Joss Whedon

Confirmation came Saturday at Dark Horse’s WonderCon panel that Serenity and Buffy will both continue at the publisher, under Joss Whedon’s guidance.

Though little other information was given, Dark Horse’s Dirk Wood confirmed that Whedon will be writing another Serenity comic, set within the continuity of Firefly. Likewise, Whedon will begin the long-rumored to be in the works Buffy continuation, or, in shorthand, “Season 8,” as the television series ended after seven series.

Along with Wood, Marketing Manager, Lee Dawson and Arch Enemies creator Drew Melborne were at the panel.

Dawson began the session, noting that 2006 marks Dark Horse’s 20th anniversary as a publisher, something they are very proud of. The anniversary is coinciding, Dawson went on, with a revamp in the Star Wars line of comics, including the launch of two new titles, Knights of the Old Republic and Rebellion, as well as Star Wars Legacy, set 100 years after the end of Return of the Jedi.

Moving to another property for the publisher, Dawson reiterated the previous announcement of Tim Truman coming on to Conan as the writer, replacing Kurt Busiek. Dawson said that as Busiek did before him, Truman is looking to the original Robert E. Howard novels for inspiration, and will be remaining true to them. Conan projects with Mike Mignola and Eric (The Goon) Powell are also planned for later in the year.

In regards to new titles and initiatives, Dawson said that the publisher will be kicking off an official horror manga line of titles later in the year, allowing Dark Horse to pull its existing horror manga, as well as bring in new horror manga. The launch titles for the line include: Octopus Girl, School Zone, Scary Bok, Xuan Video Side, and Museum of Terror.

Turning the floor over to Melborne, Dawson asked the creator to explain his April debuting mini-series, Arch Enemies. In a nutshell, the high concept of Arch Enemies - a superhero and super-villain (Starfighter and Underlord) who are roommates in their secret identities. Yvel Guichet pencils, Joe Rubenstein inks. Look for more on Arch Enemies coming early this week on Newsarama.

Other topics mentioned at the panel:

 Steve Niles’ Criminal Macabre will be returning to Dark Horse, following its recent departure for IDW.
 Dark Horse will publish volumes of Yoshitaka (Sandman: The Dream Hunters) Amano’s work.
 The publisher will release The Art of Bone books, which will be similar in size and scope of their other “Art of” titles.
 Special projects in celebration of Dark Horse’s 20th Anniversary are planned for summer release.
 Dark Horse is looking at publishing more titles in an omnibus, or Essentials style of format, Wood mentioned Nexus as a possible early candidate for such treatment.
 Frank Miller has been talking about doing more Sin City, but nothing is scheduled.
 Likewise, Paul Chadwick is talking about doing more Concrete, however, nothing is currently scheduled.
 The Escapist will change its format from an anthology title to a regular monthly comic, with a new #1, tentatively coming in June. The feeling from Dark Horse was that the comic wasn’t reaching as many people as it possibly could, and moving away from the anthology format may remedy that situation. Instead, the series will continue as a series of miniseries, with the continuation of Brian K. Vaughan’s story leading off the new format run. Click here for more...
 The publisher is currently trying to lock in a major creator who would also be involved in the relaunch of the project as a monthly comic.
 The Conan collections of earlier Marvel work have proven to be so successful that there is currently no end in sight for the program; rather, the collections will only end when Dark Horse runs out of material to reprint. Even then, Wood said, there are plans for King Conan collected editions, and possibly Savage Sword of Conan volumes.
 Asked if Dark Horse would be publishing comic adventures of any other Robert E. Howard characters, Wood said maybe, and that he wouldn’t be surprised to see an announcement soon.