There are few things in the world that give me joy quite the way Axe Cop does. My daughter, I GUESS, and maybe cookies or something, I dunknow. But Axe Cop is definitely in the list of Best Things Ever Created. So it’s with a heavy heart that I tell you that Axe Cop Volume 3, which hits comic stores and book stores from Dark Horse comics at the end of March may be the best volume of Axe Cop yet!

My heart was heavy from all the joy in it, by the way! Surprise twist!

Anyway, for those of you not in the know, here’s the well trod pitch-line: Axe Cop follows the adventures of the title character, who likes chopping heads and solving crimes. The catch is, the book is written by a six-year-old, and drawn by his thirty-year-old brother. So basically, it reads like how you used to play when you were a kid, by which we mean, awesome. Axe Cop started as a web strip, quickly blew up, and now Dark Horse is doing the world a favor by reprinting a most of those comics in book format.

What makes this particularly worth it - beyond the fact that Axe Cop is a non-stop delight - is Ethan Nicolle’s commentary on every story. Ethan, you see, is the elder part of the duo; but beyond that, he’s also the guy that gives his little brother Malachai focus, helps him craft the stories, and essentially does everything but put his name in the writer slot. This is a herculean effort, making Ethan not just the series artist, and the main marketer, and the editor, but essentially the guy who figured out how to get a six-year-old Hunter S. Thompson without the drugs spew out Pulitzer prize winning essays (or in this case, comics about pizza stealing goo monsters).

That’s pretty genius, and seeing an insight into both Ethan - and Malachai’s - process is an intriguing look behind the curtain. I’m not sure anyone, ever, will be able to reproduce what they’ve done here, as Malachai has such a universally unique imagination (parse that sentence, English scholars); but if they were, the notes in Axe Cop Volume 3 would be the place to start.

Beyond that, there’s the stories, which are the regular assortment of Axe Cop genius level material. By the way, I want to stop for a second: any of you who think I’m either being sarcastic, or too effusive in my praise here? I’m not. Axe Cop is just that good. I have yet to meet a single person who read Axe Cop that didn’t become a slavering maniac in love with the comic. Joooooin usssss.

But I was talking about the stories. This volume collects a few longer Axe Cop strips, as well as a number of the usually shorter or one-off “Ask Axe-Cop” strips that usually populate the website, but beyond that, there’s some spectacular highlights and guest strips. The centerpiece is the team-up between similar web break out star Dr. McNinja, which has the most superb title of any story every created: “Separate Pizza/Separate Lives.” Interestingly, Ethan spends a while in the notes talking about why the crossover didn’t quite work as well as he and McNinja creator Chris Hastings wanted it to, and how they’ll do better the next time. Given the story could have just been presented as is, it’s a surprising bit of candor - more surprising because he’s right on the mark.

However, it’s a later story, which includes one of the most heinous bits of casual child abuse ever recorded in any medium (seriously, Precious would probably read this story, and shudder), that also pays off with a scene so deliberately insane, I was crying with tears on the subway reading it. And I’m a New Yorker, so that can basically get you ejected from town, and I did it anyway. The last line of the story - which I’ll ruin now, as it’s online anyway - is almost perfect in its Dada-esque surreality: "So day after day, more rabbits arrived in the mail, and the clones ate them forever." I realize this makes no sense out of context, but it only barely makes more sense in context, and that’s the point.

To bring it back around, what comes clear in both the stories and the commentary by Ethan is that Axe Cop, like children’s imaginations, is about bringing order to the chaos around them. Does the order always make sense to everyone else? Heck no. Does the life of your neighbor, or even your significant other make total sense to you all the time? Of course not. Life is random. Life is strange. And Axe Cop, like the best works of art, encompasses and embraces that... But with a lot more heads getting chopped off.

Axe Cop Volume 3 hits stores from Dark Horse on March 28, 2012.

Related Posts:
Munchkin Axe Cop Swings Into Action
Dark Horse Advance Reviews: Fear Agent #31, Axe Cop: Bad Guy Earth

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Tags Axe Cop, Dark Horse Comics

Note: this is a modified version of my SDCC 2011 review of Gantz II, incorporating a look at the recent Blu-ray release.

A live-action conclusion of GANTZ was an unlikely candidate for one of my favorite films of last year's crop of summer movies, which was ultimately disappointing stream of big-budget comic-to-screen efforts that were better tech demos for their game tie-ins that actual movies. That GANTZ II seems to overcome the recent trend of failure among big-budget Japanese action extravaganzas to figure out how to spend their money on effects--GANTZ is pretty, and its effects generally plausible-looking--is a triumph in and of itself. But most importantly, the movie maintains its own rhythms without losing the audience, bringing together about two and a half hours of story in without feeling overlong, providing a few real characters moments to shine while still leaving enough of an enigma to warrant future installments.
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Tags Dark Horse Comics, Gantz II: Perfect Answer, Hiroya Oku, Kazunari Ninomiya, Kenichi Matsuyama, New People Entertainment, Shinsuke Sato, Takayuki Yamada, Yuriko Yoshitaka

Dollhouse the TV show may have had a rough time of it over the course of its troubled two season run, but if the upcoming trade collection Dollhouse Volume 1: Epitaphs is any indication, the comics should have no trouble winning new fans over to the franchise.

For those of you not familiar with Dollhouse, the show was created by Geek Legend Joss Whedon, and even by his standards of quirk was a tough sell: Dolls are mind-wiped human beings, programmed to serve any need or desire, and rented out to the wealthy for their enjoyment. One of those Dolls was named Echo (played by Eliza Dushku), and she was different... Over time, it became clear she wasn’t being wiped as cleanly as the others, and the series became about how - and why - that was happening. Read more...

Tags Dark Horse Comics, Dollhouse, Dollhouse Volume 1: Epitaphs

By Danica Davidson

How would you like to know all about the origin of the Jedi? Writer John Ostrander and artist Jan Duursema are adding to the Star Wars mythos with their new series, Dawn of the Jedi, which has an issue zero just released from Dark Horse Comics. MTV Geek spoke to Ostrander and Duursema to get the scoop.

MTV Geek: What makes Dawn of the Jedi stand out among your other Star Wars works?

John Ostrander: This is Genesis. I think everyone who has had any kind of interest in Star Wars, even those who have only seen the films, would be interested in how the Jedi Order began. That’s the story we’re telling.

Jan Duursema: Being asked to travel back in time to the beginnings of the Jedi Order is a pretty awesome undertaking. I've always wondered how the Jedi began—what the Force Wars that split the original order were like and how the Star Wars Galaxy looked back when this all happened. This is an era that a lot of Star Wars fans, like myself, have been wanting to see for a long time—and now John Ostrander and I get to explore it all in Dawn of the Jedi! Read more...

Tags Comic Books, Dark Horse Comics, Dawn of the Jedi, Star Wars

Brian Wood knows his barbarians. Or at least, he’s pretty familiar with Vikings, as evidenced by his successful Vertigo series Northlanders. But now, he – along with artist Becky Cloonan – are heading South and taking on the most famous barbarian of all time: Conan. The new series from Dark Horse is a retelling of one of Robert E. Howard’s most famous stories, Queen Of The Black Coast, and for those of you not familiar: Conan vs. Pirates.

We chatted with Wood about the book before its release this week to find out more… Including how you deal with a naked pirate queen, fans angry that Wood and Cloonan’s Conan is too “emo,” and the biggest question of all:

MTV Geek: Why Conan, and why now?

Brian Wood: Put bluntly, I was offered the book! Dark Horse made a strong case - specifically Sierra Hahn, who I know from her days doing PR for Veritgo - for me to come over there and do a 25-issue stint on the book. I can honestly say that it would NEVER have occurred to me to pitch for this book, but once I was asked, it just felt right. It seemed like a no-brainer. Also, my viking book Northlanders was ending, and Conan felt like a way to continue kinda-sorta in the same genre but without doing the exact same thing.

Geek: What is the draw of Conan as a character? What’s your take on him?

BW: There's a couple levels to this. Conan is appealing because he is this incredibly famous character, a real classic of American pulp literature, and a worldwide-recognized brand. And it was very flattering to be asked to be a part of that. That's the draw on the more practical side of things. On the creative side, here's this character who is the classic sword-and-sorcery type, very genre, very much of a certain type of world, but does have this mass appeal. The genius of Conan is how we, as readers, can relate to him regardless of when he was written or what the particulars of his adventures may be. He's not a superhero, or a meathead, or anything like that. He's this great character with a rich and detailed backstory, and you want to root for him. You relate to his successes and failures.

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Tags Brian Wood, Conan the Barbarian, Dark Horse Comics

We’ve all thought about what we would do differently if we could go back in time and have a second chance. Peter Bagge, the graphic novelist behind Apocalypse Nerd, is exploring this dilemma in his new work, Reset.

Reset, which will debut in April and is being published by Dark Horse Comics, is about actor and comedian Guy Krause. Unfortunately, Krause’s career is less than stellar (the word “washed-up” is used). But then he offers himself up to be a research subject for an experiment dealing with virtual reality.

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Tags Dark Horse Comics, Peter Bagge, Reset

Best of the year lists? Screw ‘em! Monthly lists are where its at; and besides, most of thos End of the Year lists ignore the precious, Holiday filled month of December which had not four but FIVE weeks of comics to enjoy. Here’s our list of the ten best comics from the last month of 2011:

10. Reed Gunther #6

This story of a cowboy and his best friend, a bear named Sterling who’s much smarter than he is, has rapidly become one of our favorite all-ages reads. With issue six, which focused on the back-story of how the duo met, it may have become our favorite. How can you not love a comic which follows the emotional arc of the main character’s mustache? You can’t, that’s how. A perfect read for the whole family.

9. TMNT Micro-series #2: Michaelangelo

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Tags Dark Horse Comics, DC Comics, Image Comics, Marvel Comics

You may not know the name Joseph Mallozzi, but you probably know his work: all told, he’s written or co-written dozens of episodes of Stargate: SG1, Stargate: Atlantis, and Stargate Universe, helping steward the franchise for the past decade. With Stargate benched by SyFy on indefinite hiatus, the creator is taking a much needed break… And releasing his own, original scifi series Dark Matter through comic book publisher Dark Horse. Read more...

Tags Dark Horse Comics, dark matter, joseph mallozi, Stargate

It may seem like the last big comic book events just ended (and that’s because they did), but get ready because a new year means new ways for villains to try and blow up the world. Here are ten comic book events we’re eagerly anticipating in 2012:

10. Free Comic Book Day

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Tags Avengers Vs. X-Men, Dark Horse Comics, DC Comics, Free Comic Book Day, Hellboy, Marvel Comics, new year's 2012

Who knew when Bioware developed Knights of the Old Republic, that we'd still be so deep in this era of Star Wars fiction. While taking place about 300 years prior to the Bioware's MMO, The Old Republic, in many ways the events in KOTOR set the stage for the narrative threads that would follow in the new game. Writer John Jackson Miller is very familiar with the era of Darth Revan and the reemergence of the Sith, having written a long-running comic series for publisher Dark Horse. Now, he's taking us back to that era with Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic-War!, whose first issue hits shelves and digital downloads on January 11th. Miller is also a novelist most known for his Star Wars work with Del Rey publishing.

Here's the official blurb from Dark Horse: "The Republic and the Mandalorians are at war! Jedi are joining the fight, despite the noninterference stance of the Council. One Jedi, however, has found himself on the front lines against his wishes-the peace-loving Zayne Carrick has been drafted!"

I spoke to Mr. Miller about working in the KOTOR universe again and continuing to expand Star Wars fiction as well as his work on the recent Mass Effect comics at Dark Horse.
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Tags BioWare, Comic Chron, Dark Horse Comics, Del Rey Publishing, Mass Effect: Invasion, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic