Thursday, November 27, 2008

Dark Horse Preview Review for January


HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO EVERYONE IN THE USA

Jim: I know January is a slow month for retailers, but Dark Horse is not making it any easier, the new product offerings are very limited.
Lee: The best part is less offerings means we can highlight the really silly products. INSANITY HHHOOOOOO!!!!!

BETTIE PAGE HEAT-SENSITIVE MUG
On sale Feb 11 Packaged in deluxe full-color box $14.99
Like your coffee HOT ? Well, here's a scorcher! We have taken one of Bunny Yeager's best photographs of our longtime muse and inspiration Bettie Page, infused it with color, and applied it to a high-quality coffee mug. But wait--there's more. When a hot beverage is poured into the cup, a magical transformation takes place, and our sultry cutie's top fades away. Oh, Nellie . . . that Bettie! If the coffee doesn't wake you up, that ought to do the trick.

Jim: Oh goody, a coffee mug of a model from the 50’s who does a strip tease as the mug heats up. Hey guys if you want to remain single for ever have this as your coffee mug at home.
Lee: Uuummm, should I be concerned that my wife already has a coffee mug just like this. Something about role models and heroes. Huuummmm, I might have to look closer at that coffee cup.

B.P.R.D.: THE BLACK GODDESS #1 (of 5)
Mike Mignola (W), John Arcudi (W), Guy Davis (A), Dave Stewart (C), and Kevin Nowlan (Cover) On sale Jan 14 FC, 32 pages $2.99 Miniseries
At the turn of the twentieth century, a British museum curator with a bent for the occult traveled east in search of power and immortality. He was never heard from again. In 1937, masked crimefighter The Lobster faced a magic-wielding madman bent on fulfilling an apocalyptic prophecy. The plans were foiled, and the world saved, but the villain himself disappeared . . .
Seventy years later, B.P.R.D. agent Liz Sherman began to experience visions of a mysterious gentleman who warned of coming catastrophes. When the Bureau tracked him down, he disappeared--and kidnapped Liz. Now, Liz's friends race to find her as their old enemies band together for a final, catastrophic attack.
The Black Goddess is the second of three arcs pulling together threads from the beginning of the series--and leaving the B.P.R.D. and the world forever changed.

Jim: The Mignolaverse is one of the best creations ever done and it has been quietly building up to one heck of a climax. If you have ignored this stuff before, do not now.
Lee: So, since this is the second of three arcs, it’s a perfect jumping on point for new readers like me. Excellent recommendation.

THE CLEANERS #2 (of 4)
Mark Wheaton (W), Joshua Hale Fialkov (W), Rahsan Ekedal (A), and Jon Graef (C)
On sale Jan 21 FC, 32 pages $2.99 Miniseries
Here are the facts we know so far: In less than twenty-four hours, a discreet team of private-practice trauma-scene cleaners has been dispatched to clean up two very large blood spills in the LA area--one filling a room at a prestigious landmark hotel, and another taking up half a suburban block in the Valley. There are no bodies to speak of, no known victims, no explanation for how or why the blood appeared. But Robert Bellarmine--whose cleaning crews get called in to take care of the weirdest jobs, the ones the cops can't or won't handle--can already tell that both his advanced medical training and his scientifically skeptical mind will be pushed to the limit as he sets out to find a rational explanation for these sudden eruptions of gore. And when ten-year-old Henry Lisander goes missing the next day, Bellarmine knows he has even less time to figure out who or what is behind the bloodbath!
* Josh Fialkov is the writer behind the hit indie sensations Punks the Comic and Elk's Run, as well as highly acclaimed runs on Friday the 13th, Vampirella, and more!

Lee: Elk's Run was great story so that's a big plus in my book. Looks like DH is trying to elbow into the horror market a little bit.
Jim: I still have not read Elk’s run and yet I own it. The first issue of this series was a winner and I can’t wait for part 2.

GRENDEL: DEVIL'S REIGN
Matt Wagner (W/Cover), Tim Sale (P), Matt Hollingsworth (C), and Giulia Brusco (C)
On sale Mar 4 FC, 184 pages $19.95 TPB, 7" x 10"
The year is 2530, and the corrupt Church, Vatican Ouest, has fallen, spreading upheaval across North America, along with an infestation of vampires. In this new world, Ex-COP leader Pellon Cross is still at large, devil-possessed Eppy Thatcher is missing, and Orion Assante is on an ambitious quest to restore order to the continent and gain legitimate power. But will Orion attain his goals before threats from overseas change the rules in this game for power? Grendel: Devil's Reign is a groundbreaking synthesis of politics, war, religion, and the devil created by two of the top talents in comics!
Tim Sale's first major series in comics, collected for the very first time!

Jim: Oh I want this book, but Dark Horse has done the trade and then the hard cover later before, so I’ll wait and see if a hard cover is not coming down the road.
Lee: I agree. It’s worth waiting for because the trade will be in print for awhile. More Grendel HC’s!

PLANET OF BEER
Brian Sendelbach (W/A) On sale Mar 18 FC, 152 pages $14.95 TPB, 12" x 8"
Dark Horse is proud to present . . . actually, make that giggling manically as we present one of the silliest--yet most subversive and darkly funny--collections of comics you'll see this year. Planet of Beer selects the best and weirdest comic strips from the popular underground weekly comic Smell of Steve in one gloriously colored, landscape-format book. Join creator Brian Sendelbach's all-misfit cast of underloved underwater superheroes, space-faring former U.S. presidents, soul-sucking alien DJs, Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, and other insane characters as they work together to find the elusive and legendary Planet of Beer. Actually, that's way more of a sensible plot than you'll actually find in this book, but if you like your comics absurd, awesome, and maybe just a tiny bit disturbing and wrong, we're pretty sure you're going to love this book. The Smell of Steve strip started running in The Stranger (Seattle, WA) in the mid-1990s, and eventually ran in Vice magazine, The New York Press, The Philadelphia Weekly, Baltimore City Paper, The Portland Mercury, Terminal City (Vancouver, BC), Punchline (Richmond, VA), The Weekly Alibi (Albuquerque, NM), The Bohemian (San Jose, CA), and GoGo (Denver, CO).

Jim: Hey if Lee chooses the “Man who loved Breasts” (which is every hetro male) then I can choose Planet of Beer.
Lee: And an excellent choice it is! Now, imagine reading this THEN reading “Man who loved Breasts” right after it. I sense and evening of bliss.

TUROK TRADING CARDS
On sale Mar 18 50 full-color trading cards, packaged in a deluxe box $14.95
From ancient times to the present, we have been mystified, frightened, and inspired by dinosaurs. Our fascination was perfectly captured in Dell's Turok: Son of Stone cover paintings, which teamed American Indian warrior Turok with a variety of saurian adversaries. While these renderings of dinosaurs were considered to be accurate in the1950s and '60s, modern paleontology has given us a new understanding of the reptile denizens of prehistory. Veteran illustrator and dinosaur expert Pete Von Sholly has created an absolutely stunning series of trading cards depicting the weirdest and most mysterious cover, with scientifically accurate dinosaurs, effectively updating this classic genre with fifty new pieces. Text on the back of the card tells details of the dinosaurs. This set will amaze and inform casual observers and serious Turok or dinosaur buffs alike.
Lee: Is there still a market for trading cards? I think these are cool but I'm not sure who's going to buy them. I know lots about comics but old painted Turok covers are obscure even for me.
Jim: No market that I’m aware of. Add to that Turok trading cards and I think you have a guaranteed why are they making this type of item.

Jim: A really slow month from Dark Horse.
Lee: Slow, yes. But, it was saved by “Beer” and “Bettie Page”.

1 comment:

  1. The Turok cards are NEW artwork in the guise of 50 covers for "comics that never were"... and they incorporate many "new" dinosaurs and much of the new science about dinosaurs. Not that this negates what you guys have said, be just to clarify. These are for nostalgic Turok buffs and for people who like dinosaurs in general. Just sayin'.

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