Tag Archives: andrew vachss

Read Classic Predator Comics with the Original Years Omnibus

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Just as the Predators make their Marvel debut, fans can experience their original comics legacy in Predator: The Original Years Omnibus Vol. 1. Following the landmark 1987 film, the Predator franchise thrilled comic book readers with various series depicting terrifying encounters with the extraterrestrial hunters and exploring the dark history of their species. Both Predator aficionados and newcomers will be able to enjoy these classic tales in a hardcover format this July.

Nowhere is safe when the remorseless alien killers stalk the concrete jungle of New York City, leave a trail of death across the American Southwest and ignite the Cold War by landing in Siberia! Find out if the Predators came to Earth during Vietnam or World War I and see the hunters make a new enemy in Dutch’s brother, Detective John Schaefer. Read on as an Arizona prison becomes a slaughterhouse and witness a Predator vs. psychotic Predator showdown in the Pine Barrens of New Jersey! Finally, take a trip to 1950s Hollywood, where only a child with special glasses can see the monster in the midst of Tinseltown! It’s total carnage, Predator-style!

This unprecedented collection includes: Predator (1989) #1-4, Predator 2 #1-2, Predator: Big Game #1-4, Predator: Cold War #1-4, Predator: The Bloody Sands of Time #1-2, Predator: Race War #1-4, Predator: Bad Blood #1-4, Predator: Invaders From the Fourth Dimension, Predator: Dark River #1-4, Predator: Strange Roux, and Predator: Kindred #1-4 — plus material from Dark Horse Presents (1986) #46, #67-69 and #119; Dark Horse Comics #1-2, #4-7, #10-14, #16-18 and #20-21; and A Decade of Dark Horse #1.

Writers include Mark Verheiden, Franz Heinkel, John Arcudi, Dan Barry, Andrew Vachss, Randy Stradley, Evan Dorkin, Jerry Prosser, Brian McDonald, Jason R. Lamb, Scott Tolson, Neal Barrett, Jr., Chuck Dixon, Charles Moore, Terry Laban, and more. Artists include Chris Warner, Ron Randall, Dan Barry, Mark Bright, Evan Dorkin, Jordan Raskin, Lauchland Pelle, Derek Thompson, Jim Somerville, Mitch Byrd, Brian O’Connell, Roger Petersen, Leo Duranona, Enrique ALcatena, D. Alexander Gregory, Howard Cobb, and more.

Check out the cover by artist Iban Coello below, the direct market variant cover by artist Chris Warner.

  • Iban Coello cover
  • Chris Warner variant cover

Dark Horse Proudly Presents Andrew Vachss Underground!

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Dark_Horse_Comics_logoAcclaimed author Andrew Vachss hits home with an unapologetic approach guaranteed to leave readers with plenty to think about. From the hard-boiled crime and suspense of the anthology series, Hard Looks, to the powerful and poignant Another Chance to Get it Right: A Children’s Book for Adults, his work continues to challenge the norms of prose.

Dark Horse is proud to present Underground, a work of “speculative fiction” with a clear connection to current events…particularly how such events are presented in the media. Based on the script of the same name by Andrew Vachss, the book is adapted by Chet Wiliamson and Mike Richardson, with art by Dominic Reardon!

When all sources of “news” are so clearly biased that none can be considered even remotely trustworthy or reliable, there is no news . . . and “The Terror” descends. For decades, The Rulers have been using prisoner and slave labor to construct Underground, confident that all those who flee there will willingly trade their freedom for security. Now, “truth” is what the Rulers say it is, and The Rulers rule all aspects of the human existence. But even within this antiseptically evil world, a revolutionary movement is brewing. A new breed of journalists— “The Book Boys”—risk everything to graffiti the truth on Underground’s pristine walls. The intolerable act of creating a reliable source of truth––“If it’s written in blue, it must be true.”––is against The Rules ––a huge bounty has been offered for identification or capture of any of this crew.

This original graphic novelwill challenge readers to reexamine the way the media governs their own lives, in print, on air and online, with a chilling account of willingly-accepted oppression and individual autonomy for the comfort of fascism! Underground  is a new genre: the Graphic Novel presented as a visual Movie, adapted from the original screenplay of Andrew Vachss by Mike Richardson and noted author Chet Williamson.

Find the truth––and what it costs to those who dare to disseminate––it at finer comic shops everywhere on October 29 in a beautiful hardcover edition of Underground priced at $29.99!

Review: Dark Horse Presents #26

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22732As usual, Dark Horse provides tales of intrigue, terror, fear, fun, and excitement in the latest edition of the everything-and-anything anthology Dark Horse Presents #26. This series is a keystone in Dark Horse’s publishing career, as it draws together all of the elements that have made Dark Horse a fantastic company highly deserving of its spot as the third largest comic book seller in America. More so, it was Dark Horse’s main title starting in 1986, cancelled in 2000, and then revived on MySpace (of all places) between 2007 and 2010, with the current volume restarting in print in April 2011.

This month’s issue features eleven stories, some of them in on-going series that have been featured previously in DHP (e.g. the Trekker, Underground, Nexus, Alabaster), some that are debuts for new DHP series (Nosferatu Wars, Juice Squeezers), others that are one-shots, and a Buffy tie-in by television series writer Espenson. Plus, it continues the “Crime Does not Pay” series, which was the title of a famous 1950s comics series.

There’s just too much to review, so I’m only going to focus on my two favorite picks from Dark Horse Presents #26, “Nosferatu Wars” and “Steggy Wilmot and Spimps,” though my rating reflects the book as a whole. And don’t let my selections deter you from thinking there’s other incredible stories in this volume, because believe me, there are.

“Nosferatu Wars” was my favorite of the stories, a tale of vampires during the Black Plague which had my mind turning to Boccaccio’s Decameron (sorry, obscure), and which has a rather limited narrative. It’s written by Steve Niles, a horror master and current writer of Dark Horse’s Breath of Bones: A Tale of the Golem (not a horror story), and I was surprised to find that “Nosferatu Wars” reads like a hastily put together, cheesy tale of haute societe vampires, despite its definite narrative hook.

The highly realistic art of mMnton3 reminds one of the trompe-l’oeil style popularized in comics by Neal Adams in the 1960s, and has the ring of the fantastic work by Philip S. Tan on the early Savage Hawkman New 52 books (before that run got pretty bad and waned into nonexistence). But comparisons of Menton3’s art to others don’t do Menton3 any justice, as “Nosferatu Wars” has a nature all its own, unique and complex and lively and dead all at the same time.

Just as appealing, but much weirder…significantly so, is Patrick Alexander’s “Steggy Wilmot and Spimps,” which is a pointlessly hilarious and absurd day in the life of an extremely rich billionaire with a sad pig, an ugly butler, and a desire to write a newspaper. In just four pages, Alexander manages to astound and confuse with his out-of-this-world potato-head cast. I really don’t have a clue what’s going on with this story, and I imagine it’s like a rich British man on LSD, but I certainly hope we get more of Alexander’s “Steggy Wilmot and Spimps” weirdness. It’s just gotta happen, right?

Despite being an anthology—and one might fear that some bad eggs could slip in—editor Mike Richardson has ensured a batch of high-quality comics, which run the gamut of realistic horror to funny strip to classic sci-fi. While Dark Horse Presents #26 isn’t for everyone, I would recommend it to anyone with an interest in sampling the diverse possibilities of graphic narratives, as well as those who are fans of the genres or writers/artists featured in this issue. DHP certainly delivers.

Story: Ron Randall, Steve Niles, Andrew Vachss, Mike Richardson, David Lapham, Mike Baron, Patrick Alexander, Jane Espenson, Caitlin R. Kiernan, Frank Bariere, Dara Naraghi  Art: Ron Randall, Menton3, Dominic Reardon, David Lapham, Steve Rude, Patrick Alexander, Patric Reynolds, Karl Moline, Andy Owens, Steve Lieber, Micah Kaneshiro, Tom Williams
Story: 8  Art: 8  Overall: 8  Recommendation: Read

Dark Horse Presents Turns 25!

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It’s no secret that Dark Horse Presents continues to be comics’ greatest anthology, boasting eighty pages with no ads and new stories every month. Heading into its third year of publication, the Eisner and Harvey Award–winning anthology is bringing in the big guns with the landmark twenty-fifth issue!

After training with Buffy, Billy the vampire slayer heads back to his hometown to deal with the zompire epidemic! Delve into a time-travel story from Eisner Award–winning writer Matt Fraction! Publisher Mike Richardson adapts Andrew Vachss’s vision of violence in the big city in Underground!

Read a chapter of The Chapel Chronicles by fifteen-year-old Emma T Capps. Plus, new installments of Ron Randall’s Trekker, Frank Barbiere’s Blackout, Mike Baron and Steve Rude’s Nexus, Phil Stanford’s Crime Does Not Pay, Fred Van Lente’s Brain Boy, Peter Hogan’s King’s Road, and Dan Jolley’s Bloodhound!

Dark Horse Presents #25 is on sale June 19, 2013, and is available for preorder through Diamond APR130017.

dhp2_25_cvr

Dark Horse Takes On Bullying With Heart Transplant

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Official Press Release

BEST-SELLING CRIME-FICTION NOVELIST ANDREW VACHSS AND KING FEATURES SYNDICATE ART DIRECTOR FRANK CARUSO

COLLABORATE ON ANTIDOTE TO BULLYING

REVOLUTIONARY NEW WORK PROVIDES A RESOURCE

FOR PARENTS AND CHILDREN ALIKE

JULY 13TH, MILWAUKIE, OR– Andrew Vachss has spent his entire adult life on the front lines of the child-protection war. He worked as an investigator/interviewer, went on a mission to war-torn Biafra (now Nigeria), and ran a maximum-security prison for “aggressive-violent” youth. For the past twenty-five years, he has been an attorney in private practice, representing child and youth exclusively. Perhaps most well-known for his best-selling crime-fiction novels, Vachss also serves on the Advisory Board of the National Association to Protect Children, and consults widely in his area of expertise, including international presentations.

Frank Caruso has spent his adult life communicating through art. He’s illustrated children’s books for St. Martin’s Press, served as Executive Producer for American Public Television’s Emmy award-winning “SeeMore’s Playhouse,” and is best known for his work on properties like Popeye and Betty Boop, as the Vice President of Creative Services for King Features Syndicate. Caruso has worked with Scholastic’s Alliance for Young Artists and Writers and is a member of New York’s Society of Illustrators.

Now the two are collaborating on *Heart Transplant*, a book that uses images and words to tell a story–a story that is meant to change the way we think about, talk about, and *deal with* the issue of bullying. Dr. Joel A. Dvoskin, Assistant Clinical Professor at the Univeristy of Arizona Medical School and President of the American Psychological Association’s Law Society division, says of *Heart Tranplant*, “[T]his gripping story gives kids and grownups alike a road map to change, both for individual kids and more importantly, for the school as a community. … This book should be required reading in every elementary school in America[.]”

Dr. Dvoskin’s sentiments are echoed by Dr. Bruce D. Perry, Senior Fellow at the ChildTrauma Academy and Adjunct Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine: “Teachers and parents will find that *Heart Transplant* can be the perfect lens to focus meaningful dialogue about the origins of bullying and the pervasive nature of the exploitation of power in our society. The scope of important, inter-related themes that this work highlights is broad–so this can be a tool for a classroom to be used for much more than merely addressing bullying.”

*Heart Transplant*is anchored by an essay from Zak Mucha, LCSW, to help readers of all ages understand the important lessons contained within. This is the story of not only one child’s personal experience with feelings of alienation and torment at the hands of his peers, but a young boy’s transformation from bullied “outsider” to *true* manhood. This thought-provoking work speaks directly to bullied children and their parents, providing not only the basis for discussion, but a viable solution.

Personally edited by Dark Horse Founder and President Mike Richardson, Heart Transplant–a 100-page hardcover–arrives in stores in October.


About Dark Horse Comics

Since 1986, Dark Horse Comics has proven to be a solid example of how integrity and innovation can help broaden a unique storytelling medium and establish a small, homegrown company as an industry giant. The company is known for the progressive and creator friendly atmosphere it provides for writers and artists.  In addition to publishing comics from top talent like Frank Miller, Mike Mignola, Neil Gaiman, Gerard Way, Will Eisner, and bestselling prose author, Janet Evanovich, Dark Horse has developed such successful characters as The Mask, Timecop, and SpyBoy. Additionally, their highly successful line of comics and products based on popular properties includes Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Aliens, Conan, Mass Effect, Tim Burton,  Serenity and Domo. Today, Dark Horse Comics is the largest independent comic-book publisher in the United States and is recognized as both an innovator in the cause of creator rights and the comics industry’s leading publisher of licensed material.