Tag Archives: the smart division

Artificial Intelligence will Help Commit the Perfect Crime in The Smart Division from Zack Kaplan, John Pearson, Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou, and Tom Muller

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Continuing the hit-filled 2026 lineup for Zack Kaplan and Dark Horse Comics, The Smart Division reunites Kaplan with Eisner-winning superstar artist John Pearson. This is their first series together since their fan favorite Vault Comics series Mindset, which was optioned by Boatrocker Studios and Don Cheadle’s Radicle Act for TV development. Now, Pearson and Kaplan build a world straight out of a modern-day detective’s crime files, as an artificial intelligence app offers to serve our worst instincts and assist us in evading law enforcement. How will our criminal justice system possibly stand up to the power of A.I.? And can two disparate detectives with vastly different relationships with technology come together to track down this mysterious new threat? Eisner-winning letterer Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou and Eisner-nominated designer Tom Muller joins the duo for this story that’s perfect for fans of The X-Files, True Detective, and Minority Report!

Main cover art for this series by Pearson with variant covers for issue #1 from Jesse Lonergan, Jacob Phillips, and illustrator Matt Taylor.

When a mysterious new predictive artificial intelligence program appears responsible for assisting someone in the perfect murder, a pair of unlikely investigators, a chaotic Gen-Z savant and a veteran FBI agent, must hunt down the killer by starting the FBI’s first AI crimes division.

Get ready for the new age of crime comics when The Smart Division #1 (of 5) arrives in comic shops on August 5, 2026, for $4.99.

Zack Kaplan and Dark Horse Reveal a Multi-Title Deal for 2026

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Following the success of Kill All Immortals, Masterminds, The Midnight Shadows, and Break Out, Zack Kaplan and Dark Horse Comics are continuing their partnership to offer a thrilling slate of new 2026 comic series throughout the Dark Horse 40th anniversary year. Starting with Only The Savage Are Left in June, Kaplan teams up with artist Stefano Raffaele, followed by The Smart Division with John J Pearson in late summer, before finishing out the year’s lineup with Marvel superstar artist Francesco Manna, for a finale to the story of Frey Asvald in Kill All Immortals III in the fall. The slate includes the work of Thiago Rocha, and Eisner-winning letterer Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou alongside Eisner-winning designer Tom Muller.

Stefano Raffaele joins Kaplan, with colors by Rocha and letters by Otsmane-Elhaou, for Only The Savage Are Left, a powerful and dramatic action-adventure story where surviving the monster-apocalypse requires you to become a monster yourself.

Look for Only The Savage Are Left to arrive in comic shops on June 3, 2026.

Only The Savage Are Left

Kaplan and Pearson, with letterer Otsmane-Elhaou, follow up their series Mindset with The Smart Division. It’s a dark and modern sci-fi detective series about the first AI app that helps us commit the perfect crimes, and the two disparate FBI agents who must hunt it down and stop it.

Find The Smart Division at your favorite comic shop in late fall. More details to come.

The Smart Division

Rocha and Otsmane-Elhaou return for the violently fantastic conclusion of Kaplan’s immortal Viking trilogy alongside Manna’s high impact artwork. The series is heralded as Succession meets John Wick with the fever-pitch action of heroines like Erika Slaughter. The action-packed series finale will see Viking warrior Frey Asvald face a broken family, a modern world of immortal rivals, and the ultimate question – will she free herself from immortality or accept it? Ringo-Award winning, Clio-winning cover artist Oliver Barrett returns with Francesco Manna for some killer Issue #1 covers.

Kill All Immortals III is expected to hit your local comic shop in the fall.

Kill All Immortals III 

The excitement for Zack Kaplan stories from Dark Horse Comics in 2026 begins when Only The Savage Are Left #1 arrives in comic shops on June 3, 2026, for $4.99.