Dark Horse Comics signs Pablo Picasso!

[Kingdok]

Well sort of...

<i>Orginally published by Newsarama</i>

<b>Dark Horse Comics today announced more details about this year’s upcoming Maverick Annual and announced a new anthology series debuting in the fall, which includes maybe the only known comics work by Pablo Picasso ... yeah, that Pablo Picasso...
September’s Maverick Annual anthology, the third Annual showcasing the publisher’s creator-owned imprint, has been upgraded from the 48-page special it has been the first two editions, to a 96-page “big book” collection this time around.

Dark Horse Maverick: Happy Endings contains 15 all new story contributions from a wide variety of comics talent, including James Kolchaka, Frank Miller, Tony Millionaire, Brian Michael Bendis, Peter Kuper, Harvey Pekar and Joe Sacco, Craig Thomson, Gilbert Austin, Farel Dalrymple, Sam Keith, Jim Mahfood, Leland Myrick, Jason Hall and Matt Kindt, and Mike Mignola. The cover for Happy Endings is a collaborative piece by Frank Miller and colorist Lynn Varley.

Maverick editor Diana Schutz explained the origins of the Maverick anthology this way:

"At (fellow editor) Chris Warner's suggestion, this year's Maverick anthology morphed from a 48-page comic to a 96-page book - which meant more contributors and, therefore, more varied kinds of contributions (and a lot more fun for me as editor!).

"At some point we also decided to come up with a theme for a title, and we came up with ‘Happy Endings’, which covers a lot of bases - and which, by the way, I flagrantly ripped off! But to get that story, you'll have to pick up the anthology itself!"

Then the next month, DHC will debut a brand new anthology title of short comic book stories and creator interviews called Reveal.

According to the publisher, Reveal represents a new format for Dark Horse and is intended to showcase the publisher's top-quality action-adventure comics.

The full-color, 64-page anthology includes an all-new Buffy The Vampire Slayer story from Scott Lobdell and Jeff Matsuda, an autobiographic short from X-Men and Wildcats team Joe Casey and Sean Phillips, Peter David’s return to SpyBoy with artist Alex Maleev, Lone Wolf 2100 by Leinil Francis Yu, and new strips by Craig Thompson (Goodbye, Chunky Rice), and others.

“Also included in this collection is a rarely-seen, little known comic strip by major 20th-century artist Pablo Picasso,” reports DHC. “The original of this two-page strip, titled ‘The Dream and Lie of Franco’, is housed at the Guggenheim Museum in Venice, Italy.”

More information about that can be found by clicking on <a href="http://www.pbs.org/treasuresoftheworld/guernica/glevel_1/1b_cause.html">this link</a>.

Rounding out the anthology is an interview with Hellboy creator Mike Mignola and film director Guillermo Del Toro, who are currently collaborating on the feature film adaptation of Hellboy.

Dark Horse editor Scott Allie shared his thoughts on this collection of stories:

“I think they're a perfect place to show what a publisher is all about,” said editor Scott Allie about anthology collections. “Dark Horse's diversity has made it hard for us to project a clear reputation to the readers. This book is what I think Dark Horse is all about - high quality action-adventure stories, one step away from superheroes, with a focus on unique voices, great writing, dynamic art, with a bit of humor and fine art to boot. My hopes are to publish this book a couple times a year, and use it to present gems like the Picasso strip, which most people I've talked to have never even heard of."

Reveal is set to be published in October as a full-color, 64-page book anthology retailing for $6.95.

Finally, the publisher confirmed a September debut for Matt Wagner’s newest Grendel mini-series, Grendel: Red, White, and Black. As previously announced, the four-issue series follows the model of his 1999 Eisner Award-winning series Grendel: Black, White, and Red.

The series collects 20 different stories featuring “genius playboy-turned-vigilante” Hunter Rose, all written by Wagner. Each story is illustrated by a different talent from the comics industry, including such creators as Brian Michael Bendis, Dan Brereton, Kelley Jones, Stan Sakai, Jill Thompson, Andi Watson, Jim Mahfood, Zander Cannon, and many others. </b>