FEBRUARY 6, NEW YORK -- Noir -- Bleak tales of murder and deceit have long been a staple of film and pulp fiction, introducing audiences to private dicks, femmes fatales, conflicted criminals, and a verbal and visual style that would come to be known as “noir.” With comics riding a crime fiction renaissance, Dark Horse presents Noir, a pitch-black anthology of original stories representing the best -- and darkest -- of the genre.

Award-winning anthology editor and criminal mastermind Diana Schutz has assembled a dangerous crew of some of the medium’s most celebrated names and brightest rising stars to pull off this dirty job. Comics luminaries Brian Azzarello (100 Bullets), Ed Brubaker (Criminal, Sleeper), David Lapham (Stray Bullets), Rick Geary (Treasury of Victorian Murder), Chris Offutt (HBO’s True Blood), and Paul Grist (Kane) show why they’re masters of the genre, while newer talents like Jeff Lemire (Essex County Trilogy), M.K. Perker (Cairo, Air), the Fillbäch Brothers (Maxwell Strangewell), and Alex de Campi (Smoke) reveal their surprising dark sides. Aided and abetted by the most gifted slingers of thick, black India ink in the field, such as Sean Phillips (Criminal), Eduardo Barreto (Cobb), Brazilian twins Gabriel Bá (Umbrella Academy) and Fábio Moon (Sugarshock), Dean Motter (Mister X), and more, this gang is headed straight for the bad parts of town.

Schutz said, “Noir has actually been in the works for a few years now, so I’m thrilled that it’s finally coming together for this fall. The stories run the gamut from traditional crime fiction to more contemporary, offbeat material -- but thanks to the incredible creators involved, it’s all very dark and very good!”

Noir sneaks onto shelves September 30, 2009.