Post by codystarbuck on Jul 25, 2019 15:14:37 GMT -5
Seeing as I haven't really followed newer stuff, much, for the last 5-7 years, I'm gonna wrap this up with a few remaining titles. I will probably miss something, so sing out on anything cool I forgot or am oblivious to.
Dark Horse continued in the licensing field, with comics based on Joss Whedon's Firefly and the Serenity movie........
I hadn't watched the tv series, until after seeing the movie. It was fine, with some solid moments and some weak moments. The movie really did require you to have seen the movie and I sent about 20 minutes figuring out what was going on. The comics were also there to help bridge gaps and continue, in fine DH fashion. I didn't read these, as I hadn't paid attention to the series. They did reasonably well and Firefly fans sought them out.
Whedon's other tv shows, Buffy and Angel also came to Dark Horse (a bit earlier). Again, I didn't watch the shows; so, I didn't read the comics. I thought the movie was okay; but, didn't care a lot for the premise and wasn't a big vampire fan. These had lots of fans, though and stuck around for the duration.
Xena mad the transition over here, from Topps.
Paul Verhoeven's version (I saw version, more than adaptation, as he chucked most of the novel) of Starship Troopers spawned an animated tv series and some comics...
One long running title and one of the longest running indies is Stan Sakai's Usagi Yojimbo...
look, you don't need me to tell you about Usagi; we have a whole forum dedicated to the wabbit (he-he-he-he). It began in the wake of the Turtles and the Black & White Boom and transcends the imitators and most of the mainstream titles. Sakai has been doing this for over 30 years. It's a samurai rabbit bodyguard; don't ask, just buy it. Read the forum. i can't do everything for you. Sheesh!
Then, there is some barbarian guy..........
Apparently, this guy is pretty popular and people really liked his comics; even these. I heard even aardvarks were fans. Might have been some kind of movie, or something. They did a bunch of these things. Some guy named Busiek did some, this crazy backwoodsman from West Virginia did some, some rookie name Roy Thomas did some, and a bunch of other people were involved. Not sure why people want to read a comic about a late night talk show host.
There are two other projects I want to mention, which I haven't read; one I have the stuff, just not the time and the other I haven't seen but sounds really cool. First, the latter.
I love me some pulp mystery and adventure and dark Horse has dabbled with that, including the more recent Black Beetle.
I've been jonesin' to read these; but, haven't laid hands on them. can't wait to see him meet Blue Beetle and the Green Hornet, for some colorful bug fests.
The other is Project Black Sky and the related titles.
Basically, a shared-universe superhero line, which included dusting off a few of the Comics Greatest World properties, plus public domain heroes Skyman and Captain Midnight (comic version, anyway) and Dell hero Brain Boy, plus, some newbies. project Black Sky is some kind of government agency, like the USAF Project Blue Book, which investigated UFO sightings. It all sounds very conspiracy-laden and cool, though I have no idea. I have some digital for this, just haven't read any of it. Was underwhelmed by Comics Greatest World; but, this sounded like a stronger hook. However, it sounded like it didn't have that long of a lifespan, though i could understand, in today's market. CGW had big numbers , at first, then was quickly whittled down until only Ghost was left. Pipe up with any further info. It sounded pretty cool.
With that, since I am obviously out of info (and touch with current product), let's just wrap this up. Dark Horse has been the little Indie that Could and Did, rising from a small publisher of black & white titles to a major player with licensed and creator-owned properties, a small to mid-level player in Hollywood, and a company that knows how to do interesting comics and avoid the bad business pitfalls of its contemporaries. They came at the end of the B&W Boom, weathered the Speculator Boom and Distribution Wars, survived the loss of major licenses and keep coming up to the plate to swing again.
Next up, we will take a look at another publisher who dabbled in licensed title: Millennium. Come on back for some Doc Savage, Anne Rice, Wild Wild West, Man From Uncle and the death knell for the Justice Machine.
That will probably be followed by some quick looks at some short-lived publishers. Don't want to leave the little guys out.
Dark Horse continued in the licensing field, with comics based on Joss Whedon's Firefly and the Serenity movie........
I hadn't watched the tv series, until after seeing the movie. It was fine, with some solid moments and some weak moments. The movie really did require you to have seen the movie and I sent about 20 minutes figuring out what was going on. The comics were also there to help bridge gaps and continue, in fine DH fashion. I didn't read these, as I hadn't paid attention to the series. They did reasonably well and Firefly fans sought them out.
Whedon's other tv shows, Buffy and Angel also came to Dark Horse (a bit earlier). Again, I didn't watch the shows; so, I didn't read the comics. I thought the movie was okay; but, didn't care a lot for the premise and wasn't a big vampire fan. These had lots of fans, though and stuck around for the duration.
Xena mad the transition over here, from Topps.
Paul Verhoeven's version (I saw version, more than adaptation, as he chucked most of the novel) of Starship Troopers spawned an animated tv series and some comics...
One long running title and one of the longest running indies is Stan Sakai's Usagi Yojimbo...
look, you don't need me to tell you about Usagi; we have a whole forum dedicated to the wabbit (he-he-he-he). It began in the wake of the Turtles and the Black & White Boom and transcends the imitators and most of the mainstream titles. Sakai has been doing this for over 30 years. It's a samurai rabbit bodyguard; don't ask, just buy it. Read the forum. i can't do everything for you. Sheesh!
Then, there is some barbarian guy..........
Apparently, this guy is pretty popular and people really liked his comics; even these. I heard even aardvarks were fans. Might have been some kind of movie, or something. They did a bunch of these things. Some guy named Busiek did some, this crazy backwoodsman from West Virginia did some, some rookie name Roy Thomas did some, and a bunch of other people were involved. Not sure why people want to read a comic about a late night talk show host.
There are two other projects I want to mention, which I haven't read; one I have the stuff, just not the time and the other I haven't seen but sounds really cool. First, the latter.
I love me some pulp mystery and adventure and dark Horse has dabbled with that, including the more recent Black Beetle.
I've been jonesin' to read these; but, haven't laid hands on them. can't wait to see him meet Blue Beetle and the Green Hornet, for some colorful bug fests.
The other is Project Black Sky and the related titles.
Basically, a shared-universe superhero line, which included dusting off a few of the Comics Greatest World properties, plus public domain heroes Skyman and Captain Midnight (comic version, anyway) and Dell hero Brain Boy, plus, some newbies. project Black Sky is some kind of government agency, like the USAF Project Blue Book, which investigated UFO sightings. It all sounds very conspiracy-laden and cool, though I have no idea. I have some digital for this, just haven't read any of it. Was underwhelmed by Comics Greatest World; but, this sounded like a stronger hook. However, it sounded like it didn't have that long of a lifespan, though i could understand, in today's market. CGW had big numbers , at first, then was quickly whittled down until only Ghost was left. Pipe up with any further info. It sounded pretty cool.
With that, since I am obviously out of info (and touch with current product), let's just wrap this up. Dark Horse has been the little Indie that Could and Did, rising from a small publisher of black & white titles to a major player with licensed and creator-owned properties, a small to mid-level player in Hollywood, and a company that knows how to do interesting comics and avoid the bad business pitfalls of its contemporaries. They came at the end of the B&W Boom, weathered the Speculator Boom and Distribution Wars, survived the loss of major licenses and keep coming up to the plate to swing again.
Next up, we will take a look at another publisher who dabbled in licensed title: Millennium. Come on back for some Doc Savage, Anne Rice, Wild Wild West, Man From Uncle and the death knell for the Justice Machine.
That will probably be followed by some quick looks at some short-lived publishers. Don't want to leave the little guys out.