After a seven-year absence, Dark Horse Presents is back, this time on MySpace. The Dark Horse folks sprung the announcement at the San Diego Comic-Con, in a panel ostensibly devoted to the history of Dark Horse Presents, and it’s good news for everyone: Readers get free comics by acclaimed creators such as Joss Whedon, Fabio Moon, and Gabriel Ba, and creators get the opportunity to be discovered—but only if they are posting their work on MySpace.

Dark Horse Presents was Dark Horse’s debut title when the company launched in 1986. The editors conceived the black-and-white anthology as a vehicle for new talent, and over the years it served as a launching pad for successful series, including Hellboy and Sin City, and gave early exposure to creators such as Eddie Campbell, Ed Brubaker, and Doug Mahnke. After a few years of slack sales, Dark Horse ended the title in 2000.

The new version will showcase an artist discovered on MySpace, Dark Horse editors told Andy Khouri in this interview for Comic Book Resources. Continue reading →

Finding a jumping off point from Phil’s recent article about a possible revival of the world of ReBoot, he and I decided the whole Zeros 2 Heroes initiative might be worth another look. So, I decided to create myself an avatar and see what the site has to offer to comic creators and lovers of the form alike. Granted, the experience was limited, as the site is just starting with its live beta, but there’s enough there to pick apart. So grab a leg, hold on tight, and yank with me, won’t you?

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Computer games and Web comics have been intertwine since the get go, we all know this. It’s neither a secret nor an interesting way to start an article. What is interesting is that it looks like the relationship has finally advance to the point where computer games are starting to pay for a date once in a while. ‘Bout freaking time I say.

As part of the big kick off for the expansion pack for Civ IV, Beyond the Sword, 2K games and Fraxis have hired a bunch of the top names in video game comics to do a series of strips about the game. The series will be release over the next few days, ending on August 10^th. The knew site Civilization Daydreams has been set up as a hub for all the comics the project creates so those interested don’t have to traipse all over the Web.

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This is probably the best news ever. So best, that it actually required me to tell you all about it, despite how I never write news articles on here (so don’t expect me to do it again).

Four Words: ReBoot Webcomics and Movies.

A trilogy of movies and a Webcomic. It’s as if the boardroom got together and said, “Hmm… how can we remind Phil Kahn that we love him?”

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No, that’s not a spoiler of The Deathly Hallows, just a cheap way to grab some eyes and a couple thousand more Google hits.

Why resort to such low, drastic measures? Because there’s nothing better to do. It’s a “make your own news” week and since I’ve been strippin’ on my days off (just the term I use when I’m in the studio, so wash away those cringe-inducing memory burns) I’m just going to wrap up the less discussion-worthy topics here, in another edition of Interest Piquers.

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Uclick has announced the first comic designed primarily to be read on cell phones: Thunder Road, by Sean Demory and Steven Sanders. This is Demory’s first book, but Sanders’ art credits include Five Fists of Science.

Here’s a description of the story from the Kansas City Star:

Thunder Road is a multi-panel, manga-style comic series, described as a “slow-apocalyptic, dieselpunk action adventure” set in an alternate middle-America. The series follows the trials of Merritt, a soldier/circuit rider working for the Department of Transportation who travels America’s Great Plains, a ravaged and desolate land suffering the consequences of decades of global atomic warfare.

GoComics provides a trailer for Thunder Road, and it’s worth a look. But will people pay for it? According to Uclick’s info page, a subscription is $4.99 per month. For that you can subscribe to six or more titles and get at least one new installment every day, plus access to the archives. The catch is Continue reading →

The great comic wheel has completed its revolution: Kodansha is publishing a Japanese version of vol. 1 of Megatokyo. I posted the press release in full at MangaBlog, and Publisher’s Weekly Comics Week has a story on it as well.

This is, of course, richly ironic, since Megatokyo is not only a thoroughly American comic, it is a comic about Japan as perceived by Americans. I can see the appeal, though. When I lived in France, I totally loved reading travel guides to the U.S. and earnest magazine articles that explained our peculiar customs. It’s always fun to see your culture refracted through the lens of someone else’s. I especially like the fact that Kodansha is adding special notes for Japanese readers, as I could have used some explanatory notes the first time I read the first volume.

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