Tag: Dark Horse Comics

Slugfest | Dark Horse turns the tables on dungeon-crawling with ‘Dungeons & Dragons: Total Party Killers’ in July

Today’s round-up brings milestone issues, beloved licenses and monster adventurers to comic shops this spring and summer.

Slugfest is a roundup of cool announcements about projects coming to a shelf near you. Hit the links for more info.

As announced at this weekend’s Emerald City Comic Con, Dark Horse Comics will publish Dungeons & Dragons: Total Party Killers, a four-issue series arriving in July that flips the script and makes the monsters the heroes.

Written by Christopher Hastings and illustrated by Denis Medri, the series follows a lycanthrope, gelatinous cube, mind flayer, death knight and baby beholder who must band together to protect the lair of their recently deceased wizard master — or find a way to trick someone into setting them free.

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Founder Mike Richardson out at Dark Horse Comics after 40 years as Embracer installs interim CEO

The founder of one of comics’ most influential independent publishers was removed from his position this week by parent company Embracer Group, which purchased Dark Horse in 2022.

Mike Richardson, who founded Dark Horse Comics in 1986 and served as CEO ever since, has been removed from his position by parent company Embracer Group. Gaming executive Jay Komas, who previously served as head of Embracer’s Middle Earth Enterprises division, will serve as interim CEO.

The Hollywood Reporter shared a statement Embracer sent to business partners and creators regarding the news:

“As part of our long-term vision to better align Dark Horse within a more connected and forward-looking group structure, we are implementing changes to modernize the business and strengthen collaboration across publishing, games, film, merchandise and other key areas,” Embracer said. “Our goal is simple: to ensure Dark Horse is positioned for sustained success while continuing to serve creators, partners and fans at the highest level.”

Richardson’s long road in comics started off in comcis retail with his Oregon-based store Pegasus Fantasy Books, which was later renamed Things From Another World. In 1986, he began publishing comics with a concerted effort to protect creators’ rights.

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Paul Chadwick returns to ‘Concrete’ for the first time since 2012

The five-issue ‘Concrete: Stars Over Sand’ arrives in June from Dark Horse Comics.

Paul Chadwick will return to Concrete, his multiple Eisner, Harvey and Reuben Award-winning series, with Concrete: Stars Over Sand. The five-issue miniseries launches in June from Dark Horse Comics, and marks the first new Concrete material since 2012.

Chadwick described Stars Over Sand as a deeply personal project, roughly a decade in the making. “Covers are wraparound oil paintings; it’s set in places I’ve camped and sketched; I’ve lived, briefly, Concrete’s affliction,” he said. “Everything I know about suspense I’ve tried to do here.”

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Kelly Sue DeConnick, Sam Humphries + Natacha Bustos will shred on the sci-fi skatepunk series ‘Skate Ali’

The five-issue series, more than 10 years in the making, is set in a near-future Los Angeles where skateboarding has been outlawed.

Co-writers Kelly Sue DeConnick and Sam Humphries will team with artist Natacha Bustos and letterer Joshua Reed on Skate Ali, a new five-issue series coming from Dark Horse Comics in June.

Set in a neon-drenched near-future Los Angeles where skateboarding has been banned, the story follows Ali, a student who by night defies the law on the city’s streets.

“Kelly Sue and I first came up with Skate Ali over 10 years ago,” said Humphries. “She’s been living in our heads ever since, demanding to come out, skating the inside of our skulls like they were empty swimming pools. It’s noisy and we needed the relief, but there’s also something about her heart, smartass vibes and banged up ankles that has made her impossible to ignore. Getting Natacha to join us as artist and co-creator was the perfect fit to make Ali finally come alive. We can’t wait for everyone to meet the best and worst skater in the history of Los Angeles.”

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Jonathan Hickman + friends bring Substack SF universe ‘Three Worlds/Three Moons’ to Dark Horse

The sprawling space opera, which has more than 37,000 subscribers, arrives in comic shops in July with a prestige-format one-shot.

Dark Horse Comics is bringing the Three Worlds/Three Moons comics by Jonathan Hickman, Mike Del Mundo, Mike Huddleston, Nick Spencer and many more to print, beginning with a 32-page one-shot titled Foundations in July.

“We are incredibly excited for the opportunity to partner with Dark Horse so that comic stores and comic fans can get to experience this project that has been years in the making,” Hickman said.

The Three Worlds/Three Moons line debuted on Substack back in 2021, as part of a wave of digital comics that were hosted on the platform, along with James Tynion IV, Saladin Ahmed, Skottie Young, Jeff Lemire, Chip Zdarsky and several others. It was part of a bigger push by Substack to recruit content creators of all sorts to its subscription-model service — some of whom turned out to be less than desirable additions.

But for the creators, it was said to be a lucrative deal, and they used the platform to deliver content to paid subscribers. Until they didn’t. Many creators shifted away from the paid model once their first year was up; some turned their newsletters into promotional tools, while others left the platform altogether. In most cases, the print comics they were producing also had print deals in place, either before they started or soon after; comics like Christopher Chaos and Fishflies eventually arrived from publishers like Dark Horse and Image Comics.

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Slugfest | More ComicsPro news from Marvel, Dark Horse, BOOM! + more

With news on He-Man, BRZRKR, Klaus Janson, Queen in Black and more!

More announcements rolled in today from the ComicsPro industry meeting in Glendale, Calif. — here’s a rundown of a few items that caught our eye. For yesterday’s round-up, click here.

Dark Horse and Mattel announce ‘He-Man and the Masters of the Universe: The Wings of Fate’ comic series

Dark Horse Comics and Mattel have announced He-Man and the Masters of the Universe: The Wings of Fate, a four-issue series set in the universe of the upcoming live-action Masters of the Universe film from Amazon MGM Studios, arriving in U.S. theaters June 5.

Written by Tim Sheridan and illustrated by Will Sliney, the series launches in comic shops June 10, which is five days after the film’s domestic release. The story follows a refugee who shelters an injured falcon and must journey through the Mystic Mountains to save her life.

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Slugfest | ComicsPro news from BOOM!, Dark Horse, IDW and more

From a new ‘Something is Killing the Children’ miniseries to a Terry Moore/Dark Horse partnership, this week’s ComicsPro announcements brought a steady stream of news.

You may have noticed it’s a big week for comics industry news. ComicsPRO, the comics retailer organization, is holding its annual industry conference in Glendale, Calif. this week, and it’s being attended by comic retailers, publishers, distributors and creators. Skybound’s chief Robert Kirkman is delivering the keynote address later this week.

Publishers traditionally flood the zone with announcements timed to the meeting, and this year is no exception. Here’s a roundup of more announcements that caught our eye so far:

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Dark Horse + Tiny Onion team for ‘Monsters in Love: A Pride Anthology’

James Tynion IV, Tate Brombal, Isaac Goodhart, Lilah Sturges and more will contribute stories to the Pride Month anthology.

Dark Horse Comics and James Tynion IV’s Tiny Onion Studios have teamed up for a 10-story anthology for Pride Month. Monsters in Love: A Pride Anthology will arrive in June and will feature stories by Tate Brombal, Jadzia Axelrod, Lilah Sturges and more.

The idea spun out of The Oddly Pedestrian Life of Christopher Chaos by Brombal and Isaac Goodhart, where the title character can be seen reading an EC Comics-like comic called Monsters in Love. That in-universe comic became a back-up feature in the Christopher Chaos comics, with rotating creators contributing stories.

“Love takes many shapes, and so do monsters,” Tynion IV said. “I’m thrilled that Tiny Onion can present Monsters in Love: A Pride Anthology this June for Pride Month with Dark Horse. These 10 stories represent some of the most exciting creators in the industry as well as the love and hope we need now more than ever.”

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Young Hellboy takes to the skies in a new pulp adventure

Mike Mignola reunites with Thomas E. Sniegoski and Craig Rousseau for a miniseries spotlighting Scarlett Santiago and a high-flying chapter from Hellboy’s youth.

Mike Mignola is heading back to Hellboy’s formative years, reuniting with co-writer Thomas Sniegoski and artist Craig Rousseau for an all-new, high-flying adventure. Young Hellboy: Thrilling Sky Adventures is a four-issue miniseries that expands on the early days of Hellboy’s world while keeping one eye firmly on classic adventure storytelling.

Rousseau will be joined by colorist Chris O’Halloran and letterer Clem Robins, on this lighter Hellboy story, which kicks off in May.

The series brings back Scarlett Santiago, the swashbuckling airborne hero first introduced in 2021’s Young Hellboy: The Hidden Land, where she teamed with Hellboy and Professor Bruttenholm on an island crawling with monsters and vampires.

“Since wrapping up the Young Hellboy: The Hidden Land, I’d been thinking about Scarlett Santiago, the Sky Devil, and how much we still didn’t know about her past adventures (before being possessed by the spirit of a giant ape god),” Sniegoski said. “I was hoping that there would be a way to tell some of Sky Devil’s earlier exploits, and with Thrilling Sky Adventures, we’re getting to do just that.  The whole team has excitedly returned, Mike Mignola and I coming up with the story, Craig Rousseau on art, Chris O’Halloran on colors and Clem Robins doing the lettering.  The series is coming out great, and I can’t wait for folks to be immersed in its pulpy goodness!”

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Groo faces prophecy + catastrophe in a new miniseries this spring

Dark Horse Comics announces ‘Groo: The Prophecy’ for April.

Groo the Wanderer will return for another miniseries from Dark Horse this year, with the first issue debuting in April. The longtime Groo team of co-writer/artist Sergio Aragones, co-writer Mark Evanier and letterer Stan Sakai will return, along with colorist Carrie Strachan.

“The subtitle is ‘The Prophecy’ and it concerns a woman with the power to see the future…and the future she sees is pretty darned scary,” Evanier said on his blog.

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Penguin Random House officially announces Comics Giveaway Day for May 2

The first ever Comics Giveaway Day will coincide with next year’s Free Comic Book Day.

Comics distributor Penguin Random House has officially announced Comics Giveaway Day, their competitor/compliment to Free Comic Book Day, the annual comics event that is now owned by Universal Distribution.

Last week we learned that Universal Distribution and Lunar Distribution had teamed up to bring Free Comic Book Day back to comic shops in 2026, following the bankruptcy and dissolution of Diamond Comics Distributors. They announced they would offer free titles by the various publishers they distribute, including DC, Image Comics, Archie, Dynamite and more.

Missing from the list were any publishers that are now distributed by Penguin Random House, and now we know why — titles by Marvel, BOOM!, Dark Horse and others will be released on Comics Giveaway Day, which just so happens to fall on May 2 as well.

So, everyone wins, right? Free comics for everybody, even if some of them will have a different events log on them.

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Leonide the Vampyr returns in a miniseries by Mike Mignola + Rachele Aragno

The creators will reveal more of the young vampyr’s backstory in March.

Hellboy creator Mike Mignola is reuniting with artist Rachele Aragno for Leonide The Vampyr: The House of Yonda, a new two-part horror series launching in March from Dark Horse Comics. They’ll be joined by colorist Dave Stewart and letter Clem Robins.

The creators first introduced readers to the young vampyr Leonide in two one-shots released in 2022: Leonide The Vampyr: Miracle at the Crow’s Head and Leonide The Vampyr: A Christmas for Crows. Those initial stories followed the charming, yet terrifying, Leonide as she bewitched unsuspecting villagers while being pursued by an undead priest determined to stop her bloodthirsty schemes. The character originated from one of Aragno’s sketches posted on social media in 2021, which captured Mignola’s attention and sparked their collaboration.

“I’m madly in love with Leonide and her story,” Aragno said. “When Mike and I created her, I didn’t believe she could have such a vast world behind her, filled with stories, ancestors and a gothic castle. I could draw her for hours, guided by Mike’s words, which gives power to everything he does. These two comics will reveal a new backstory for this little vampire that will help us understand and love her even better.”

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