Dark Horse Comics Blows Out Its Star Wars Line With a MEGA Sale!

Dark Horse Star Wars Farewell Sale 

With Dark Horse Comics having to give up its successful Star Wars license for good as of 2015, what’s a comic company to do but blow out everything they currently have in a big sale of epic proportions? Well, other than rent a small moon-sized space station with the ability to destroy planets in order to try and keep that license going, of course. Anyway, from now until 11:00 p.m. (PST), Wednesday, December 31, you can get twenty years of Star Wars digital comics at half price. That’s a LOT of books, folks. Well over 500 issues (568, I believe) of different comics totaling over 28,000 pages of stories and art. Yikes. Anyway, you can buy these digital issues singly at half off or just say “What the Force?!” and just get every single issue for $300. I wonder if your favorite reading device will creak and groan from the strain of all that content? Will it weigh more if you happen to have enough storage space to fit every book on a hard drive or other storage media?

Dark Horse Star Wars Farewell Megabundle 

However great this deal sounds, remember this, Padawans: The internet can indeed be more dangerous than Mos Eisley spaceport. You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy than you can online. You must be cautious. Granted, you can and should save all that reading material to “the cloud” in order to access it any time you like. But I’d also suggest a home storage solution just in case that cloud goes all Alderaan one day. Hey, in space, no one can hear you scream… unless you lose all your stuff you thought was safe because you didn’t have a safer home backup. Then, it’s all “I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. I fear something terrible has happened.” as you see that money well spent vaporize into nothingness. Get this deal, for sure – but make sure you stick it somewhere safer than online with the rest of the stuff that seems to get swiped on a regular basis. Given that these books will never see the light of day again (thanks, Disney!), it’s best to stock up, even on those issues that you wouldn’t read.

Holiday Gift Guide 2014: Some Illustrated Reads For Almost All Your Needs!

IDW Mad Artist's Edition Variant Cover 

gift_guide_2014I should have done this post sooner, but I was busy catching up on a lot of reading. Ha and ha. Anyway, books galore came this way (most of them digital) and I still have a huge backlog of stuff to read into 2015 thanks to the crunch of reads of too many types. In case you’re stumped for a last minute gift idea or just want to know what I read when I’m not writing or reading about stuff to write about (it’s a damn vicious cycle, friends), here are a few titles you might want to sample in this somewhat hastily prepared guide… Continue reading

CREEPY Is 50 Years Old! Dark Horse Comics Is Having A Little Reading Party…

Creepy 18 CoverCreepy 50th DHAnd guess what ladies and germs? You’re allllllll invited! Well, provided you read at home or wherever you’re allowed to these days  and just so happen to buy your very own copy of the upcoming celebratory tome, Creepy #18 (on sale October 8th at your favorite comic emporium in the physical or digital realm!).  Hmmm, now that I think about it for a second, I’m actually creeped out because that damn magazine is as old as I am. Eeeeeeeeyaaaaaaaaghh!. I think I’m more consistent and less scary than that old rag is, but I have my moments. Just you try to get in my way before I’ve had my coffee and you’ll see for yourself.  Er, anyway… This special issue will feature the following content:

Cover: Dustin Nguyen (Batman Eternal)
Frontispiece: Arthur Baltazar (Itty Bitty Hellboy)

The Executor:
Script by Fred Van Lente (Conan the Avenger, Archer and Armstrong)
Art by Alison Sampson (Genesis)
Weird, supernatural goings on surrounding the death of Edgar Allen Poe and the posthumous editing and publishing of his work.

Over the River to Charlie:
Script by Corrina Bechko (Star Wars: Legacy, Planet of the Apes)
Art by Drew Moss (In the Dark)
Young girls are haunted throughout their childhood by a hanged man who’s taken up residence in their dollhouse.

Keeping Up with the Creepys:
Script and art by Peter Bagge (Hate)
Uncle Creepy and Cousin Eerie’s attempts to outdo each other with their classic rides escalates into neighborhood-destroying hilarity.

The Man Who Walked Through Walls:
Script by Dan Braun (Creepy consulting editor)
A man who discovers a way to become intangible takes his revenge on the neighbors who have wronged him.

Gallery:
Kevin Ferrera (Dead Rider)
Kelley Jones (Batman)
Eric Powell (The Goon)
Pete Woods (Terminator Salvation)
Shannon Wheeler (Too Much Coffee Man)

Feel free to reserve this at that comic shop near you or just plop in and pick it up. Uncle Creepy will wait for you, you know. He KNOWS he’ll be haunting your dreams at some point, so he’s got all the time in the world…

Comics: Concrete Park Preview (Or, A Hotter Time In The Old Alien Town Tonight)…

Concrete Park AP

I’d leafed through the first volume of Concrete Park a while back and liked the art, so I made a mental note to point you folks in the direction of the new issues when they arrive at your favorite comic emporium, so here you go. Writer/artist Tony Puryear and Erika Alexander are back on the case in this sci-fi action series. Check out the preview pages below the jump and mark your calendars for September 3, 2014 when volume two goes on sale!

Continue reading

SIn City’s Marv Gets The Eric So Treatment (And Is Still Quite A Scary Guy)…

WANTED!
Marv 4Dark Horse Comics and toy design master Eric So want YOU to grab this very limited edition (950 pieces) and very cool stylized Marv vinyl figure, which is set for a September 10 release, not long after the August 22 premiere of Sin City: A Dame to Kill For at a theater near you. Each Marv is 13 inches tall, individually hand painted, has a removable cross and chain and in a neat touch, you get a bunch of sticky bandages you can apply to his handsome mug. Well, I think he’s handsome… in that his mother dropped him off a roof too many times but he never stopped breathing kind of way.

Marv 9 Marv 10 Marv 19

Anyway, go bug your comics shop guy or gal if you want one of these. You better find a nice place to put it, too. Nobody puts Marv in the corner. For long…

READS: Dark Horse Comics Offers Up Some Sweet Star Wars Deals For The Fourth…

SWOMNI

Click Me!

I’l bett you one whole Republic Credit that Dark Horse Comics doesn’t care a hoot that Disney has decreed only what it creates from now on as “canon” and hell, they don’t need to at all, as up until it was yanked from them, they’ve been doing up the Star Wars license pretty right all these many years. Anyway, to celebrate May the Fourth (Be With You), the company is offering up some excellent deals on digital downloads from the massive lineup of SW books it’s put out over the ages. Click away on each image to be transported to a galaxy far, far away (or more precisely, a server far, far away) where you can check out and pick up a ton (or whatever they weigh on your own planet) of books at great prices.

SWMAY4SWKIDSFor you cheapskates or those new to the Star Wars visual reads thing, you can grab the first four issues of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Star Wars: Empire and Star Wars: Legacy absolutely free of charge. That’s TWELVE free issues! FREEEEE! You don’t even have to let the Wookie win here, as even Chewbacca knows what free means. Well, he WILL rip your arms out of their sockets if you interrupt him while he’s reading, though…

SWSTARTERIn terms of KOTOR, that particular series makes a grand jumping off point, as it’s derived from what some consider the best Star Wars video game ever created. I need to replay this once again, as it still holds up as a great example of a well-written game that’s also extremely fun to play to the point that it works as a wonderful introduction to console or PC role-playing games thanks to the well done tutorials that ease you into play during the opening sequence and make you feel comfortable with the mechanics by the time that first section is complete.

Anyway, let me shut up here and let YOU go grab some deals or at least something free to keep you occupied this weekend. Have a blast and “May the…” oh you know, you know!

Dark Horse Comics Wants You to WIN $1000! But There’s A Nicely Nostalgic Catch-ola…

AtomicContest 
Yeah, that’s right. You need to buy a copy of Mike Richardson and Bruce Zick’s The Atomic Legion, read it up right (and probably upright!), all the while with your thinking cap on. Come up with EVERY reference in the book and you score a thousand bucks and your favorite comic emporium scores that much in Dark Horse comics and graphic novels. Of course, they’ll probably try and SELL you that thousand bucks worth of books to match that cash burning a hole in your winning pockets, but hey… such is the life of supply and demand, right?

Sounds like a plan, man or ma’am? The get to it then! I scanned the preview pages and my head nearly exploded because I saw TOO many references to stuff from back in the day. I’d say every panel has something and I got quite a chuckle going on the page with the old comic titles that might fly over the heads of the whippersnappers looking to score an easy grand. This one won’t be simple at all, but I know someone will luck out and score that loot…

Dark Horse Presents Returns In August With Some Killer Tales…

DHPv3-1 
Let’s see now: All NEW stories featuring Geof Darrow and Frank Miller’s Big Guy and Rusty the Boy Robot, Peter Hogan and Steve Parkhouse’s Resident Alien, Brendan McCarthy’s Dream Gang, Jimmy Palmiotti, Justin Gray, and Andy Kuhn’s Wrestling with Demons, Damon Gentry and Aaron Conley’s Sabertooth Swordsman, and the return of David Mack’s Kabuki? Yup. 48 pages, five bucks. At a comic shop near you and most likely on Dark Horse Digital, too. Nice.

Dark Horse Comics and Sideshow Collectibles Wish You A Happy Hellboy Day (And How)!

HBDAY FB IMAGEHey! It’s Hellboy Day at comics shops all over the place, kids! Well, now. Sideshow Collectibles and Dark Horse Comics are sure in a celebratory mood, it seems. That explains not only the new BUY ME NOW $20 hardcover collection, Hellboy: The First 20 Years and that awesome $50 77-issue Hellboy Digital Megabundle, but also this pretty killer $399 Mike Mignola Hellboy Premium Format Figure, now available for pre-order for August delivery. Check it out:

Sideshow_HellBoy

Nice, huh? That gap in time will YOU time to find a spot for this big guy, as he’s 23″ H (584.2mm) x 12″ W (304.8mm) x 13″ L (330.2mm) and weighs in at a whopping 15 pounds. Yeah, that’s “small” for Hellboy if he actually existed, but for your real-life place with that wobbly coffee table with the matchbook shoved under one leg for “stability”) or shelf of questionable weight load distribution? Yeah, I’d say it’s time for an actual display case or just some new shelves entirely. Although I’m far from the one you want offering advice as far as shelf solutions. I’m just waiting for the day when I’m buried alive under a former Jenga-like tower of games. I’ll survive, though. Unless I decide to PLAY my way out and forget to eat at some point…

RoboCop Versus The Terminator IS BACK (Thanks, Dark Horse Comics!)

RVT-Hardcover-WALT 
RVT GALLERYThis July, Dark Horse comics is bringing back one of the classic books of the 80’s with not one, but two editions of Frank Miller and Walt Simonson’s RoboCop versus The Terminator. The book will be available at select comic shops and online in both a $24.99* hardcover version (featuring a new Simonson cover) on July 2, 2014 and a oversize LIMITED Gallery Edition for $125.00* on July 9, 2014. Miller’s story ties OCP to the creation of Skynet and Simonson’s energetic, stylized art lends the story some massive power as the two characters cross paths a few time before a killer finale.

If you’re wondering what’s the price jump all about, the Gallery Edition will be printed the same size as the original art, and include reproductions of pencil sketches and promotional artwork for the series. I say if you’re a comics fan with an interest in seeing and learning from one of the best artists in the business, this investment will be a great one. I’ve been a fan of the man’s work since the 1970’s, but my root beer budget means I’ll settle for the hardcover (ah well). I’ll have to ask in that Gallery Edition is getting a digital release or at least a download for preview/review purposes because I can look at Walt’s art all day and night.

(*or LESS if you use those handy links provided!)