SDCC’09: Dark Horse rides the next wave

At the con, Dark Horse announced a bunch of new projects that the company promises is the next evolution of the comics medium.  Oddly, only one announcement (made yesterday) features anything to do with electronics.

Running down the list, I see one that Rodrigo will like in the form of Age of Reptiles.  Even though IDW Announced its Archie hardcover collections, it looks like Dark Horse is also going to be offering one up.  I’ll have to follow up on this one.  There’s also a new One-Shot program coming out of DHC, with the mighty Conan getting featured in the first one.  Also featured will be Hellboy, Goon, and Dr. Horrible.

Finally, Final Fantasy fans will feel fantastic over the phenomenal Final Fantasy Boxed Set.

• 365 Samurai and a Few Bowls of Rice—Swiss artist J. P. Kalonji’s graphic novel comes to America. A young swordfighter must kill 365 samurai on a quest to avenge his master—in a fun, humorous, cartoony style.
• Age of Reptiles—Film designer Ricardo Delgado returns with the third installment of his epic (silent) dinosaur comics series. Carnivores hunt herbivores on a migration south.
• Aliens vs. Predator: Three World War—The 2009 relaunch of the Aliens and Predator series comes together with a creative team of John Arcudi and Rick Leonardi.
• Archie Archives—The classic Archie comic books get the deluxe treatment in a series of hardcovers as the newest editions to the Dark Horse Archives series.
• Blacksad—Collecting all three of the international award-winning European volumes, the third of which has not been published in English before. This crime noir about a cat detective, PI John Blacksad, is a phenomenal anthropomorphic story with fully painted artwork. By Juan Díaz Canales and Juanjo Guarnido.
• Casper Anniversary Special—A 64-page hardcover celebrating Casper’s sixtieth anniversary and featuring his first appearance in comics.
• Conan: The Weight of the Crown—Darick Robertson writes and draws our first Conan one-shot since the Conan the Cimmerian relaunch. This comic is part of Dark Horse’s all-new One-Shot Wonders program.
• Dark Horse GelaSkins—Decorative coverings for phones and laptops featuring some of Dark Horse’s most popular properties, including The Umbrella Academy, Yoshitaka Amano, Tim Burton, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Hellboy, and many more. A select few will be available at the Dark Horse booth during the convention as supplies last. The whole program is set to launch in September 2009.
• Devil—Devil is an original Japanese manga being created for Dark Horse by Torajiro Kishi and animation powerhouse Madhouse Studios, featuring genetically designed vampires in a sci-fi police drama set in Tokyo.
• Electropolis—Electropolis: The Infernal Machine is the perfect companion to Mister X: Condemned. Visionary artist Dean Motter revisits his unique brand of “antique futurism” in a story full of familiar faces, including a memorable cameo by Mister X himself.
• Final Fantasy Boxed Set—A luxurious edition that stays true to the original Japanese collection of the complete Final Fantasy artwork by Yoshitaka Amano.
• Furry Water and Mesmo Delivery—Eisner winner Rafael Grampá comes to Dark Horse with two books: Mesmo Delivery, a reprint of his psychedelic small-press debut; and Furry Water, cowritten with Daniel Pellizzari, a six-issue postapocalyptic action comic.
• One-Shot Wonders—A new program running from October to December, highlighting some of Dark Horse’s biggest characters and properties in standalone comics retailing at $3.50 each. The program includes “Sugarshock,” Conan, Hellboy, Abe Sapien, Star Wars (two titles), “Dr. Horrible,” and The Goon.
• The Art of Blade of the Immortal—Hardcover edition of the original Japanese book with 32 new bonus pages not previously available. This book will be in the style of the Dark Horse The Art of . . . and Library Edition series.

More news at it trickles out of the show.

via Dark Horse Comics