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C2E2 2011: Dark Horse Comics Demos Their New App!

Posted 3/19/11 4:47 pm EST by in C2E2, Dark Horse, Digital Comics


This year at C2E2 Dark Horse made it pretty clear they’re getting serious about the whole digital comics thing. We’ll soon be able to catch up with Hellboy and the B.P.R.D. right in the palm of our hand with the new Dark Horse digital comic’s app for iOS devices!

Dark Horse developed the upcoming app in-house and I have to say it looks great on the iPad. The storefront lays out a cover for each series available -- when you click on one, all the books in that series pop up. It looks like most books will cost $1.99 through the app and users will also be able to make purchases from digital.darkhorse.com. Purchases made on the web will sync up with your iPhone or iPad so they're always available.

Reading through comics works just as it does on similar apps, we can go page by page or frame by frame. However, there are some pretty cool features Dark Horse has added. First there's the page scroller. Slide it like you would to turn up the volume on a song and it shows you what page you’re headed to in the lower corner. Another great feature is the archive system. When you finish reading a book you can store it in your "Collection." This frees up space on your device by transferring your digital copy to a magical Dark Horse comic box in the clouds -- it will be safe there until you want to download and read it again.

MTV Geek! is on the floor at C2E2 and had a chance to stop by the Dark Horse booth for a little demo action. Though the app is still in beta form, and won’t be available for another month or so, it's looking good. See it in action after the break! Read More...

C2E2 2011 Day One: Giant Thor Hammer, Wonder Woman's Clothing Choices, and more!

Posted 3/19/11 9:32 am EST by in C2E2, Comic Book Conventions, Comic Books, Dark Horse, DC Comics, George R. R. Martin, Marvel, Star Wars


The big buzz at Day One of C2E2 was the giant Thor hammer at the Marvel booth (the perfect place to snap a photo), Brightest Day action figure exclusives that sold out almost as fast as they were offered, and, as fate would have it -- a debate over Wonder Woman's pants.

Let's start with that hammer.

A giant replica of Thor's hammer was on display at the Marvel Comics booth, promoting of course the upcoming Thor movie. Also in heavy promotion was the Fear Itself event, the Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes cartoon, and the Captain America movie (which also received a nice huge banner featuring Chris Evans).

A pair of con attendees came up to me with not one but two cameras, asking me to take snapshots of them with good ol' Mjolnir. A popular pose was at the handle, straining to pick the giant hammer up. Read More...

C2E2 2011: Some Things We're Looking Forward To!

Posted 3/18/11 9:48 am EST by in C2E2, Comic Books, Dark Horse, DC Comics, Marvel


Looking around for a "Geek" Chicago reference to start this post about C2E2, I guess I could bring up that old "Is Gotham City New York or Chicago?" debate. According to classic Batman writers Dennis O'Neil and Frank Miller, Gotham is New York (albeit primarily at night) -- but to Batman Begins and The Dark Knightdirector Christopher Nolan, it's definitely Chicago. Whatever the case, the Windy City is the honorary U.S. capital of the comic book world this weekend, as the Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo is held at the West Building at McCormick Place. Held by ReedPOP, the same people who bring you New York Comic Con and the recent PAX East, C2E2 serves up to fans a mix of comics, movie & TV, and general Geek happenings and news. Let's take a look at some of the highlights:

The cover for this year's show program features Green Lantern as rendered by Ivan Reis:

Marvel Comics is featuring a whole slate of activities and giveaways at their booth at #411, including "Marvel Super Happy Giveaway Hour,"  the "Marvel Your Universe Game Hour," Marvel Cosplay, and a demo of the upcoming Sega "Thor: God of Thunder" video game. And to keep track of all the Marvel happenings at C2E2, you can download the "Marvel Events App" from iTunes! Read More...

Free Comic Book Day 2011: Christopher Golden Talks the Return of 'Baltimore'

Posted 3/15/11 11:21 am EST by in Comic Books, Dark Horse, Interviews


In our last FCBD piece, we talked with Criminal Macabre creator Steve Niles about his half of Dark Horse’s flipbook. Today, novelist Christopher Golden tells us about his work with Mike Mignola along artist Ben Stenbeck and colorist Dave Stewart on the Baltimore story on the other side of the book.

Golden is the author of dozens of novels and short stories, including existing franchises like Hellboy and Buffy the Vampire Slayer as well as his own series including The Menagerie and Hidden Cities (and really, the man has a pretty diverse body of work). Chalk this latest Baltimore story into the mix. Titled “A Passing Stranger” it’s a bit of a departure from the regular stories featuring the title character. But enough from me—I’ll let Mr. Golden explain.

MTV Geek: Could you tell our readers a little about Baltimore and his FCBD outing, “A Passing Stranger?”

Christopher Golden: We only had fourteen pages to do it, but Mike and I wanted a story that would accomplish several things at once. First, though Baltimore's nemesis is a vampire, we wanted something that would show readers that there are all kinds of evils in this world. We wanted to paint a picture of what an unforgiving place the world has become, post-war, post-plague (although the plague is still ongoing). And, most of all, of course, we wanted a story that would stand on its own as a chilling horror story, while introducing Baltimore to FCBD readers in a way that requires no knowledge of his history. I have to say, I love the result. The artist, Ben Stenbeck, and colorist, Dave Stewart, have outdone themselves on "A Passing Stranger." It makes me very, very happy that people will have the opportunity to get this glimpse into Baltimore's world for free.

Geek: The vampire infestation in your story is being portrayed as a plague. What’s your approach to vampires in the story—supernatural beings or a type of biological threat?

CG: They're very much supernatural, but not in the way that has become so common in modern fiction. These creatures are an ancient evil. There are new vampires, of course, and lots of them, but Baltimore's nemesis, Haigus, and his kin are practically prehistoric in nature. Once upon a time they were more numerous, and the world changed, and humanity began to spread and evolve, and the supernatural creatures of the world died off or went into hibernation, like Haigus and his clan. The war—all the blood and death and suffering—woke them up, and their evil has been spreading ever since. The plague is both biological and supernatural, but we may never go into the fine details of that. Read More...

Free Comic Book Day 2011: Steve Niles Talks 'Criminal Macabre'

Posted 3/14/11 1:53 pm EST by in Comic Books, Dark Horse, Interviews


This Free Comic Book Day, Dark Horse is bringing the horror with a Criminal Macabre/Baltimore flipbook bringing together Steve Niles’ whacked-out supernatural investigator with Mike Mignola and Christopher Golden’s WWI vampire hunter.

For those of you who may not read a lot of horror comics (and really, you should be reading more horror comics), Niles is the creator of the runaway arctic vampire hit 30 Days of Night and has seen his writing in comics, film, and video games. And wouldn’t you know, it, he was kind enough to talk to MTV Geek about his work on his FCBD entry, his character Cal Mcdonald and a bunch of other things under the setting sun.

MTV Geek: For readers coming in fresh, what’s Criminal Macabre about?

Steve Niles: The best way to describe Cal McDonald is to explain how he came about. I created him back in the eighties. At the time I was reading a lot of Raymond Chandler and other pulp detective stuff. I started out trying to do just that and quickly found that the old hardboiled didn’t necessarily translate into modern hardboiled, so I made Cal a recovering junkie instead of just a drunk, and added the macabre to make sure he was miserable. I’ve always said Cal is a combination of Chandler and Hunter S. Thompson. Cal is a miserable old soul, but he has a lot of heart and is always looking out for others despite being really grumpy about it.

Geek: Could you tell us a little about how your collaboration with series artist Chris Mitten came about?

SN: All credit for Chris Mitten goes to my editor Scott Allie. Scott has an amazing eye for art. Over the years he has teamed me with Greg Ruth (Freaks of the Heartland) and Kelley Jones, who I’ve worked with since. When Scott showed me Chris, I immediately thought he was perfect, and he is not disappointing. Mitten is the perfect Criminal Macabre artist. He has grit, but he can also be funny and creepy. I love working with Chris and I hope we go on to do a lot of work together.

Geek: Was there a deliberate approach to the visual style of the book you were looking for when initially planning it?

SN: There have been so many artists who have done renditions of Cal, it’s always been a revolving door of styles, which I love. I’m not an artist at all, so I wanted to feel around. I figured when we found the right artist, it would stick, but I always liked trying out different looks. Read More...

'Star Wars: The Old Republic' Continues With 'The Lost Suns' Miniseries!

Posted 3/9/11 3:45 pm EST by in Comic Books, Dark Horse, Star Wars


Dark Horse Comics -- along with LucasArts and BioWare -- will be publishing starting in June a new chapter in the Star Wars: The Old Republic saga, The Lost Suns. Star Wars: The Old Republic acts as a companion series to the upcoming massively multiplayer online role-playing game of the same name, and BioWare’s senior creative writer, Alexander Freed, will have a story in The Lost Suns that ties in with the game's plot. Read more about The Lost Suns below, and check out the trailer for the Star Wars: The Old Republic video game!

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ECCC 2011: Tyler Crook Is Your New 'B.P.R.D.' Artist

Posted 3/9/11 11:53 am EST by in Comic Book Conventions, Dark Horse, Emerald City Comicon, Interviews


Yesterday we profiled artist Guy Davis on his exit from his long-running stint on B.P.R.D. . Today, we’re catching up with the series’ new artist, Tyler Crook, who’ll be joining Mike Mignola and John Arcudi on the upcoming Monsters arc. Check out what Crook had to say about his early career, how he got drawn into the B.P.R.D. universe, and what’s next for him.

Geek: Who is this Tyler Crook character and what’s he been doing up until now?

Tyler Crook: Mostly I've been making video games. I've done some other art and design work – kids clothing, yellow page ads, website design – but the bulk of my career has been as a 3D modeler in the video games industry. For the last two years I've been working on an original graphic novel with my buddy, Phil Gelatt called Petrograd. It's historical fiction about the assassination of Rasputin. I had always had the comic bug and wanted to get into it and after working on Petrograd I knew I had to make comics my full-time job. Read More...

ECCC 2011: Exit Interview - Guy Davis on His Departure From 'B.P.R.D.'

Posted 3/8/11 12:13 pm EST by in Comic Book Conventions, Comic Books, Dark Horse, Emerald City Comicon, Interviews


It had to come as a shock to fans of the long-running Hellboy spinoff B.P.R.D. that Guy Davis, the longtime artist for the series would be departing at the conclusion of the current "Gods" storyline. It was such an unlikely end to a pairing that brought the artist and series writers Mike Mignola and John Arcudi to the brink of the end of the world in recent months. Davis is taking a break to focus on his own creator-owned project, The Marquis which is being published through Dark Horse as well as another project he's unable to talk about. No, it wasn't some kind of acrimonious split: "As much as I loved working on the main B.P.R.D. book with Mike and John, it was a hectic monthly grind and I realized I just didn’t have enough time for all the projects I wanted to do."

Not to get all cliched, all good things must come to an end, right?

As unexpectedly and quietly as the collaboration ended, its beginning was actually pretty gradual. Prior to joining B.P.R.D., the artist had done work for Vertigo and Caliber and had his own indie project, The Marquiswhich he originally published through Oni. Davis credits a simple meeting with Mignola "at some random con" where they were both guests as the first meeting between the two talents, and from there the duo struck up a friendship.

I would call to talk monsters and catch up and he would always ask what I was working on~ which usually was something work-for-hire that didn’t involve monsters. He would say he never understood how after seeing me doing the stuff I wanted to draw on my own series, The Marquis that other companies wouldn’t hire me for monster/horror type books. I didn’t know why either, but when he mentioned he was thinking of spinning off B.P.R.D. from Hellboy into its own series I jumped at the chance to work with him on it!

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Interview: Jill Thompson Talks Scary Godmother, Beasts of Burden, and More

Posted 3/7/11 4:44 pm EST by in Comic Books, Dark Horse


Jill Thompson is no stranger to the world of comic books. With dozens of credits to her name, including Beasts of Burden, Sandman, and more, the talented writer/artist has etched out her own niche, creating beautifully painted works that walk the line between adorable, and terrifying.

However, outside of the comics community, she may be best known for her Scary Godmother series. Over the course of several books and comic strips, as well as two well received animated films on Cartoon Network, Scary Godmother has told the continuing story of a kind-hearted witch, her supernatural buddies, and the humans they befriend/torture. Dark Horse will be releasing a black and white collection of her Scary Godmother work this Spring, so we touched base with her about the enduring appeal of her Halloween based stories, as well as checking in a few other projects:

MTV Geek: I read – and correct me if this is wrong – that you wrote Scary Godmother because you felt there were no good Halloween books out there. Has that changed since? Do you think you were able to bump holiday books up to the next level?

Jill Thompson: Actually, I wrote and illustrated Scary Godmother because I love Halloween, and I wanted to create a book for the birth of my first niece. I also wanted to be her Godmother. But being fond of Goth clothing and a black motorcycle jacket at the time, I thought, "I can just see me at the catholic church, up on the altar for the baptism... I'd be a pretty scary godmother." And when I said those two words out loud I got an image in my head of this little witch/fairy with bats wings in a black tutu… And then things kind of took off from there. Read More...

ECCC 2011: The Dark Horse Panel

Posted 3/7/11 11:16 am EST by in Announcements, Comic Book Conventions, Dark Horse, Emerald City Comicon


So before getting to any of the other announcements from the Dark Horse Panel, the big news which came towards the end was that Guy Davis, the longtime artist and collaborator with Mike Mignola and John Arcudi on B.P.R.D. is leaving the book, with the free ECCC-exclusive B.P.R.D.: Hell on Earth story being the last work by the artist for the series. Series editor Scott Allie says that it’s hard to overestimate Davis’ impact on the look and feel of the book—he and Mignola visually defined the look and feel of the universe, with Davis getting extra credit for lending a sense of animation and subtle refinement to characters like team leader Abe Sapien and the spectral Johannes.

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Dark Horse Comics New Releases For March 2

Posted 3/1/11 6:03 pm EST by in Comic Books, Dark Horse


Click the images for previews of Dark Horse Comics new releases for March 2!

Axe Cop: Bad Guy Earth #1

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Writer Bruce Jones Joins 'Solomon Kane's' Crusade Against Evil

Posted 3/1/11 12:20 pm EST by in Comic Books, Dark Horse, Interviews


Bruce Jones has had an extensive career crafting some of the most diverse and interesting horror fiction in outlets as varied as Creepy and Web of Horror to writing for the horror anthology television series, The Hitchhiker. Jones is also a Robert E. Howard aficionado, having written Conan and Red Sonja at Marvel previously—so of course, he would jump at the opportunity to write for a new Solomon Kane miniseries for Dark Horse.

Jones talked to MTV Geek recently about the pleasures of writing the gun-toting Puritan and tells us a bit about what he has in store for Howard’s character.

MTV Geek: How did you get involved with this project?

Bruce Jones: Editor Philip Simon at Dark Horse called and asked if I’d be interested in adapting some of Howard’s Solomon Kane material to the comic format. I gave a very enthusiastic “Yes!”

Geek: Could you tell us a little about your version of Kane? What’s the appeal for you as a writer?

BJ: The biggest appeal is that I’m a huge Robert E. Howard fan who’s been reading his stuff since high school. It was harder to find back then. Later, when the Lancer paperbacks with the Frazetta covers came out I began collecting them avidly. Eventually, I went on to find the old Arkham house editions like Skull Face and The Dark Man. Howard was a big part of my formative years. I grabbed anything I could find on him.

Geek: A larger point: you’ve worked on the pillars of Howard’s oeuvre (Red Sonja, Conan, and now Kane). What brings you back to his works?

BJ: The chance to do Solomon Kane, one of the few Howard characters I hadn’t adapted to comics yet. It was a blast re-reading the stories again—they hold up so well—and getting inside the mind of Kane who is much darker and more introspective than some of Howard’s bigger-than-life creations like Conan, etc. It was great for me because I found Kane’s brooding personality very humanistic, very conflicted yet at the same time there was still plenty of action to play with in both tales. Read More...

Neal Adams Returns with a 'Blood'-y Vengeance in 'Dark Horse Presents'

Posted 2/28/11 2:02 pm EST by in Comic Books, Dark Horse, Interviews


If you’re a Neal Adams fan, 2011 seems like something of an embarrassment of riches from a comics creator whose output over the last few years had been restricted to covers. But this year sees the writer/artist who put Green Lantern and Green Arrow on the road together and pitted the greatest boxer in history against arguably the world’s most important comic character creating his own potential breakout character in the pages of the Dark Horse Presents relaunch this week, while working on Batman: Odyssey at DC and a still secret Wolverine project at Marvel.

We spoke to this legendary creator about his new story, Blood, the value of his work in comic history, and the current creative landscape in the industry. Be forewarned: the word “romp” may or may not be used in this piece.

Neal Adams: So, what’s up?

MTV Geek: Well, I wanted to talk to you about your contribution to DHP.

NA: DHP? That’s a new brand of toilet paper, isn’t it?

Geek: [laughs] So I guess just to dive right into it—

NA: You better come to this phone with your sense of humor turned on.

Geek: Hey, I’m here! I’m here, man.

NA: So…

Geek: So.

NA: I’m working on Dark Horse Presents.

Geek: What attracted you to the project initially?

NA: What attracted me to the project? They offered to have me to do a story that I owned and had and wanted to do as an independent piece as I was doing [Batman: Odyssey] for DC Comics and Wolverine for Marvel. And so I thought, “Well, Batman for DC and Wolverine for Marvel, that’s all old hat for me—I’d love to do Blood,” which I’ve been kind of working on for a couple of years, on and off.

Geek: The solicitations are pretty scarce with details about the plot. Could you tell us a little about the story and its lead?

NA: Sure. First, he’s dead. [laughs]

Blood is in an action sequence at the beginning. He’s a really hard-nosed cop—that’s why they call him “Blood.” He kills people. He’s kind of ruthless [and] he’s very tough and he’s in a city not unlike Chicago and the bad guys hate him. In a movie he’d be played by, well, a very tough guy.

The bad guys have taken his best friend, Lionel Street, to an abandoned steel mill and they’re pretty much going to kill him. And Lionel is an idiot savant and a very sympathetic character. Blood likes him like a brother. [The bad guys] have threatened to kill him, and say “If you don’t want him to die, come and see us and no backup.” And Blood is just stupid enough to go. No, not stupid at all—he’s trained and deadly.

He tears through the place like a berserker, death on every side, but finally runs into an obstacle that he can’t get past and it kills him—dead. And then the titles come on.

Geek: So it’s kind of like the pre-title sequence to a movie.

NA: That’s right, if it was a movie it’s the pre-title sequence.

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'Dark Horse Presents' - Being A 'Marked Man' With Howard Chaykin

Posted 2/25/11 3:30 pm EST by in Comic Books, Dark Horse, Interviews


I can remember the first time I ever read anything by Howard Chaykin—somehow, I’d gotten a battered copy of an issue of his American Flagg in my young teen hands and I wondered what kind of brilliant madman could put out this kind of work. The action, the violence, it all seemed to pop of the page in a particularly mad way that the superhero comics I was reading at the time didn’t (or wouldn’t) do. Flash forward to the present, where I’ve finally had a chance to talk to the man himself about his work—he seems less mad but no less impressive in his ability to understand what readers want (his protestations to the contrary) through a 40-year career that has spanned comics, television, and film.

His latest work is Marked Man, an story that will be running through the 25th anniversary relaunch of Dark Horse Presents next week. Here’s what he had to say about the story, his craft, and the industry at large.

MTV Geek: Tell us a little about how your story, Marked Man, ended up as part of DHP.

Howard Chaykin: Basically, Mike called me up about doing a piece for Dark Horse Presents, and I pitched him two crime pieces—one period, one contemporary—and a Western. And he opted for the contemporary crime piece, which I was perfectly happy with—this is a project that I’ve been working on for 15 years.

It’s a very straight-up, contemporary crime thriller involving a criminal protagonist who, in the most basic of terms, lives an utterly and unrepentantly dishonest life. His belief system is shattered by a choice he makes based on the exigencies of the contemporary American economy.

Geek: So there’s a bit of a moral development for the character? Or is he just trying to figure it out as he goes along?

HC: The character has a crushing event in his life, and he goes through a physical, moral, and emotional transformation. At the end of the story, he comes out an entirely different person than when he came in—leaving it open for a sequel. But he solves his problem in the context of our 8-part serial. But he is utterly transformed and changed by his experience.

He is a thief and criminal who has no guilt or shame and ultimately his actions have grave consequences for those around him.

Geek: How long are each of your installments?

HC: Eight parts [at] eight pages [each], and I delivered the first two episodes. The entire series is written, because I’m a great believer in structure and I felt that it was important to write the entire thing first so that I could lay pipe and not have to pull things out of my a**. Read More...

The (Yellow Brick) Road To Emerald City Comicon: ECCC App and Exclusive B.P.R.D. Comic!

Posted 2/24/11 2:53 pm EST by in Comic Book Conventions, Dark Horse, Emerald City Comicon


We here at MTV Geek are excited about the upcoming Emerald City Comicon being held next week on March 4-6, and so we'll be checking in every so often with some updates about the show!

First up -- did you know that ECCC has an app? That's right, you can read your entire guide to Emerald City Comicon -- including maps, schedules, alerts, and more -- on your mobile device with the free The Conventionist app. Just download it from the Apple app store or the Android Marketplace.

Next: Dark Horse has just announced that it will be offering a free exclusive ECCC B.P.R.D. Hell On Earth comic book at the show. The story will feature the B.P.R.D. team fighting a giant monster in Seattle, and will be black-and-white with a color cover. Fans can meet the entire creative team for B.P.R.D. Hell On Earth at the show and have them sign the comic! Take a look at the cover for this ECCC exclusive below, and then read on for more details about the comic! Read More...

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