Mars Attacks Judge Dredd
I think IDW and Dark Horse are having some sort of competition at C2E2 this weekend to see who can overwhelm my email box with the most press releases, or at least that’s what it seemed like last night when a ton of press releases pop up around the same time from both companies. Here’s a rundown of what we’ve heard from both of them at the show thus far …
• Both companies announced they’ve picked up some new licenses. As I noted yesterday, Dark Horse will publish Wendy and Richard Pini’s Elfquest starting later this year, and they’ve also picked up the license for new Halo comics. IDW, meanwhile, has picked up the license to the Jay Ward characters, with plans for series Mr. Peabody & Sherman and Rocky & Bullwinkle next year. Also, two of IDW’s other licensed titles will meet up in Mars Attacks Judge Dredd by Al Ewing and John McCrea. The first issue arrives in September.
• Both companies are also reaching into comics’ past to bring back some titles we haven’t seen in awhile. IDW announced that they’ll release deluxe hardcovers of Christian Gossett’s The Red Star this fall. They’re also bringing back Zombie War by Kevin Eastman, Tom Skulan and Eric Talbot in October. The original series was published by FantaCo and Tundra back in 1993. Dark Horse is resurrecting Geof Darrow’s Shaolin Cowboy, which was originally published by Burlyman Entertainment.
• Both IDW and Dark Horse have new original series they’ve announced. IDW has The Other Dead, about zombie animals, by Joshua Ortega, Digger T. Mesch and Qing Ping Mui. Dark Horse has Buzzkill by Donny Cates, Mark Reznicek and Geoff Shaw; Witch Hunt by Victor Gischler and Juan Ferreyra; and Grindhouse by Alex de Campi and a host of different artists like Simon Fraser and Gary Erskine.
Itty Bitty Hellboy
I think Dark Horse wins for best quote on a press release: “Grindhouse is the comic your mother warned you about. Seriously. You know when grownups told you comics were filthy, immoral trash? They were talking about this comic specifically,” states Alex de Campi. “Books like Grindhouse were the reason the Comics Code was invented. And if you’re in a very conservative or evangelical part of the US, you should be careful where you read it. Each story is two issues of solid gore, gratuitous nudity, and over-the-top badassery. It’s filthy. It’s violent. It’s really, really fun.”
• And both companies announced new projects for existing properties. IDW’s Locke & Key isn’t ending at Omega, but will wrap up in a two-parter called Alpha. Dark Horse is bringing back Resident Alien and The Occultist, and announced two new Hellboy projects: Hellboy: The Midnight Circus and Itty Bitty Hellboy. BTW, between Itty Bitty Hellboy and the Thrillbent announcement, I’d guess Art Baltazar and Franco Aureliani are probably having a really good weekend.
• Finally, the non-comics stuff … IDW became a corporate member of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund and Dark Horse announced a line of collectibles based on the comic Powers.
So yeah, a lot of new stuff being announced by two of the top five comic companies. What looks good to you?
