Project Black Sky: Superheroes, The Dark Horse Way

By Brigid Alverson

The superhero comics of DC and Marvel dominate the direct market retail channel and these days the box office as well. In a marketplace crowded with works by The Big Two, is there room for another superhero universe, let alone another superhero publisher? Dark Horse publisher Mike Richardson thinks so.
Dark Horse, a major independent comics publisher with a wide ranging list of titles, creator-owned works and licensed properties, has launched a new line of superhero comics under the umbrella Project Black Sky for a very simple reason: To draw in more readers. "We have been well established in market share for some time," he said. "We want to expand our readership in the comic market, and what's the biggest percentage of sales? It's superheroes."
That's something of a shift for Dark Horse, which is best known as the home of creator-owned series such as Mike Mignola's Hellboy and Stan Sakai's Usagi Yojimbo, as well as licensed comics such as their multiple Star Wars titles (although they will lose that license at the end of the year). Indeed, Dark Horse isn't following the standard superhero template: They have put together an array of characters with different real-world origins and brought them into the same universe, and they have woven in social media as well, with a blog and Twitter that drop hints about what's going on in the comics. Because these series are starting fresh, readers don't have to catch up on a complicated backstory to fully understand the stories.
The superhero comics of DC and Marvel dominate the direct market retail channel and these days the box office as well. In a marketplace crowded with works by The Big Two, is there room for another superhero universe, let alone another superhero publisher? Dark Horse publisher Mike Richardson thinks so.

Dark Horse, a major independent comics publisher with a wide ranging list of titles, creator-owned works and licensed properties, has launched a new line of superhero comics under the umbrella Project Black Sky for a very simple reason: To draw in more readers. "We have been well established in market share for some time," he said. "We want to expand our readership in the comic market, and what's the biggest percentage of sales? It's superheroes."

That's something of a shift for Dark Horse, which is best known as the home of creator-owned series such as Mike Mignola's Hellboy and Stan Sakai's Usagi Yojimbo, as well as licensed comics such as their multiple Star Wars titles (although they will lose that license at the end of the year). Indeed, Dark Horse isn't following the standard superhero template: They have put together an array of characters with different real-world origins and brought them into the same universe, and they have woven in social media as well, with a blog and Twitter that drop hints about what's going on in the comics. Because these series are starting fresh, readers don't have to catch up on a complicated backstory to fully understand the stories.

Read the rest of the article at Publishers Weekly!