This August, Dark Horse is presenting a new face for its
signature series.
Announced today at C2E2, the long-running title "Dark
Horse Presents" will receive a facelift later this year as it shifts
formats away from the 80-page volume it's been since its 2011 return to print.
Along with a new, slimmer format for the book, Dark Horse will welcome and
welcome back a number of creators and serials to celebrate – starting with a
new "Big Guy & Rusty The Boy Robot" story from Geof Darrow and
Frank Miller as well as David Mack's Kabuki.
"It's been 80 pages. We're going to change the page
count down to 48 pages along with a price reduction. It'll be $4.99,"
Publisher Mike Richardson told CBR News. "The main reason is that for
three and a half years we've been producing 80 pages a month – that's about 10
different features – and it's time to make it a little easier on ourselves."
Richardson revealed some of the stories coming to the new
DHP over the coming months, including:
- David Mack’s "Kabuki"
- New "Resident Alien" stories by Peter Hogan and
Steve Parkhouse
- Brendan McCarthy’s "Dream Gang"
- Jimmy Palmiotti, Justin Gray, and Andy Kuhn’s
"Wrestling With Demons"
- More "Sabertooth Swordsman" by Damon Gentry and
Aaron Conley
- Fred Van Lente and Ryan Dunlavey’s "Action
Philosophers"
- Ricardo Delgado’s "Age of Reptiles"
- Horton and Dialynis’s "Amala’s Blade"
- Tyler Jenkins' (Peter Panzerfaust) "The
Chaining"
- Jerry Ordway and Alex DeCampi’s "Semiautomagic"
- Peter Tomasi and Keith Champagne’s "The Mighty"
drawn by Leonard Kirk
- Ed Brisson’s "Murder Book" with Declan Shalvey,
Michael Walsh, and more
- Shannon Wheeler’s "Too Much Coffee Man"
For the return of "Big Guy" – a futuristic
all-ages romp that once inspired a Saturday morning cartoon series – Darrow
explained that for him, the return is a chance for a brief, fun ride from
Richardson and company.
"I have an idea of what it's going to be," Darrow
said. "It's kind of funny, I think. I hope. In theory, Frank is going to
do the dialogue for me when it's ready. He said he would. He can really put
something into it...I don't want people's expectations to be too high. This is
just a simple thing."
Meanwhile, Darrow will continue to develop his signature
series "Shaolin Cowboy" and craft his own kinds of comics.
"That's something I like to do. Looking at Europe, they don't do many
comic books, but each comic is its own unique thing. Most of the artists over
there – and I learned this from Moebius – create their own little world. It's
not a generic world, and there are a lot of generic worlds in comics. I
understand why, but when I draw something I want it to look like something you
haven't seen. It's got its own little story, but I see things where people draw
cars, but they're just cars. I'll draw them where people have a bumper sticker
on them or there's a dent in the fender. That kind of stuff to me is a story in
and of itself. It's probably a waste of time, but that's what interests
me."
As "Dark Horse Presents" carries forward,
Richardson said the anthology will keep its "like a box of
chocolates" ethos to present a wide variety of styles. "'Dark Horse
Presents,' from the beginning, was meant to be a sampler of our whole
company," he said. "And the three major categories of books that we
publish – creator-owned books, licensed books and some company-owned characters
– are all represented there. We've always tried to find new voices as well as
established talent. Particularly in the latest edition of 'Dark Horse Presents'
we've featured a lot of new talent, but it's also a great place to introduce
new characters or preview new licensed book. So it's always a snapshot of our
company and showing the kinds of books we like. It represents our philosophy.
"I think there's always been some resistance to an
anthology. Oftentimes you hear fans says that they like one feature but don't
like another. I think the idea is that there are a lot of different genres and
a lot of different types of stories in every issue, so there's a certain kind
of reader who likes that variety and others who want one book with a single
feature. So there will always be some people who resist that, but the anthology
is still a great way for us to discover new talent or to introduce readers to
new books they might not have tired otherwise. It's a great overview of the
comics industry – the different kinds of books and talent that are out there. For
a lot of people, that's what's exciting."
And keeping excitement for "DHP" high is a factor
in Richardson's recruitment efforts for this new, slimmer iteration.
"We're lining up some great creators, and we're returning with a very
successful and creative properties. 'Big Guy' is one of my favorites that we've
ever done."
"After [May's] issue #36, we'll have a two-month break,
and then we'll restart it," Richardson said of the planned rollout.
"It'll still be a very nice package. It's just hard to explain exactly how
hard it is to put out 80 pages of content every month. We don't have any ads in
the book, so it's been easily ten different series by almost 25 different
creators in every issue. When we started 'Dark Horse Presents,' it was a
traditional comic – black and white with three eight-page stories for a total
of 24 pages. And 80-page deluxe version we've been doing is something I love,
but I'm happy to be slimming it down a bit. Although, we will be having some
fat issues from time-to-time."
And as a tease, the publisher noted that Dark Horse has been
counting all the issue numbers of ever iteration of "DHP," and the
series is close to a major milestone. "They've all been numbered from the
very beginning if you look inside the cover at the indicia. On the cover, we'll
start with new numbering to go with the new format, but if you look inside,
you'll see we're in the 180s. So we're approach our 200th issue, which will be
a very special one."
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