Berger Books – SMASH PAGES

Mat Johnson + Steve Lieber explore family secrets + time travel in ‘Backflash’

The new graphic novel will debut from Dark Horse’s Berger Books imprint this fall.

Mat Johnson, writer of Incognegro and its sequel, Incognegro: Renaissance, is working with Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen artist Steve Lieber on a new graphic novel that offers “a delightfully strange and fresh take on time travel.” Backflash, which will be published by Dark Horse Comics’ Berger Books imprint, is scheduled to come out this fall.

They’re joined by colorist Lee Loughridge and letterer Clem Robins on the project, which is being edited by Karen Berger. She previously worked with Johnson when she was at Vertigo on the first Incognegro book, as well as Dark Rain: A New Orleans Story, Right State and a Hellblazer special. She also edited the five-issue Incognegro: Renaissance since coming to Dark Horse.

According to the news release, Backflash tells the story of Devin whose life is “spiraling out of control, until he discovers the impossible: with a random touch of an article of family memorabilia, he can travel back in time, mentally reliving the best moments of his past while escaping his problems of the present.” But it comes with consequences, as he discovers a family secret he was never supposed to find out.

Warren Pleece returns to Dark Horse for ‘a dystopian eco-noir thriller’

The creator of ‘Incognegro’ will write and draw a new graphic novel for the Berger Books imprint.

Incognegro creator Warren Pleece will return with a new graphic novel next year from Berger Books, the Dark Horse imprint run by former Vertigo chief Karen Berger.

The Sunny-Luna Travelling Oracle is described as “a dystopian eco-noir thriller about power, escape, creation, and the mark we leave on the world.”

“My love of the natural world and learning about the Wood Wide Web grafted to my other permanent obsession with the long dramatic shadows cast by classic film noir, finally led me to this rip-snorting eco-thriller story with more than a touch of magic,” Pleece said.

Chu + Lee revisit the first vampire in ‘Carmilla: The Last Vampire Hunter’

Dark Horse will publish the sequel graphic novel next July.

Dark Horse Comics has announced a sequel to Carmilla: The First Vampire, the graphic novel by Amy Chu and Soo Lee published earlier this year. Carmilla: The Last Vampire Hunter will feature lettering by Sal Cipriano and will arrive in stores next July.

Based on a 19th century queer feminist murder mystery, Carmilla: The First Vampire was a contemporary retelling set in 1990s New York Chinatown. The new OGN follows social worker-turned-vampire hunter Athena Lo to San Francisco as she investigates her family’s dark history.

“Excited to continue the story of Athena and Carmilla, this time on the West Coast, and to introduce a whole new world of pan-Asian supernatural characters to the readers,” said Chu. “I hope with the Last Vampire, Soo Lee and I help define Asian American horror as a genre.”

The trip to SF will bring new challenges and introduce a new vampire threat — with the shadow of Carmilla still hanging over Athena. The book falsl under the Berger Books banner, the imprint overseen by former Vertigo chief Karen Berger.

“I’ve fallen in love with these characters as I bring them to life on paper, and Athena has a very special place in my heart,” said Lee. “Introducing a new cast of Asian Vampires creates a twist to the genre that I hope will become a new trend for many years to come. This story has become a part of me and this sequel is one I hope resonates with many people, especially if family is an important part of you.

Berger Books will adapt the opera ‘The Emperor of Atlantis’

Electronic Frontier Foundation Director of Investigations Dave Maass and artist Patrick Lay will bring to life a story written by two concentration camp prisoners.

While imprisoned at the Terezín concentration camp in Czechoslovakia by Hitler’s Nazi regime in 1943, Peter Kien and Viktor Ullmann wrote Der Kaiser von Atlantis, or The Emperor of Atlantis, a one-act opera that they never got to see performed. Now Dark Horse’s Berger Books will adapt the story into a graphic novel by Electronic Frontier Foundation Director of Investigations Dave Maass and artist Patrick Lay.

Death Strikes: The Emperor of Atlantis will also feature character designs by Ezra Rose and lettering by Richard Bruning. In addition to adapting the opera, the graphic novel will also feature an historical essay on the opera’s creators, as well as Kien’s artwork and photographs.

“Written in a concentration camp, Peter Kien and Viktor Ullmann’s opera is the truest form of artistic resistance, a middle finger to the Nazis and all authoritarians across history,” Maass said. “By adapting this fierce, genre-blending satire, we hope to introduce this nearly lost masterpiece to new audiences–and to challenge the tyrants of today.”

Before Dracula, there was ‘Carmilla: The First Vampire’

Amy Chu and Soo Lee bring the original bloodsucker back at Dark Horse.

A 19th century queer feminist murder mystery sees the sunlight again in Carmilla: The First Vampire. This new contemporary retelling set in 1990s New York Chinatown is crafted by writer Amy Chu (Red Sonja, Poison Ivy: Cycle of Life and Death, Netflix’s DOTA: Dragon’s Blood) and illustrator Soo Lee (Ash and Thorn, Stillwater: The Escape, Vampirella Fairy Tales).

The trade paperback will be published by Dark Horse Comics’ Berger Books imprint and available in January 2023.

I.N.J. Culbard will write and draw ‘Salamandre’ graphic novel

Dark Horse will publish the graphic novel through their Berger Books imprint in November.

Dark Horse Comics has announced Salamandre, a “uniquely evocative” graphic novel written and drawn by I.N.J. Culbard coming later this year from their Berger Books imprint.

“Writing what you know is really about writing what you think you know,” said I.N.J. Culbard. “Instead of what really happened, a confabulation grows with each retelling—a story, transforming a factual truth into a universal one. I took an event from one hot summer afternoon in my own life, made it the finale and then worked backwards through my story, using the jigsaw puzzle of my own memories growing up on both sides of the Iron Curtain during the Cold War as a foundation for this world—that is a little off-kilter to our own.”

Dark Horse will wrap up ‘She Can Fly’ with a graphic novel

The third chapter of Christopher Cantwell and Martín Morazzo’s Berger Books title will arrive all at once, in October.

Christopher Cantwell, Martín Morazzo and Miroslav Mrva will soar once more with the final volume of She Can Fly in October. She Can Fly: Fight or Flight will be released as an original graphic novel through Dark Horse’s Berger Books imprint, wrapping up the story of Luna — who finally gets to fly.

“Luna finally gets to fly, and we fly with her in this storytelling tour-de-force from Christopher, Martin and Mirsolav,” said Karen Berger, who oversees the Berger Books imprint. “It’s an emotional and thrilling finale that totally captured my heart.”

She Could Fly debuted as a miniseries back in 2018, and was followed by a second miniseries, She Could Fly: The Lost Pilot, in 2019. While both were released as single issues and then later collected, the third volume will be released as a single collection, much like the finales of two other Berger Books titles, Invisible Kingdom and The Seeds.

Grayson + Adamovic conjure up the magical realism story ‘Rewild’

The new graphic novel will be published by Berger Books/Dark Horse in October.

Berger Books, the Dark Horse imprint run by Karen Berger, has announced a new magical realism graphic novel that will arrive in October — Rewild, by writer Devin Grayson, artist Yana Adamovic and letterer Sal Cipriano.

“Beautifully written and illustrated, Devin and Yana have crafted captivating characters in a timely tale where reality, myth and magic overlap,” Berger said. “This lyrical and powerful story deals with the fragility of the mind and our planet in unforgettable ways.”

Mail Call | New ‘Avatar,’ ‘Abbott’ and a ‘Batgirl’ debut

Check out recent news and announcements from DC, Marvel, Image, Dark Horse and more.

Mail Call is a roundup of the announcements we’ve received from comics publishers in our mailboxes recently. Hit the links for more information.

Following the end of the Joker War storyline, DC’s current Batgirl series will wrap up with its extra-sized 50th issue this Tuesday. DC has revealed that this issue will also see the debut of Ryan Wilder, the character taking over the Batwoman mantle on The CW’s Batwoman TV show.

Will this new character also take over as Batwoman in the comics? I guess we’ll find out. You can see a preview of that issue here.

‘LaGuardia’ wins the Hugo Award

In the “Best Graphic Story or Comic” category, the Berger Books title by Nnedi Okorafor, Tana Ford and James Devlin took home the award.

LaGuardia by Nnedi Okorafor, Tana Ford and James Devlin has won the 2020 Hugo Award in the “Best Graphic Story or Comic” category.

This is the second major award for the comic in the past two weeks, as it follows the book’s Eisner win in the “Best Graphic Album”—Reprint category.

Set in an alternative world where aliens have come to Earth and integrated with society, LaGuardia features a pregnant Nigerian-American doctor who has just returned to New York with an illegal alien plant named ”Letme Live” through LaGuardia International and Interstellar Airport’s customs and security. There, she and Letme become part of a growing population of African and shape-shifting alien immigrants, battling against interrogation, discrimination and travel bans.

Aja + Nocenti’s ‘The Seeds’ will wrap up this December

A trade paperback collecting the entire story arrives just in time for Christmas.

The long-delayed ending to writer Ann Nocenti and artist, colorist and letterer David Aja‘s ‘The Seeds’ will arrive in December. Dark Horse has announced that the entire story will be collected and released as a trade paperback.

The Seeds was announced back in 2017 as one of the launch titles in the Berger Books line, which is spearheaded by veteran editor Karen Berger. Originally intended as a four-issue miniseries, only two issues were published.

“I’m so thrilled to finally to share our hopeful dystopian tale The Seeds with everyone,” Nocenti said. “Grateful for the patience of the readers for our slow-growing Seeds. At this point the characters feel like family, even our nasty aliens. And who knows? Maybe all the world needs is a love story between an alien and a human to lead us someplace better…”

Berger Books to publish new edition of Romberger’s ‘Post York’

The 2012 project will be expanded into a graphic novel for the Dark Horse imprint.

Berger Books, the imprint started by former Vertigo chief Karen Berger at Dark Horse, will publish an “innovative expansion” of James Romberger’s Post York in September.

Post York was originally published by Uncivilized Books in 2012, Romberger said the idea for the story came to him when he attended Columbia University. “I wrote a few stories and made some paintings and prints, all attempts to depict what New York City would look like after the ice caps melt and the water finds its level,” Romberger told Alex Dueben back in 2012. “It seemed to me that we would become more like Venice. However, as we can see from Hurricane Sandy, most of New York is not built to withstand the strain that so much water would put on it, the old tenements would collapse and the infrastructure would fail. But, any survivors left in the city would find ways to deal with it as best they could — New Yorkers are hardy and tenacious.”

He teamed up with his son, Crosby, on the project; his son recorded a song for it that was included in the original publication as a flexidisc.

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