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Netflix superhero show 'The Umbrella Academy' debuts February 15th
Netflix has finally taken the wraps off its adaptation of the Dark Horse comic The Umbrella Academy. The streaming service has posted a teaser trailer that both confirms the series' February 15th premiere date and offers a glimpse into its take on Gerard Way's (yes, from My Chemical Romance) and Gabriel Bá's oddball superhero show. As with the comic, the series is based on the strange premise of 43 children being born to women who hadn't been pregnant the day before, seven of which are adopted by a billionaire who trains them to save the world. When their adopted father dies, they set out to solve the mystery -- oh, and they have to prevent an apocalypse while they're at it.
The official 'Super Mario Bros.' encyclopedia is here
After a years-long wait, the official Super Mario Bros. Encyclopedia is available outside of Japan. The 256-page compendium is available in both a $40 standard edition as well as an $80 limited version with a random, holofoil-trimmed cover in a question mark slipcase. Whichever version you pick, it should be a relatively comprehensive history of the Mario series up to its 30th anniversary in 2015.
Dark Horse's ‘Stranger Things’ comics chronicle Will's journey
There will soon be quite a few ways for you to experience the world of Stranger Things, as books, a video game and now a line of comics are all in the works. Entertainment Weekly announced today that Netflix has teamed up with Dark Horse for the new comics, the first series of which is scheduled to launch in September. "Dark Horse is known for championing stories and storytellers," Dark Horse President Mike Richardson said in a statement. "We are so excited to work with Netflix to bring the world of Stranger Things to comics."
'Super Mario Bros.' encyclopedia comes to the US October 23rd
Nintendo did many things to mark the 30th anniversary of Super Mario Bros., but there's been one you couldn't usually get your hands on unless you lived in Japan: the Super Mario Bros. Encyclopedia. You'll be glad to hear that it's coming to the West, though. Dark Horse Publishing has announced that the official guide to Mario's universe will be available in a standard edition in the US on October 23rd for $40. Amazon is also hinting at releases in the UK and Europe, although we don't have official information as of this writing.
An 'Overwatch' graphic novel is coming
With over 10 million players on PC, Playstation 4 and Xbox One, Overwatch is a bonafide success. By now, gamers have got to grips with the abilities of its 22 playable characters, the latest of which was added this week, but the game itself doesn't go into too much detail as to the organization's origins or explaining why agents were urged to reactivate in the first place. Blizzard has slowly started to fill those gaps with a series of video shorts and an online comic book series, but a new partnership with Dark Horse Comics looks set to expand on that quite significantly.
ComiXology Unlimited offers all of the comics for $6 a month
ComiXology, Amazon's online comic book service, unveiled a new unlimited content subscription option on Tuesday. The $6 per month ComiXology Unlimited plan gives subscribers unfettered access to the service's archive, which includes titles from Image, Dark Horse, IDW and a bunch more -- basically every notable publisher outside of Marvel and DC. ComiXology will continue to sell individual issues from the Big Two, it just won't offer them on the unlimited plan.
Tomb Raider comic book announced, may bridge to next game
Comic book veteran Gail Simone is working with publisher Dark Horse on a continuation of the Tomb Raider reboot. Kotaku reports Simone expects the series' narrative will pick up mere weeks after the first game's events and may lead directly into a sequel of this year's well-received game. "In continuity, it will be Tomb Raider canon, and lead DIRECTLY into the sequel," Simone said. "This is what got me excited; we get to be part of Lara Croft history." Simone, a long-time fan of the Lara Croft franchise, says the core difference between her series and the reboot will lie in Lara's surroundings. "The storytelling in the game hooked me instantly," Simone said. "The biggest difference is, the game told a claustrophobic story in an isolated setting. We are going globetrotting." Although Simone was a fan of the action-oriented character portrayed in the original Tomb Raider games, she's still fond of the character's new-found depth.
This week on gdgt: HX50V, Minx Air 100, and Moto X customization
Each week, our friends at gdgt go through the latest gadgets and score them to help you decide which ones to buy. Here are some of their most recent picks. Want more? Visit gdgt anytime to catch up on the latest, and subscribe to gdgt's newsletter to get a weekly roundup in your inbox.
Dark Horse Digital coming to iOS April 27
The wait is finally almost over, Dark Horse Digital will be releasing their iOS app on April 27! I love reading comics on the iPad, the form-factor and experience is perfect. In fact, I prefer it to paper comics. However, while Marvel, DC Comics and some other publishers have been adding more and more issues from their libraries to a number of applications, such as Comixology, Dark Horse has been notably absent. The Dark Horse app is something I've been following pretty closely for a while now. Originally, it was slated to be released in January, but they weren't finished, so they postponed the launch and promised to make it up to excited fans. That's a promise they're making good on by including the first issue of Hellboy: Seed of Destruction bundled with the app, and they'll be giving away a few other titles if they can get enough people to subscribe to the newsletter before it launches.
Review: Dark Horse Comics' "The Goon: Chinatown and The Mystery of Mr. Wicker"
I used to collect comics pretty religiously when I was a kid (after all, there was a comic book store right across the street from the church my parents always took me to), and lately I've been thinking of getting back into the hobby -- there's something really magical about sequential art and word balloons. And while, if the rumors are true, the new product coming from Apple will probably offer up a better way to do it, I was pretty impressed with my first experience reading the funny pages on the iPhone, in Dark Horse's "The Goon: Chinatown and The Mystery of Mr. Wicker" [iTunes link]. For just a fraction of the price of the actual TPB (trade paperback), you get to flip through a nice set of story and art pages, formatted (pretty) coherently for the iPhone. There's not a lot of flash in the options -- the comic consists of about 420 "pages," which are basically screen-sized panels that tell the story of Eric Powell's hero The Goon, a broad-shouldered fella with ugly mug in the vein of Sin City's Marv, who mixes it up with the bad guys, gets beat up pretty often, and chases after a dame or two. You can either flip through the screens yourself (which I preferred, soaking in the art and pacing), or have them flip after a delay of your choosing. Unfortunately, the art is sometimes cropped a little closely, and the iPhone's small screen doesn't always let epic scenes play out in their original scale (again, something a tablet would be better at). But for $2 for a readthrough, I enjoyed the book a lot. Dark Horse has a nice series of comics available on the iPhone already (including a free sample), and if you're in the mood for a cheap read on your iPhone, they're worth a look. TUAW is commonly provided with not-for-resale licenses or promo codes to permit product evaluations and reviews. For more details, see our policy page.
Threat of Peace issue #23 goes beneath Dantooine
In the newest entry of Threat of Peace -- the webcomic prequel to Star Wars: The Old Republic -- it seems like Jedi and Sith will fight just about anywhere. They'll even make battle under Dantooine, especially if there's some degree of revenge involved in the fight. To be fair, Sith Lords Baras and Master Dar'Nala aren't simply fighting in a cave, they're fighting in ancient crystal caves that make for a much more spectacular setting. Of course, none of this would even be happening if the Jedi didn't blame the Sith for upsetting the peace treaty. Ah, Jedi, always blaming the Sith for their problems. Well, at least it makes for great showdowns beneath Dantooine! If not for that, well... we're not really sure what these comics would be about. Jedi picnics?
Everybody loves a good cantina fight in Threat of Peace, issue #20
And so the plot thickens, as the identity of the man attempting to dissolve the peace treaty between the Republic and the Empire is now closer to being revealed. Yes, this week BioWare continues their free online comic Threat of Peace with issue number 20, which largely focuses on the Bounty Hunter known as Braden. The developer's propensity for seeding hints at future in-game content through this series continues, and in that statement we mean to say Nar Shadda is most likely going to be a playable planet in Star Wars: The Old Republic. We also wouldn't be surprised to see Dantooine become an in-game destination as well, since it's both a classic location and apparently the future site of some intrigue for Threat of Peace readers. We suppose it'd be easy enough to assume most planets featured from the movies and previous KOTOR games will end up in Star Wars: The Old Republic. Nonetheless, it's fun to play the guessing game when it comes to a highly anticipated MMO. We're hoping the next official planet announcement goes to Nar Shadda, as it's just such a lovely place to visit.
