By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)
In my days as a fervent comic book reader, I think I bought more Dark Horse Comics than Marvel or DC combined. Nothing against the big two from out East, but this company based in the Dogwood City of the West in the Beaver State released a lot of translated manga, movie-tie in material and unique titles that I definitely gnawed at! Two of the earliest works I enjoyed reading were Aliens and Predator. Of the two, I got my very first issue signed by the artist Chris Warner when he visited my home city of Victoria, BC in a special book tour. A few decades later, I managed to get my Aliens portfolio (my original comics were buried too deep in storage to pull out in time for Emerald City Comicon a few years ago) autographed by Mark A. Nelson .
This publisher is celebrating the big three-o this year, and their big day is being celebrated worldwide on June 3rd. Appropriately enough, they have a release to give out for free which includes an Aliens versus Predator story. This comic book recalls 30 years of their best-selling titles. I’m very curious in which stories get reprinted, but there will be new material too. The worlds represented are Sin City, Umbrella Academy and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Best of all, the distribution of this comic is not limited to North America; it’s international! Comic stores from around the world will be offering swag which includes mini-posters, window clings and postcards. Please check with your local comic book retailer if they are participating; the list is huge.
This publishing house was founded in 1986 by Mike Richardson and is based out of Milwaukie, Oregon. Their emphasis on giving the creators full control of their products is key to their success. While I think Frank Miller (Sin City) helped put this company on the map, the real winner is with Concrete by Paul Chadwick. It garnered multiple awards. To name a few, other great names which helped include Mike Mignola (Hellboy), Geof Darrow (Rusty the Boy Robot) and Stan Sakai (Usagi Yujimbo). While their Star Wars comics did help create a new industry of comics based on films, there was more to this company than meets the eye. They were quick to bring foreign comics to North America.
For me, one of the reasons why I love this company is because of the huge number of manga releases they released back then and still do to this day. They published titles like Akira, 3×3 Eyes, Oh My Goddess, Gunsmith Cats, Dirty Pair, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Astro Boy, Lone Wolf and Cub, Ghost in the Shell and What’s Michael — the huge list does not stop there. While I fully understand why they cancelled 3×3 Eyes due to declining sales and interest, I do hope they will consider publishing Shin 3×3 Eyes, which in theory is a shorter run, and perhaps rerelease the volumes as a digital collection.
But in what I enjoy from this company are experimental manga-inspired series like Mecha! (which celebrates its 30th anniversary this day!). The robot designs in this series are still terrific to look at to this day, and if only I had the modelling skills to build them.
The series which made me know this company is going places is The Mask. Say what you will about the movies, but the comic book series is infinitely better. I loved how it incorporated a touch of Nordic mythology into the development of why this object is “cursed.” Loki is behind it all, and there’s never a Thor to pound him back to place. The tales were so wildly out there and I firmly believe the level of comic-book violence produced from this series can make Deadpool blush!
Other titles I fondly explored were Ghost and Nexus. My fanboy obsession even delved into their video-game tie-in material which began with Oni. This video game was buggy as hell, but I played it all the way to the end. Somewhere in my photo archives is an image of me and the huge banner they brought into Sakuracon 2001 for display. Now I’m digging into figuring out what makes Plants vs. Zombies enduring.
In what Dark Horse Day will promote may not be as huge as seeing them conquer an exhibit floor at a convention, but for various participating retailers around the world, they will be handing out goodies to visitors who arrive early to see the spread of nearly every genre this company now represents in the titles offered. With animated hits like Avatar: The Last Airbender, Legend of Korra and How to Train Your Dragon, they have branched out to continue the adventures of my favourite heroes in comic book form!
For a list of stores celebrating this day, readers will have to check with their local outlet to see if they will be participating. The full list has not been made available online at time of publishing. For the Pacific Northwest, the list has been reproduced on the next page, and other countries on the page following:
CANADA
Curious Books & Comics Victoria, British Columbia
Golden Age Collectables Vancouver, British Columbia
Tazmanian Comic Connection Vancouver, British Columbia
Rx Comics Vancouver, British Columbia
Langley Toy Traders Langley, British Columbia
Comic Encounters Terrace, British Columbia
Big Pete’s Sportscards N Vancouver, British Columbia
UNITED STATES
Washington
Golden Age Collectables Seattle, Washington
Merlyn’s Spokane, Washington
Dreamstrands Comics Seattle, Washington
Cosmic Comics Bellingham, Washington
Olympic Cards & Comics Lacey, Washington
Lex Corp Inc Spokane, Washington
Comics Keep Bremerton, Washington
Arcane Comics & More Llc Seattle, Washington
Atomic Comics Tacoma, Washington
The Comics Place Bellingham, Washington
Docking Bay 93 Mt Vernon, Washington
The Comic Stop Redmond, Washington
Fantasium Comics Federal, Washington
Phantom Zone Comics Lynwood, Washington
Hero Support Llc Washougal, Washington
Phoenix Comics & Games Seattle, Washington
Columbia Sports Llc Vancouver, Washington
Destiny City Comics Tacoma, Washington
Mighty Moose Comics Bellevue, Washington
Stargazer Comics Llc Tacoma, Washington
Game Wizard & Blue Sky Hobbies Bremerton, Washington
Oregon
Cosmic Monkey Comics Inc. Portland, Oregon
More Fun Ashland, Oregon
Emerald City Comics Eugene, Oregon
Pegasus Books of Bend Bend, Oregon
Bridge City Comics Portland, Oregon
Wild Thing Games Salem, Oregon
Things From Another World Portland, Oregon
Tony’s Kingdom of Comics Llc Keizer, Oregon
Dragon Vine Inc Springfield, Oregon
Iguana Comics and Cards Grants Pass, Oregon
Other Worlds Llc Portland, Oregon
Astral Games Llc Medford, Oregon
Geek Geek Nerd Nerd Redmond, Oregon
Comic Cave Portland, Oregon
Books With Pictures Llc Portland, Oregon
Superhero Headquarters Llc Corvallis, Oregon
Australia
Pulp Fiction Comics Adelaide SA
Comics ‘r’ Us Melbourne VIC
Classic Comics Victoria
Appelt Pty Ltd Carlton NSW
Alternate Worlds Melbourne VIC
Minotaur Entertainment Pty Ltd Melbourne VIC
Dees Book and Comic Shop Belconnen ACT
Real Dreams Pty Ltd Liverpool NSW
Kinokuniya Bookstores Sydney NSW
Ace Comics & Games P/l Annerley QLD
Ajam Pty Limited Newcastle NSW
Impact Comics Canberra City
Ace Comics & Games P/l Brisbane QLD
Dynamic Duo Comics Pty Ltd Adelaide SA
Cosmic Comics Rockingham WA
Quality Comics Perth WA
The Shop Gifts for the Geek Geelong VIC
All Star Comics Melbourne Pty Melbourne VIC
Collector Zone Ridgewood WA
Greenlight Comics Pty Ltd Adelaide SA
Kings Corporation Pty Ltd-sea Sydney NSW
Austria
Comic Steiner Wien
Belgium
Archonia Nv Diepenbeek
Pinceel – Brussel Leuven
De Stripkever Mechelen
Costa Rica
Gabriel Rendon Puerta San Jose
Finland
Fantasiapelit Tudeer Oy Helsinki
France
Turbo Plus Plus Lille
Germany
Harry Moche Wuppertal
Bonner Comic Laden Gmbh Bonn
Hade Gmbh Koeln
Ultra Comix Gmbh Nurnberg
Modern Graphics Berlin
Fantastic Store Gmbh Kommern
Guatemala
Kirby Store Guatemala
Israel
Comikaza Tel Aviv
Italy
Italycomics Srl Roma
Malaysia
Kinokuniya Book Stores Kuala Lumpur
Netherlands
The Comics & Manga Store Amsterdam
Pep Comics Bv Helmond
New Zealand
Heroes for Sale, K Road Auckland
Visual Media Services Ltd Paraparauma
Arkham City Comics Ltd Auckland
Philippines
Pandayan Bookshop Inc Pasig
Poland
Multiversum Rafal Palacz Poznan
Portugal
Bd Mania, Representacoes Lisboa
Duo Estudio De Design Lda Porto
Puerto Rico
Crash and Smash Inc Guaynabo
South Africa
Comic Corner Cc Johannesburg
Cosmic Comics Northcliff
Singapore
Absolute Comics Singapore
Spain
Gigamesh Fantasia Y Ciencia Barcelona
Sweden
Serieborsen Linkoping
Comics Heaven Ab Stockholm
Marknadskontakt Tranas
Sf Bokhandeln Ab Gothenburg
Sf Bokhandeln Ab Malme
Switzerland
Kabooom Entertainment Gmbh Zurich
Turkey
Arka Bahce Yayincilik Ltd Sti Istanbul
Gungezgini Yayincilik Ve Istanbul