Following up on an announcement made at this year’s New York Comic Con, Dark Horse unveils the schedule for Mike Mignola’s 2012 Year of Monsters program.

The program kicks off in January with a highly anticipated Lobster Johnson miniseries, The Burning Hand. Following up on the critically acclaimed 2007 series The Iron Prometheus, this new story pits the 1930s vigilante against one of the more terrible villains of the twentiethcentury.

These special variant covers will be available to any retailer who orders five or more copies of the standard cover. These are sure to be sought-after items with a broad appeal to fans of Mike Mignola’s work, as well as monster fetishists of all types. “Mike Mignola got into the comics business with the simple goal of drawing monsters for a living,” said Dark Horse managing editor Scott Allie.

“Mike celebrates 2012 by pitting his greatest characters against his favorite monsters on these special covers, unrelated to the stories inside.” With Dark Horse Presents continually adding new and awesome stories to the lineup, Evan Dorkin wants to tell you about House of Fun.

“While we were working on the Milk and Cheese collection with Scott Allie and Daniel Chabon, I pitched the idea to do new material for Dark Horse so I could revive some of my old characters. This dovetailed nicely with the revival of Dark Horse Presents, since most of my humor comics originally ran in various anthologies including several from DHC like Instant Piano, Deadline USA, and the first run of Dark Horse Presents.

“The idea was to bring back as many of my old characters and concepts from Milk and Cheese and Dork as possible, grouping it all under the new House of Fun name. I decided not to use Dork as a catchall title for these comics. I got sick of the name a long time ago and this relaunch felt a good opportunity to finally retire it.

“So, what I’m doing is twenty-four pages of comics to be spread over three issues of DHP, with each eight-page anchored by a new Milk and Cheese strip. The other features will include a new Murder Family episode; several pages of Fun gag strips, as well as the return of The Eltingville Comic Book, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror and Role-Playing Club.

If all goes according to plan I’ll also be doing a one-page Fisher-Price Theater adaptation of Fahrenheit 451 and a short Devil Puppet story. “Also, the comics will all be colored by my longtime collaborator and long-suffering wife, Sarah Dyer. “This is something I’ve been wanting to do for a long time now.

The last issue of Dork came out in 2006 and it’s been even longer since I worked on an Eltingville or Murder Family strip. I’m excited to be working on my own stuff again, I’m having a lot of fun making these comics, and I hope folks will have fun reading them. If not they can go suck an egg.”

House of Fun will premiere in Dark Horse Presents #10, on sale March 21, 2011.

The article Mike Mignola’s Monsters Program and a House of Fun appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

Dark Horse Comics announce a brand new three-part story from Steve Horton (DC Holiday Special, Superman 80-Page Giant) and Michael Dialynas (Popgun, Trinkets) appearing in Dark Horse Presents #9 — Amala’s Blade.

Amala was once chosen as a child to be the spiritual leader for her country, to unite the Purifiers and Modifiers and prevent war. She fled into the night. Twenty years of war later, she makes a living as an assassin, but her past is ever ready to catch up to her. Aboard a massive pirate ship, Amala stalks the fearsome pirate captain Cha’Kooh; but the voices in her head, manifesting as ghosts, keep getting in the way.

Amala’s Blade will be featured in issues #9, #10 & #11 of Dark Horse Presents.

“Amala’s Blade is the steam punk-with-swords epic that I’ve been dying to tell,” says Steve Horton, writer and letterer. “Thanks to the extraordinary and talented artist Michael Dialynas, we’ve brought Amala to life. Thanks to Dark Horse Comics, we’ve found an amazing and supportive publisher for our three-issue run in Dark Horse Presents.

This story has heart, sword fighting, sarcasm, revenge, pirates, technologically modified villains, a girl steam punk heroine, and a robotic pirate monkey. What more do you need?” says Horton.

In addition to work by renowned writers like Horton, Dark Horse Presents is renowned not only for publishing original work of comics luminaries but also for presenting powerful emerging voices of graphic fiction. Such is UXB by Colin Lorimer (Earp: Saints for Sinners), debuting in Dark Horse Presents #10.

In a shattered future postwar London, powerful experimental “life suits” that permanently graft to human bodies are created to counter the threat of terrorism. Given to three brothers, the suits could make the trio the saviors of mankind—if they can ever get past their obsessions for film, violent video games, and porn.

Following in the dark footsteps of dystopian visions such as The Adventures of Luther Arkwright, DMZ, and Give Me Liberty, Lorimer’s UXB is challenging, thought provoking, laced with gallows humor, and illustrated with consummate skill.

“I’m thrilled that UXB has found a home within the hallowed pages of DHP. The journey of UXB is going to be rather dark and twisted and there’s no better place for that story to be told than Dark Horse,” says Colin Lorimer.

While you wait for Dark Horse Presents #10, check out Colin’s work at UXBComic.com.

Dark Horse Presents #9 is out February 22, 2012 while #10 will be on sale March 21, 2012.

The article Amala’s Blade and UXB Comes to Dark Horse 2012 appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.