Tagged: Dark Horse

Zombie: ‘Werewolf Women of the SS’ Comic Coming

  • News
  • July 14, 2008

After the Grindhouse doubleheader films came out in theater, one of the big questions was whether any of the movie trailers for fake films would lead to real movies.

There’s no Machete on the way yet, but at least one of the properties will be expanded. Just not into a movie.

Cinematical reports that Werewolf Women of the SS, Rob Zombie’s contributed trailer, will be made into a comic book series. Zombie broke the news himself on his MySpace page:

Werewolf Women of the SS is back! This time it’s back as a comic book series! The wacky exploits of Commandant Hess, Lt. Boorman, Von Strasser Eva and Gretchen Krupp, Fu Manchu and even Hiltler will be coming you way. Everything you ever wanted to know about Project Pure Wolf but were afraid to ask!

No word on a publisher yet. Zombie previously worked with Dark Horse on The Nail and IDW on Bigfoot.

‘Hellboy 2’ Tops Box Office

‘Hellboy 2’ Tops Box Office

  • News
  • July 14, 2008

More good news on the comic book movie front, as Hellboy 2: The Golden Army is reportedly tops at the box office, with a $35.9 million haul.

Variety says that well outpaces 2002’s Hellboy, the first teamup between director Guillermo del Toro and Hellboy creator Mike Mignola. The second film didn’t face much competition, and next week brings the heavy hitter The Dark Knight, but it’s still a good (and better than expected) take.

Universal said the successful opening of the aggressively marketed “Golden Army” both cements the “Hellboy” film franchise, based on the Dark Horse Comics character, and continues the studio’s winning streak at the summer box office.

“This is an incredible result. No other studio wanted to do this, but Universal had the wherewithal to do it. You had a very talented filmmaker, plus a great marketing campaign that created a huge demand,” said U prexy of distribution Nikki Rocco.

“Golden Army’s” audience breakdown intrigued competing studios. Of Friday’s audience, 69% were male, while a sizeable 58% were over the age of 25, pointing to del Toro’s draw. A full 10% were over the age of 50, while 34% were 35 and older.

Sounds like a third film is possible, depending on how ticket sales hold up.

I finally got to see it Sunday, with a moderately full theater. Lots of good laughs, but overall it was pretty uneven, mainly because of some weaknesses in the script.

New ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ Videogame Announced

New ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ Videogame Announced

  • News
  • July 12, 2008

 The Buffy the Vampire Slayer television show simply will not die. Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 8 is a runaway hit for Dark Horse Comics, while merchandise is still selling at cons, the DVDs are perrenial sellers and they’re still coming out with Buffy videogames.

That’s right. Publisher 505 Games has announced Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Sacrifice for the Nintendo DS. A mixture of first- and third-person gameplay as players take on the role of Buffy as she attempts to seal the re-opened Hellmouth. This is Buffy’s first incarnation on the Nintendo DS.

“Buffy’s return to videogames is great for long-time fans of the franchise and we hope the huge market reach of the Nintendo DS will help to create new fans too,” proclaimed Rowan Tafler, Global Brand Manager for 505 Games.

In a shocking Buffy-like twist, Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Sacrifice will be available exclusively throughout Europe on Nintendo DS during November 2008. Fans across the pond are still waiting to hear details on a North American release.  Betcha Giles is lording that one over everyone.

Expect to come across Spike, Angel, the Master, the First Evil, Caleb and, of course, the Scooby Gang. The story is penned by series writer Rob Deshotel.

As an uber-geeky Buffy fan and gamer, I have to wonder where this story takes place. Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Chaos Bleeds games were considered Buffyverse canon, especially since they featured participation from the actors and Joss Whedon, but other entries are questionable. The screenshots seems like it takes place during Season Seven, but the story description makes it sound like it takes place between the finale and the comic book.

Yeah, I know — even Xander would look at me and say, "What a nerd."

More screenshots are posted after the jump.

(more…)

Webcomic News Roundup: Goats Goes Big, Webcomics.com For Sale

  • News
  • July 11, 2008

By far, the biggest item of note this week was announced today, as one of the longest-running webcomics in the ‘Tubes will now be collected in a series of 150-page Goats tomes. If you want to know the whole scoop, you can read my interview with Goats creator Jon Rosenberg here on ComicMix, as well as Gary Tyrell’s mustachioed Q&A stylings over on Fleen.

Here’s an excerpt from Tyrrell’s interview:

Q: Any of your other material — earlier strips, the tantalizingly incomplete Patent Pending and Worlds of Peril, your minicomics (including the long hoped-for Operating Thetan III) — that might now see print as a result of this deal? 

A: Anything is possible, but a lot of the projects you mentioned were ended for good reason. Patent Pending needs to be completely rethought and redone if I ever decide to work on it again, it would have made a better novel than comic I suspect. The Worlds of Peril comics were the inspiration for a lot of what makes up The Infinite Pendergast Cycle, I like to think that it’s the story of what takes place in the aftermath of Goats proper. It’s not canon, though, so don’t be reading too much into that.

The first minicomic is going to be reworked slightly to serve at the intro chapter for Infinite Typewriters. The second one could theoretically be included as an extra in one of the other volumes. I don’t have any plans to produce OT3 at this time but if I can fix some of the plot issues I could see it appearing in the future in some form, either as a standalone or as an arc of Goats.

(more…)

New Dark Horse Site Goes Live

It’s a big week for Dark Horse.

Friday sees the release of Hellboy 2: The Golden Army, and in the meanwhile, the publisher has given its Web site a much-needed facelift.

The new site is updated with a cleaner and more easily navigable framework, though I haven’t noticed much in the way of new features.

I don’t know that it amounts to a hill of beans for comic readers, but as a reviewer I’m happy to see the "new releases" and "upcoming comics" sections given a makeover, as there’s nothing as annoying as having to dig through the Internets for some product info or a cover image.

Enough of what I think. Why don’t you head on over and judge for yourself.

Shelf Watch: This Week’s Comics

Shelf Watch: This Week’s Comics

Every week I look ahead at Diamond’s shipping lists to see what I’ll be reviewing for the Weekly Haul. Here’s what’s on tap this week (reminder, comics aren’t out till Thursday):

Not sure why, but I’m looking forward to Image’s I Kill Giants #1, even though I don’t have much of an idea what it’s about. The art reminds me a lot of Alex Robinson’s — but with more manga influences — so that might be a lot of it.

Dark Horse has a couple of usual suspects on the way in The Goon #26 and B.P.R.D.: The Warning #1, as well as the Hellboy: Oddest Jobs trade. I’ve been especially impressed with The Goon of late, after it nosedived when Eric Powell shifted his focus to Action Comics and the Chinatown GN.

DC has a fairly ho-hum slate. Tops would be Booster Gold #1000000, though DC’s Web site says that’s not coming out till next week. There’s Final Crisis Requiem, the one-shot that deals with the Martian Manhunter’s death (glossed over in Final Crisis), and the Batman books are tied into the lackluster RIP storyline. Nothing screams "must read."

Marvel has a big headline with Secret Invasion #4, but aside from that there’s nothing of exceptional interest, aside from the preview for Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale’s Captain America: White and the always excellent Nova (issue 15). Am I the only one already tired of Matt Fraction’s Invincible Iron Man, even though only the third issue is coming out now?

In the small presses, there’s the eighth volume of Bone and the trade of Badger Saves the World. Other than that, pretty slim pickings.

What are you looking forward to?

ComicMix Six: The Best ‘Hellboy’ Stories

In previous editions of ComicMix Six, we’ve rounded up everything from Political Campaigns in Comics to Celebrity Team-Ups. This Friday marks the newest milestone for Mike Mignola’s Hellboy franchise, with the movie sequel Hellboy 2: The Golden Army hitting theaters, so this week’s list focuses on Mignola’s most popular creation.

The evil-fighting demon named "Hellboy" has been one of the most successful new superheroes introduced in the past 20 years, first appearing as a joke illustration from Mignola in the early 1990s and then evolving into his current incarnation to debut in a full-fledged Dark Horse comics series.

Now the Hellboy world is huge, comprising several Hellboy books, the B.P.R.D. line, video games and the Hellboy movies.

Picking through all those 15-plus years of content, here are the six very best Hellboy stories, from epics to little fairy tales, from Cavendish Hall to Hell on Earth, and everywhere in between (Note: Only Hellboy-specific stories are included in the list).

Read on for the ComicMix Six: Best Hellboy Stories.

(more…)

‘Hellboy: Wild Hunt’ Preview on MySpace

With Hellboy 2: The Golden Army coming out on Friday, it’s probably no coincidence that Dark Horse just posted a preview of the next Hellboy comics series online.

Head over to MySpace to see the cover (at right) and first six pages to Hellboy: Wild Hunt #1, which is set to debut in December. The series once again pairs Mike Mignola with artist Duncan Fegredo.

Here’s what the story’s about:

When ancient giants begin to rise from their graves across England, Hellboy is invited to join a mysterious group called The Wild Hunt and help bring them down. But the hunt leads to betrayal and death, and Hellboy is forced to face the consequences of his past actions—actions that now threaten the survival of all mankind. "The fading children of the earth" gather in the shadows, awaiting the promised return of the "Queen of Blood" and a chance to shake the trees, crack mountains, and make the daytime world weep for fear."

Review: ‘Lobster Johnson, Vol. 1’ by Mike Mignola and Jason Armstrong

Review: ‘Lobster Johnson, Vol. 1’ by Mike Mignola and Jason Armstrong

Lobster Johnson, Vol. 1: The Iron Prometheus
By Mike Mignolla and Jason Armstrong
Dark Horse, June 2008, $17.95

Lobster Johnson is the mystery man of the Hellboy universe – an enigma wrapped in a riddle folded around a right cross. He’s turned up in [[[Hellboy]]] and B.P.R.D. stories several times, but about all we’ve learned about him is that he was some sort of pulpish hero from the 1930s and that he punched a lot of evil things.

So here we finally get Lobster Johnson’s own story…in which he’s a mysterious, pulpish hero in 1937 New York who punches a whole bunch of evil things. The Lobster does have a secret lair, which gets some on-page time, and a group of [[[Doc Savage]]]-esque helpers – but we still don’t know who the Lobster is, why he fights evil, or even the point of his lobster-claw emblem.

On the other hand, we do get a vril-powered (look up your Edward Bulwer-Lytton) super-suit; its wearer, ex-lab assistant Jim Sacks; his kidnapped scientist employer Kyriakos Gallaragas; and the doctor’s requisite lovely daughter Helena, also kidnapped. Not to mention their kidnapper, an evil Asiatic villain.

(Said villain looks very familiar from other Hellboy stories, but he’s not named here, so I’ll leave it at that.)

(more…)

‘My Name Is Bruce’ Gets Release Date… and Sequel!

‘My Name Is Bruce’ Gets Release Date… and Sequel!

While it’s not exactly comics-related (though Dark Horse Entertainment will serve as distributor), it’s still big news for just about every comics fan I know: Yes, Bruce Campbell’s next film, My Name Is Bruce, finally has a release date!

ShockTillYouDrop.com, who spoke with Dark Horse president Mike Richardson during the Saturn Awards last week, has reported the film is due out in October. Directed by Campbell himself, and featuring a script by Mark Verheiden, the film’s plot involves the real-life Bruce Campbell being mistaken for the character he played in his Evil Dead films and forced to fight a demon in order to save a town.

The film was first screened almost a year ago, but a string of delays caused many to doubt whether it would ever be seen in theaters.

But that’s not all, according to the movie website:

Richardson said that a sequel, titled My Name is Still Bruce, is in the works as well. Dark Horse Entertainment and Image Entertainment will distribute both films.

Groovy.

(Sorry, I couldn’t help it.)

 

(via Cinematical)

 

Categories

Archives

Everything you need to make great comics!

comicmix-pro-300x69-2

Nucleus X

Bookshop Zaks