the thinner, well—let's just say that the top selling comic last month sold 70,000 issues, and there was a time in the industry when that was considered the lower-end of mediocre. Bigger, value-priced packaging is moving well for books, and the smallest I'd go nowadays would be a 150+ page trade (in terms of manga). If you're interested in serialized chapters, it simply has to be available digitally.

Brigid: You have been publishing CLAMP's older works in omnibus editions. It seems they would appeal to a different audience than your other manga like Gantz and Blade of the Immortal. What challenges have they presented from a marketing point of view, and how does Gate 7 fit in with the rest of your line?

Michael: It fits in perfectly, since our line is good comics! I think there are people who are fans of manga, but personally (and I know a lot of people share this), I believe that manga should be divided into genre just like American Comics. Saying that Hellboy and Sin City are both comics seems a lot less pigeonholing than saying both "Gantz" and "Gate 7" are manga; I don't like the classification, because comics are a medium, just like television is a medium. For example, comparing Kazuo Koike's Crying Freeman to Oh My Goddess is like comparing Conan to Peanuts. Crying Freeman is a crime-related book, with a great romance in it. I think you'd be better served comparing it to Sin City because of the content; it's best to ignore the country of origin. Read more...

Tags CLAMP, Dark Horse Comics, Gate 7, Manga

As we previously told you, Dark Horse Comics is set to release its own comics app featuring some of Dark Horse's biggest and coolest titles including Hellboy, BPRD, Conan and more. The company has set the date of April 27th to unleash the app onto the iTunes store, pre-loaded with the first issue of Hellboy: Seed of Destruction!

Check out the official press release here and watch our video of a complete demonstration of the app from this year's C2E2 after the jump!

One of the most eagerly anticipated programs in the history of Dark Horse is announced today, as the Dark Horse Digital app and store will launch in exactly one week.

As previously mentioned, the Dark Horse Comics iOS digital app will be available for free download in the iTunes store. The app will feature the first issue of Hellboy: Seed of Destruction already pre-loaded into your collection. Thanks to those fans who signed up for our Dark Horse Digital newsletter so far, users will also be able to download the full first issues of Criminal Macabre, Abe Sapien: The Drowning, and Joss Whedon’s Fray for free! There are still two more issues yet to be unlocked and an iPad 2 up for grabs, so please visit digital.darkhorse.com to sign up for our digital newsletter today!

In addition to the iPhone and iPad, Dark Horse digital comics will be able to be read on any modern web browser. A native Android app is currently in development. In the meantime, the Dark Horse digital store launches with hundreds of our most popular titles, including Mass Effect, Serenity, Conan, The Goon, Hellboy, BPRD, and more!

Read more...

Tags Apple App Store, Dark Horse Comics, Digital Comics, Hellboy

Writer/artist Sanford Greene (Star Wars Tales, Planet of the Apes, Deadpool) is in rarefied company as a contributor to Dark Horse Presents. His creator-owned story, "Rotten Apple" is being collected alongside the work of Paul Chadwick (Concrete), Neal Adams (Blood), as well as Robert Love, Patrick Alexander, and Carla Speed McNeil.

Read more...

Tags Dark Horse Comics, Dark Horse Presents, Rotten Apple, Sanford Greene, Scott Allie

March was a shockingly good month for comics, and the hardest yet for coming up with ten, excellent books who stood above the rest. So we chose eleven. What didn’t make the list? I’ll include most of ‘em below, but Marvel’s excellent Age of X titles started canceling each other out; and L’il Depressed Boy from Image was so very, very close to making the top ten – but not quite yet. And a few titles, including Locke & Key, Action Comics, and Osborn released their penultimate issues. Near perfect all, but we’re waiting to see whether they stick the landing in April.

That all said, ten titles did stand heads and tails about the rest. These are the ten best comics of March, 2011:

Honorable Mention: Finals #1

I can’t really include this on the main list as it’s a reprint of Will Pfeiffer and Jill Thompson’s little-seen Vertigo miniseries. But if you didn’t read it before, this 100ish page spectacular is as subversive and hilarious as when it was first released. Set at a college that specializes in real world experience – from starting a cult, to building a nuclear bomb – the book is laugh out loud funny, and should be required reading on all college campuses as a case study in how to not go over the top.

10. Knight & Squire #6

We’ve been big fans of Paul Cornell’s England-set Batman & Robin series since the beginning, and are supremely sad to see it go. Though it’s hard to surpass Knight & Squire #3, which brought an iambic pentameter spitting Richard III back to life, the final issue matches any point in the series for bittersweet emotion and earnest, honest hope. The Joker has come to England, pissed off about how happy and bright everything is, rather than the grim, gritty world of Gotham City. He decides to bring his brand of “humor” to the British Isles, and finds he’s just not wanted, as villains and heroes alike team up to take him down. There’s a real sense of loss as Jarvis Poker, the British Joker sacrifices himself to save the soul of England… And also a sense that, in the world of the comic, as well as in the real world, for a little while, someone was bringing actual fun back to comics. More, please.

9. Bad Dog #4

Read more...

Tags Action Comics, Axe Cop, Bets Comics Of March, Comic Book Comics, Finals, Fred Van Lente, Jimmy Olsen, Mark Waid, Nick Spencer, Scott Snyder, Vertigo

Dark Horse's Jeremy Atkins, Scott Allie, and Sierra Hahn were on board at WonderCon to give fans the skinny on what they can expect from their several titles based on Joss Whedon creations:

- The Buffy Season 9 artist will be Georges Jeanty, and will be written by Joss Whedon and Andrew Chambliss (chosen based on his writing for the Dollhouse comic)

- Spike will be a part of Buffy Season 9!

- IDW's Angel series leads into Buffy Season 9, but the panel would not yet divulge the connection between them. Read more...

Tags Angel and Faith, Buffy Season 9, Buffy The Vampie Slayer, Dark Horse, Dollhouse, Joss Whedon, WonderCon