Coming Attractions: Fall 2012: Dark Horse

It’s 1947, and Archie is bigger than ever! Volume 7 of the Archie Archives sees the boy next door headlining three comics series, with the addition of Laugh Comics. Often imitated but never duplicated, Archie is the original and funniest comics teenager, and this collection includes more than two hundred pages of his hilarious antics with his beloved cast of pals ’n’ gals! Collecting Archie Comics #23–#25, Pep Comics #59–#61, and Laugh Comics #20–#21!

* Introduction by Jeff Parker (Marvel Adventures, X-Men: First Class, Bucko)!

* Includes vintage game pages and ads!

A story that began in the first issue of Hellboy concludes with the B.P.R.D. team set to permanently wipe out the subterranean colony of frog monsters. The team tracks down Memnan Saa’s hideout, but soon find themselves in over their heads when old enemies like the Black Flame arrive to lay waste to the world.

* The complete Scorched Earth trilogy!

* From Hollow Earth to King of Fear—the entire war on frogs in four volumes!

The end of the Frog War!

From the creators of Mutant World!

Ragemoor! A living castle, nurtured on pagan blood, harborer to deadly monsters! A fortress possessed of its own will and ability to change itself, with the power to add and destroy rooms and to grow without the help of any human hand. Its servants aren’t human, its origins are Lovecraftian, and its keeper must fend off the castle walls from the terrible race of worm men! Collects the four-issue miniseries.

* A gothic nightmare á la Poe and Lovecraft!

“Richard Corben and Jan Strnad are like the Jack Kirby and Stan Lee of post-EC monster comics, responsible for classics like The Last Voyage of Sindbad and Mutant World. To see the two of them back together and a project like this is just exciting as hell.” —Mike Mignola

“Mr. Richard Corben… a genuine giant of his chosen medium.”

—Alan Moore

“I side with myself.” The fierce reputation of the barbarian warrior Conan grows throughout the lands of Hyboria, with kings and conquerors alike willing to pay a fortune for the fearsome Cimmerian’s broadsword. But when warring factions are both willing to secure Conan’s services, they discover that they can buy a mercenary’s blade but never his allegiance. Collects Marvel’s The Savage Sword of Conan the Barbarian #121-#130.

* Over 500 story pages, value priced.

* Check out the new Dark Horse Conan series from Brian Wood and Becky Cloonan!

Everyone wants fugitive Jedi Dass Jennir. An assassin is hot on his heels, Darth Vader is also in the race to find him, and even the outlaw crew of the Uhumele are searching for their former companion. But for Jennir and his “partner” Ember Chankeli, those are distant concerns as they endure a scorching desert trek and an attack by deadly land pirates!

Even under a blazing sun, these are dark times! Collects Star Wars: Dark Times—Out of the Wilderness #1–#5.

The Republic and the Mandalorians are at war, and some of the Jedi are joining the fight! One Jedi, peace-loving Zayne Carrick, has found himself on the front lines against his wishes—he’s been drafted . . . And when Zayne is captured by the Mandalorians while storming beaches with his fellow Republic troops, he suddenly is forced not only to fight, but to fight alongside the enemy! Collects Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic—War #1–#5.

* The perfect entry point into the Star Wars galaxy!

Back in print in softcover, Blast Off! chronicles the golden era of space toys, featuring hundreds of color photos of these beautiful and sometimes bizarre playthings, plus prototypes, original packaging and instructions, catalogs, advertisements, vintage comic-strip and pulp-magazine art, and more from every corner of the globe. An essential resource for the collector or anyone with an eye for pop culture and the love of fun!

* The definitive examination of vintage space toys.

* Introduction by Harlan Ellison.

* Now in paperback!

Traffic in New York has never been a picnic, but with the Big Apple destroyed and rebuilt as the dimensional-gate madhouse known as Jerusalem’s Lot, gridlock is a little more complicated. When the city’s forty million jailed paranormal criminals are about to be set loose by a monster truck—literally, a monster truck—the superagents of Libra may have to contend with a rush hour of apocalyptic proportions!

* Sci-fi insanity from Yasuhiro Nightow, creator of Trigun and Gungrave!

When a tribe of dead Indians start scalping the policemen in the city, Hellboy’s crime-fighting hero Lobster Johnson and his allies arrive to take on these foes and their gangster cronies! Collects Lobster Johnson: The Burning Hand #1-#5.

* From the pages of Hellboy.

“Zonjic is putting out crime art that is on par with any of the other fine pulpy comics nominated for Eisners and gaining rave reviews.”—Comic Book Resources

When a Boeing 777 lands at JFK International Airport and goes dark on the runway, the Centers for Disease Control, fearing a terrorist attack, calls in Dr. Ephraim Goodweather and his team of expert biological-threat first responders. Only an elderly pawnbroker from Spanish Harlem suspects a darker purpose behind the event—an ancient threat intent on covering mankind in darkness. Collects issues #1-#6 of the ongoing series.

“This is one of the scariest comics on the stands, as genuine surprises await the reader at every turn of the page. Usually, such big reveals are left to the final moment, but with The Strain there’s almost a cliffhanger every few pages and that makes this series a truly surprising, and enjoyable, read.” —Broken Frontier

The dark streets of London are increasingly dangerous as murderers, mystically devoid of emotion, begin to impact the lives of Angel and Faith. In unraveling this new mystery, the pair follow clues in the Watcher’s Files to a demon from Giles’s past and a “child” from Angel’s. Then, Drusilla returns to her homeland and becomes the hot new vampire in the underground scene! While Angel faces Dru, Faith must deal with issues that reawaken her inner turmoil—a visit from her deadbeat dad, who’s looking for a favor, and a troubled Slayer hell bent on revenge. Collects Angel & Faith #6–#10.

* Includes the one-shot featuring Giles’s magical great-aunts!

* With guest artist Chris Samnee (Serenity)!

* Drusilla is back!

Falsely accused of heaven’s first homicide, five churlish cherubim escape to New York in pursuit of the renegade archangel Abbadon on the eve of the Apocalypse! Befriended by exotic-dancer Mary and chased by unstoppable Seraphim terminators, the Cherubs alone stand against hell’s hordes as Satan prepares to make war, not love!

* Bryan Talbot is an award-winning graphic-novel pioneer and innovator.

* Mark Stafford is one of the UK’s hottest indie artists!

* Features Cherubs!: Hell on Earth, a previously unpublished four-issue series.

One of the best-selling comics of the 1940s, Crime Does Not Pay focused on violent mobsters and murderous lowlifes who machine-gunned their way through the urban underworld . . . until justice landed them in the chair! In 1954, the Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency targeted this comic series for its graphic violence, eventually leading to the creation of the repressive Comics Code Authority. Issues #30 to #33 of Crime Does Not Pay are finally collected in this deluxe hardcover, which includes “Million Dollar Robbery”—perhaps the first story in US comics history drawn by an African-American artist—and features a new introduction by comic-book giant Howard Chaykin (Marked Man, American Flagg!).

The first and only comprehensive collection of Manara’s erotic work!

Comics virtuoso Milo Manara revolutionized comics erotica, creating deep and sexy tales delivered with unparalleled storytelling skill. Spanning three decades of the maestro’s work, this breathtaking volume features two of Manara’s most awe-inspiring painted stories, Kama Sutra and The Golden Ass, alongside some of his earliest achievements!

* The Golden Ass, Jolanda of Almaviva,and The Diary of Sandra F. presented in English for the first time ever!

* New translations by Eurocomics expert Kim Thompson!

* Introduction by comics historian Patrick Rosenkranz (author of Rebel Visions)!

* Complementing the Eisner Award-nominated Manara Library from Dark Horse.

To the casual observer, Mark LaFarge has it going on. He’s got a beautiful wife, cute kids, a McMansion in the South Bay . . . the guy is the living embodiment of the American dream. But nothing is ever as it seems. LaFarge is a career criminal who’s never done an honest day’s work in his life . . . and that life of crime, completely separate from the life he presents to the world, is about to catch up with him. And there will be blood . . . a great deal of blood. Collects Marked Man stories from Dark Horse Presents #1-#8.

* All-new adult intrigue from the creator of American Flagg! and Black Kiss!

* From the pages of Dark Horse Presents!

These four essential stories from Walters and the writers of Mass Effect 3 star characters central to BioWare’s latest epic, including James Vega, Tali, Garrus, and Liara, in adventures that reveal their unbreakable connections to their homeworlds! Collects Mass Effect: Homeworlds #1–#4.

* From the writers of Mass Effect 3, includinglead writer Mac Walters!

* Art by Garry Brown and Mass Effect veterans Omar Francia and Eduardo Francisco!

* The most beloved saga in gaming!

Vash the Stampede, the galaxy’s deadliest gunslinger, emerges after two years in hiding to help his beleaguered desert homeworld, Gunsmoke. But the Stampede’s many enemies have kept their motors, and they’re back on his trail and determined to bring Vash to ground—hard! And a new crowd of bounty hunters, badasses, and brain-cases are also looking to cash in the astronomical price on his head!

Trigun Maximum Omnibus presents Nightow’s Trigun series in value-priced editions of well over 500 story pages! Contains Trigun Maximum Volumes 1-3.

When down-and-out alien exterminator Heath Huston stumbles upon an extraterrestrial plot to commit genocide against the human species, he must put down the bottle and resume his role as a peacekeeper . . . as The Last Fear Agent.

This deluxe hardcover omnibus, the first of two, collects issues #1-#15 of the acclaimed Fear Agent comics, along with half of the Tales of the Fear Agent side stories, covers, pinups, and artists’ sketch galleries!

In Japanese Buddhism, twelve generals—the Juni Jinsho—stood guard over the cosmos at the points of the zodiac. But now they have vanished, and nothing stands between us and the forces of darkness, except Deva Zan, a samurai without a memory. To restore order to existence, he must marshal not only his own fighting skill, but find companions that can cross the boundaries of time and space—to join him in a battle that will stretch from the fields of ancient Japan, to the streets of modern New York City—and to dimensions beyond human comprehension!

Dark Horse has the honor to publish Deva Zan, Yoshitaka Amano’s first fantasy novel as an author as well as an illustrator!After an epic ten years of planning, Amano has made Deva Zan his personal expression of the legends of Asia for his Western readership.

* Features over 200 brand-new paintings by Amano.

* World premiere of this new book!

Old friends and enemies alike return as Sasaki and Karatsu step off the plane from Okinawa—right into a gruesome scheme of zombifacation both traditional and technical, courtesy of the sinister Shirosagi duo! Then, one man’s freedom depends on Sasaki, as she’s called to serve as a lay judge in Japan’s unique trial system . . . and where the pressure is on to reach the “correct” verdict . . .

* Nominated for an Eagle Award.

* Nominated for an Amazon award for outstanding cover design.

Nexus is the greatest avenger in history, but his power and purpose come from an alien race with their own agenda. Is Nexus hero or pawn? Deliverer or destroyer? God or devil? Contains Nexus Volume 1 #1-3, Nexus volume 2 #1-11.

* Winner of six Eisner Awards.

* New stories in Dark Horse Presents have refocused attention on this archetypal series.

* “When it comes to comic books, it just doesn’t get any better than this.”

—Joe Casey

More adventure than your puny mind can handle as the doctor and the whole McNinja clan battle pirates, clones, sentient dinosaurs, haunted spaceships, and sibling rivalry!

Award-winning cartoonist Chris Hastings’s riotously funny, time-bending series returns with all-new tales of monsters, mayhem, and the occasional mustache.

* Features a crossover story with smash hit Axe Cop!

“[A] Venture Brothers-like orgy of genre cool, a collage of epic stories that manage to both parody and lovingly exploit the sci-fi fan’s favorite clichés and devices.” -i09

“Comedic genius.” -ComicsAlliance

Agent Johann, the ectoplasmic man, leads a special task force through the monster-filled Northwest woods in order to hunt down and kill the man he blames for leaving him a disembodied spirit. In the Southwest, agent Devon and the psychic crust punk Fenix form an uneasy alliance in order to escape a horde of giant bat-faced monsters.

This arccontinues the series Comics Alliance calls “one of the best books on the stands.”

* It’s all going to Hell in 2012!

* Death of an agent!

“Crook’s art here brings the world of the B.P.R.D. to life in a manner that disarms you, making you feel like it’s sweet and innocent, only to sneak up on you.”—Comic Book Resources

With the Scooby gang on the skids, Buffy finds herself increasingly alone. When faced with some tough decisions grounded in “real world” problems (i.e., not the slaying of pesky demons), Buffy is determined to make her own choices, but that doesn’t mean she won’t need a little handholding along the way. Cue Spike, compelled to stand by his best friend in her moment of need. Together they’ll tackle the increasing zompire population and a rogue Slayer out for blood. Collects Buffy Season 9 #6–#10;and “Buffy the Vampire Slayer: In Space No One Can Hear You Slay!” from Free Comic Book Day 2012.

The legacy of Hunter Rose lives on through the tortured life of Rose’s adopted daughter Stacy, and once again finds full bloom in Stacy’s own daughter Christine Spar. Reviving Grendel’s reign of terror, Spar leads the way for its murderous identity to claim more hosts, each more powerful than the last, and more malicious! This volume also contains Wagner’s return as writer and artist, in a series of groundbreaking stories looking back on the career of Hunter Rose. Collects Devil Tales, Devil Child, Devil’s Legacy, and The Devil Inside trade paperbacks.

* The complete series, collected for the first time!

* Featuring art by Matt Wagner, Tim Sale, Arnold & Jacob Pander, and Bernie Mireault!

By now, Shinji, Rei, and Asuka thought they knew the drill . . . but they don’t know this one—namely, the giant drill coming down from the even more gigantic eight-sided . . . thingie . . . hanging over the streets of the virtual Tokyo-3! Who’s behind this new menace—Dr. Akagi . . . her daughter . . . or the man who fascinates them both? Heck, who fascinates everyone.

* Famous anime franchise!

* Each volume contains fan art, letters, and special import-only giveaways!

This deluxe hardcover volume collects issues #10 to #13, which were first published in the tense summer of 1941—just before America entered World War II! It’s no coincidence that Silver Streak #10introduced Captain Battle, a wounded veteran of the first World War dedicated to stopping the second one from ever happening! Featuring action-packed stories by Jack Cole (Plastic Man) and Bob Wood (Crime Does Not Pay), the indispensable Silver Streak Archives Volume 2 also reprints every gag strip, puzzle page, and prose adventure from the landmark series—and features a foreword by Michael T. Gilbert (Mr. Monster)!

In a strange turn of events, Buffy begins to experience Twilight’s reach through the growing mass popularity of vampires—they even have a spokesperson with a reality TV show, Harmony Kendall! Rebel Slayer Faith continues on her journey to help other directionless Slayers, and Slayer Simone has also come back onto the Scoobies’ radar. Meanwhile, Dawn finally deals with her ongoing growing pains. Collects Buffy Season 8 #21–#30, and, from MySpace Dark Horse Presents, “Harmony Bites”, “Harmony Comes to the Nation”, and “Vampy Cat Play Friend”.

Microscopic Roman centurions? Elderly ghosts clobbering gangsters? A haunted vintage of French wine? No conceit is too strange for Forbidden Worlds, the playfully bizarre anthology series that hit newsstands in 1951 and continued for 145 outlandish issues! Comic-book giants Al Williamson, Wally Wood, Frank Frazetta, and Ogden Whitney helped to illustrate these pre-Comics Code gems! Issues #1 to #4 of the rare and fascinating Forbidden Worlds are now gathered into an archival hardcover, featuring the first in a series of introductory essays by comic-book historian and connoisseur of the obscure, Dan Nadel (Art Out of Time: Unknown Comics Visionaries, 1900-1969)!

If you don’t believe that life is tough when you’re dead, ask the spectral avenger Ghost. It isn’t easy chasing your murderers through the blood and slime of the Arcadia underworld, but when your dead sister returns to wreak vengeance on the entire city, being dead seems like small potatoes compared to fighting your own Silhouette! Collects Ghost (first series) #27-#36, Ghost Special #2, Ghost Special #3, and “The Woes of Sinful Bachelors” from Dark Horse Presents #145–#147.

* Featuring superstar artists Ivan Reis and John Cassaday!

The baffling murder of a famed Parisian artist in his locked and guarded studio takes the tenacious Detective Inspector LeBrock of Scotland Yard and his faithful adjunct, Detective Ratzi, into the cutthroat Grandville art scene to track the mysterious assassin. As the body count mounts and events spiral out of control, the investigation points to Toad Hall, where a cabal of industrialists and fat cats plot the overthrow of the French State . . . by use of steam-driven automaton soldiers!

* Grandville was nominated for an Eisner Award and a Hugo Award.

* Also look for Dotter of Her Father’s Eyes and Cherubs from Dark Horse.

“The universe Talbot creates is visually stunning and intellectually engaging.”MadAboutComics.com

Here begins the tale of the dawn of the Jedi, the Star Wars of 25,000 years ago—before lightsabers, before hyperspace travel, before the Jedi spread throughout the galaxy, when connections to the Force were new.

On the planet Tython, a group of beings—scientists, philosophers, and warriors—strive to maintain peace and to balance the mystifying power known as the Force. But a stranger is coming, one who will disrupt the balance with his arrival and his own connection to the Force. Everything in their system is about to change . . . The doors to the galaxy have been opened! Collects Star Wars: Dawn of the Jedi—Force Storm #1–#5.

Delving into the days before the Apocalypse, Darksiders II: Death’s Door is a pivotal contribution to the world of the anticipated new game! Created in collaboration with Joe Madureira’s Vigil Games, this original story follows Death, one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, on a mission to destroy a rogue demon. Chasing the creature across magical realms and even through time, Death takes on a heart-pounding adventure that reveals some of the greatest mysteries of the games!

* Reveals essential secrets from the world of the upcoming game!

* Collects issues #0-#5 of the digital-only series.

* Cover by Joe Madureira (Avenging Spider-Man, Battle Chasers)!

Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar—also known to historians as El Cid—was an eleventh century Spanish military commander who led both Christians and Moors into battle. In the pages of Eerie magazine, however, writer Budd Lewis and artist Gonzalo Mayo transform El Cid into a larger-than-life fantasy warrior, battling dragons, trolls, and sirens for his life—and demons for his soul! This deluxe hardcover collects every El Cid adventure that ran in Warren Publishing’s Eerie magazine in the mid-1970s, featuring the elaborately detailed artwork of Mayo, plus Eerie’s original historical background feature.

* Cover painting by Sanjulian, frontispiece by Bernie Wrightson (Frankenstein)!

The little demon who has ushered Keiichi and the goddesses to confront each door warden of Hell reveals herself to be the next door warden they must face. But not only does the chamber she guard have four separate exits, the rules of escape only permit Belldandy to leave on a condition she would never agree to . . . taking another’s life! And she soon learns that the trap she’s in is even crueller than that . . .

* America’s longest-running manga series!

* Inspired the Ah! My Goddess anime TV series, available from Funimation.

Continue Orchid’s epic adventure in the second chapter of the comic-book opus.

Follow Orchid and her compatriots as they head to the fearsome Fortress Penuel in a seemingly hopeless attempt to rescue a rebel leader before his execution. The numbers are stacked against them, but a secret weapon just might help them succeed and escape with their lives. Collects issues #5-#8 of the Orchid series.

* Contains free music download codes!

“Tom Morello brings class consciousness to comics with Orchid.”—Rolling Stone

The Robinsons have made contact with Earth! Using a thought projection machine given to them by the engineers on the planet Thela, Craig Robinson has managed to speak with the chief astronomer Hank Barrows! Unfortunately, without any common reference points to use for navigation, the Robinsons remain lost somewhere in the cosmos. While Craig and Hank attempt to work out the location of Space Station One, the Robinsons continue exploring parts unknown searching for a civilization advanced enough to help them plot a course back to Earth, but not every nation they meet is friendly! Collects Space Family Robinson #32-#39 and March of Comics #328.

* Includes the beautiful, original painted covers by George Wilson!

Well played, Darth Sidious. Well played. The end of the Clone Wars is in sight, but so are the end of the Jedi and the fall of the Republic!

Obi-Wan Kenobi recruits Anakin Skywalker in a desperate hunt for dark Jedi Asajj Ventress that will lead to a showdown with General Grievous and Count Dooku. Elsewhere, Jedi Generals infiltrate a Separatist base in hopes of concluding a protracted siege, and on Kashyyyk, as the clone troopers respond to Order 66, Master Quinlan Vos finds himself fighting against the army he led to victory. Collects Star Wars: Republic #70–#77 and #81–#83, Star Wars: Obsession #1–#5, and Free Comic Book Day 2005.

Experience three of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan novels as drawn by Russ Manning, the most beloved comic-book interpreter of the lord of the jungle! Collecting Tarzan #155–#161,#163, #164, #166, and #167, from the 1960s, this volume is an essential addition to any comics fan’s collection!

* Collecting Russ Manning’s adaptations of Tarzan of the Apes, Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar, and Tarzan the Untamed!