CBR Exclusive: Dark Horse Aims For Fresher Take On Superheroes With Project Black Sky

12/19/2013 11:12am
By Albert Ching

For the past couple of years, Dark Horse Comics has made a concerted effort to increase its superhero output. Series like "Ghost" and "X' -- both from the publisher's early '90s "Comics' Greatest World" imprint, a previous attempt to enter the superhero field -- have returned, as have revived Golden and Silver Age concepts like "Captain Midnight," "Skyman" and "Brain Boy." They've also introduced new characters, like "Blackout," first seen in "Dark Horse Presents" and starring in a solo miniseries starting in March.
It's been established the books -- under the guidance of creative talent including Kelly Sue DeConnick, Chris Sebela, Joshua Hale Fialkov, Ryan Sook, Duane Swierczynski, Fred Van Lente, Frank Barbiere, Fernando Dagnino and more -- share the same continuity, and Dark Horse has referred to the line as "Project Black Sky." But in 2014, the connections between these books become much more overt, with a unified "Project Black Sky" trade dress, a logo for the imprint (taking the upper-left corner over from the Dark Horse horse on tie-in titles) and a dedicated website devoted to the line, all launching in January. Plus, there are early rumblings of an upcoming full-fledged crossover event designed to reveal what it is which links these characters together.
"Project Black Sky" is also the title of Dark Horse's Free Comic Book Day 2014 "silver" release, featuring the first-ever team-up between Captain Midnight and Brain Boy. The book is written by Van Lente with art from Michael Broussard, and is set to pull back the curtain on more of the greater Project Black Sky mythology while reintroducing another character from the "Comics' Greatest World" days.
CBR News spoke exclusively with Dark Horse publisher and founder Mike Richardson about what's motivated this renewed focus on superheroes, the scope of what he calls "ambitious" plans for the future of Project Black Sky and why he avoids using the word "universe."
For the past couple of years, Dark Horse Comics has made a concerted effort to increase its superhero output. Series like "Ghost" and "X' -- both from the publisher's early '90s "Comics' Greatest World" imprint, a previous attempt to enter the superhero field -- have returned, as have revived Golden and Silver Age concepts like "Captain Midnight," "Skyman" and "Brain Boy." They've also introduced new characters, like "Blackout," first seen in "Dark Horse Presents" and starring in a solo miniseries starting in March.

It's been established the books -- under the guidance of creative talent including Kelly Sue DeConnick, Chris Sebela, Joshua Hale Fialkov, Ryan Sook, Duane Swierczynski, Fred Van Lente, Frank Barbiere, Fernando Dagnino and more -- share the same continuity, and Dark Horse has referred to the line as "Project Black Sky." But in 2014, the connections between these books become much more overt, with a unified "Project Black Sky" trade dress, a logo for the imprint (taking the upper-left corner over from the Dark Horse horse on tie-in titles) and a dedicated website devoted to the line, all launching in January. Plus, there are early rumblings of an upcoming full-fledged crossover event designed to reveal what it is which links these characters together.

"Project Black Sky" is also the title of Dark Horse's Free Comic Book Day 2014 "silver" release, featuring the first-ever team-up between Captain Midnight and Brain Boy. The book is written by Van Lente with art from Michael Broussard, and is set to pull back the curtain on more of the greater Project Black Sky mythology while reintroducing another character from the "Comics' Greatest World" days.

CBR News spoke exclusively with Dark Horse publisher and founder Mike Richardson about what's motivated this renewed focus on superheroes, the scope of what he calls "ambitious" plans for the future of Project Black Sky and why he avoids using the word "universe."


Read the rest of the article at Comic Book Resources. 


Tags

book dark horse comics black comic mike project ghost richardson boy superhero Sky captain midnight brain skyman resources
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