“Wow, I really let the backyard get out of hand.”
Michael Turner’s Fathom: Cannon Hawke #0
Aspen Comics (digital copy: April, 2011)
PLOT: Michael Turner & Koi Turnbull
WRITER: J.T. Krul
PENCILER: Koi Turnbull
INKER: Larry Welch
COLORIST: Beth Sotelo
LETTERING: Dreamer Design
DIGITAL EDITORS: Frank Mastromauro & Vince Hernandez
Scheduling made me late to the discussion on this one, but this is still an issue I have opinions on. If somehow you missed it even though sites like The Hollywood Reporter discussed it (and that’s not one I go to for comic news), Mike Richardson, the founder of Dark Horse Comics, got canned by the people who bought the company from him, some Swedish group called Embracer. So it’s Jim Shooter and Valiant Comics again, after he got ousted by his investors after forming the company…just with more time under Richardson’s belt. Here’s an article from ICv2, a site I do use for comic news.
Shooter got screwed over immediately and I couldn’t find any info that Richardson wasn’t ready to leave. He did sell the company, after all. Richardson was CEO of the company he founded back in 1986, from his comic store in Oregon. Dark Horse is known for creator owned comics that are still owned by their creators and licensing everything from Godzilla to actual manga. (Also, Godzilla manga.) Some of their most beloved work included Star Wars and creating the “Alien Vs. Predator” idea, which was such a huge hit in comics that Hollywood just had to make movies on the concept…and from what I can tell messed the concept up royally. The comics are praised, the movies are not, and I know nothing about the video game because nobody seems to talk about it. All were lost to them when Disney bought the studios that created Star Wars and the two movies, since they had Marvel. And yet some new material is published by companies who aren’t Disney but also not Dark Horse. Disney are run by morons, but that’s another topic.
So now the guy whose vision created Dark Horse, starting as a comic store owner to comic publisher, is gone from the company. Unless he wanted to leave, that seems like a really dumb move. If he did choose to move on that wouldn’t be a firing but rather just him retiring from the company, which is not how I’ve seen it phrased by any of the articles I looked up . Richardson not only founded the company but knew how to keep it successful. They’ve had movies, shows, and even games based on their comics, I’ve not heard a lot of bad things said about Dark Horse versus DC, Marvel, or even Image. He’s not incompetent, and Embracer’s stated reasons to take the company in a new direction sounds like fixing something that isn’t broken. So what’s going on?
Maybe because I’m tired today, but I’ve got nothing to really work with here.
Sonic The Hedgehog #206
Archie Comics Publications (January 2010)
WRITER: Ian Flynn
INKER: Terry Austin
COLORIST: Matt Herms
LETTERER: John E. Workman, Jr.
COVER: Pat “Spaz Spaziante
ASSISTANT EDITOR: Paul Kaminski
EDITOR: Mike Pellerito
“On The Run” part 2: “Troubles By The Dozen”
PENCILER: Steve Butler
“Birthright” part 2
PENCILER: Jamal Peppers
To celebrate Mario Day on March 10th (so they were a day early), Nintendo Direct posted the final trailer for The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, the sequel to the hit The Super Mario Brothers Movie and having nothing to with that live-action 90s movie that stole the names and nothing else. We ignore that movie around these parts, though I do understand why it developed its own cult following…which does not include the actors.
I still have yet to see the first movie, which is now supposedly free with ads on Fandango, so I really want to get a Finally Watched article out of it soon, before this sequel comes out. We’ll have to see what my schedule does. I had my own thoughts going in, including what I wanted to see, but they didn’t ask me. I still have some misgivings, not in the quality of the work because I have yet to hear a bad word from the fans, but versus what I wish they had done. The Nintendo Direct also includes some minor information about the movie, and is still a short video, just under eight minutes.
In addition to the trailer, each of the celebrity cast who aren’t the actual game voice actors because Hollywood get to tell you how excited they are because they got paid to. No, I don’t think they hated it. Jack Black just always comes off as exaggerating, and we’ll get to the rest after we see the trailer. So let’s see the trailer.
Fun fact: My grandfather ended up drafted into two different military branches due to a clerical error. Not at the same time, mind you.
Feature Comics #27
Comic Favorites, Inc (December, 1939)
I wasn’t planning to read this series again. Golden Age Friday is where I’ve been reviewing the anthologies of the period, and this one was lacking so I stopped. This might not be costing me money but it does cost time, which is kind of precious to me at the moment. However, this issue is the first every appearance of Dollman, before the company changed it’s name to Quality Comics. Actually, I’m not sure if Comic Magazines, Inc was part of the same company or if someone got acquired. I’m not a Golden Age historian. Anyway, the comic is important, so while I’m not going to continue with this series regularly, it’s an important chapter for pre-DC Tuesday.
One more thing to note is that Comic Book Plus’s scan of the comic is incomplete. I tried the Digital Comic Museum but they’re in the same boat. Only 27 pages and the cover survived, this is actually fine with me given my opinion of the comic. Luckily, the one we’re here to see is not only intact but at the start of the comic as a result, meaning no Mickey Finn starting us off. I just hope the full origin story is here.
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Posted by ShadowWing Tronix on March 12, 2026 in Comic Spotlight and tagged commentary, death in comics.
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