Dark Horse Comics Releases New Series And Celebrates Women In Comics
Popular comic book company Dark Horse Comics is keeping the comic book world alive and well, releasing a brand new series of comic books by Stan Sakai and celebrating May as Women in Comics month.
The new Dark Horse series is titled “Usagi Yojimbo: Senso” and is the continuation of the Usagi Yojimbo Saga by Stan Sakai. According to MStarz News, the Dark Horse original features a rabbit samurai who battles evil-doers of other assorted animal species. The saga begins with a battle against a band of assassins and eventually leads to a deadly duel for blood money.
Dark Horse’s new miniseries, Usagi Yojimbo: Senso, will follow the same protagonist, rabbit warrior Miyamoto Usagi, in his rivalry against Lord Noriyuki. In the midst of battle, a rocket flies to Earth carrying a mysterious new enemy that neither side is ready to face. The Dark Horse comic series will be available in stores on August 6.
Dark Horse is also standing out as one of the leading comic companies to produce comic books written by women. Dark Horse has chosen to celebrate these writers with a month-long appreciation of women in the comic industry. As part of the celebration, Dark Horse writer Corinna Bechko talked with Bleeding Cool about her career. Bechko’s credits include the graphic novel Heathentown as well as Dark Horse’s Star Wars: Legacy series.
Bechko discussed the unbalanced ratio of men to women in the world of comic writing, telling Bleeding Cool: “It’s hard to miss that fact, especially since I’ve been going to conventions for years so I knew my way around the comics scene even before I considered this as a career. That said, I didn’t consider it an impediment.” But Corinna didn’t let the fact that she was a woman keep her from following her dream. “One of the things I love about comics as a medium is the ability to tell all sorts of stories, and that means all sorts of people should be making them. I was excited to be one of those people.”
Bleeding Cool also asked the author about her co-written character Ania Solo, who is the female lead of the Dark Horse Star Wars: Legacy series. “I was really happy when we were told that our main character would be female,” Corinna explained, “but we weren’t told anything else about her other than the fact that she shouldn’t have Force abilities. We had complete freedom to make up everything else, including her supporting cast.”
Bechko’s new Dark Horse series Deep Gravity will be released on July 30. The next issue of Star Wars: Legacy will arrive May 28. Star Wars: Legacy is not the first time Dark Horse has produced a series of comics based on outside science-fiction sources, announcing last month that they would be the first company to create a Halo series. It seems Dark Horse is breaking a lot of new ground, from gender equality to uncharted comic territories.
