This Week In: Dark Horse Comics

We’re trying out something new here at Geekscape. “This Week In” will cover a different comic book publisher each week and their releases for said week. We’ll give you our insight and a slight preview of what to expect in each issue. Sometimes it will be Dark Horse, sometimes it’ll be another publisher. Sometimes it will be from a single writer’s point of view, while other times it will be a big old Geekscape group effort! Let’s go!

These books will all be available on

Catalyst Comix #6

This is actually three mini comics in one! The art and story changes drastically between all three stories. We have “Amazing Grace,” “Agents of Change,” and “The Ballad of Frank Wells”. In “Amazing Grace” we have the titular superhero fighting a recently outed alien invader as he outlines his plans for world domination. “Agent’s of Change” is about a group of superheroes bent on changing the world for good. This issue, the character Wolfhunter is in some sort of coma and is battling some inner demons. “The Ballad of Frank Wells” has Frank fighting a evil super villain who can control hydrogen atoms and summon water, all the while being led by his inner spirit guide.

The one thing each of this stories has, is a message, and it comes off a tad preachy. It might be that I am jumping in too far into the story to understand the characters motivations, but they all feel like they were written by a Social Justice Warrior. Almost each panel has an abrupt narrator jumping in to tell you what is going on. Agent’s of change was my favorite as it was actually funny and didn’t stuff its message in your face. The end to Frank Wells was just absurd.

Grindhouse: Doors Open At Midnight #3

Prisonship Antares is pretty much the polar opposite of Catalyst Comix. This is probably the best example of a Grindhouse film brought to the pages of a comic book. The story surrounds the transport of an all Women prison to colonize a planet deep in space. The warden is a next level psycho bitch, and half way through this book is a page that made my jaw drop. I am definitely going back and getting this book from the start and will follow it to it’s conclusion. The art is awesome and the writing flows great. Must read for any fan of Grindhouse films.

Hellboy In Hell #6

This issue is subtitled “The Three Gold Whips”. Hellboy runs into a lost soul who is trying to save himself from the demon he should (get it…sould?…nevermind) his soul to and get off scott free. I always love Mike Mignola’s artwork and this particular issue shows it off great. We learn more about the great exodus of the demon princes after the rumor of Satan being killed gets out. This issue has a nice slow somber pace and feels like it will be a huge setup for next month.

The Occultist #3

Whoa damn! This cover pulled me in hard. The artwork in this book is top notch, next level! This book follows Rob Bailey. A mild mannered college student who has been given an ancient spell book and mystical sword and must learn to control his new powers. This issue we see Rob and his friends going into a spirit world, trying to break free their mortal coils and become one with all the gods in the universe. I got a creepy vibe from these scenes but the artwork is beautiful. Someone give Mike Norton an award.

This book reminds me of a funnier more colorful Buffy and any fan of those books would love this short run.

The Star Wars #3

This is the book I’ve been waiting for! If you aren’t in the know, this series is based on George Lucas’ original screenplay for Star Wars. It is really a joy to hear about the premise. It’s like a super well done fan fiction, without the gay shipping scenes! Only on issue 3, this is an easy time to jump into the series. It’s awesome seeing how the characters from the screenplay have changed. The art and feel in this comic is probably the most accurate for the Star Wars universe.

Terminator Salvation: The Final Battle #1

This is a mini series written by J. Michael Straczynski and promises to be an amazing set of books. The first issue is all setup and is fairly light though. The story moves the skynet war to 2029, but the narrative jumps around to various times, like 2003. The writing is awesome as always and the art feels like it fits the universe perfectly. If you’re a Terminator fan this is a must read series. This is gonna be big!

The Victories #7

After reading this issue of The Victories I am completely in love. The art reminds me of Samurai Jack and the writing is hilarious. The set pieces and layout of each and every page shows that they have some serious attention to detail. I am excited to see where things go from here.

So that is it for Dark Horse for the week of 12/04/2013. Be sure to come back next week for another “This Week In”!