Dark Horse Comics released Dr. Horrible and other horrible stories this week. The graphic novel is an anthology of stories about the characters from the internet sensation Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog. If the literally hundreds of people I saw over the weekend dressed as these characters is any indication, this book should sail off the shelves.
There are five stories in the anthology. Three were previously released as part of the monthly anthology Dark Horse Presents which is featured at MySpace monthly. The origin story of Dr. Horrible was recently released as a one-shot, and the Evil League of Evil story was originally written for this collection.
The good news about this book is that all of the stories were written by Zach Whedon, one of the original writers/creators. Therefore, all of the stories are canon, and fit well with the characters as previously established.
The bad news is that each artist has their own interpretation of how the characters should look. While all of the featured artists are talented, I was simply not happy with how some portrayed the characters.
My favorite in both story and art is the new story, “The Evil League of Evil”, with art by Scott Hepburn. It is a nice look at Bad Horse and the other League members, and shows how dysfunctional an organization like this can be.
All of the stories are great, giving us background into these characters and showing how they came to where they are in their lives. The main drawback to this book is the artwork in the first story, “Captain Hammer: Be Like Me” with art by Eric Canete. His version of Captain Hammer simply does not look enough like Nathan Fillion, in particular his hair.
The introduction to the book was cute, written as a series of messages between the other Dr. Horrible creators, Joss and Jed Whedon and Maurissa Tancharoen, and even a special guest at the end. It fit the style present in the original story and “Commentary! The Musical” which was part of the DVD and Blu-ray release of the program.
Inserted between the stories are pin-up pictures featuring the characters. These are also well done, and I’d encourage Dark Horse to perhaps pursue marketing them as individual posters.
This is a great collection of stories, and currently the only way other than fan fiction to get more from these wonderful characters. The latest news on the possible sequel is that it has been put on the backburner due to Joss Whedon’s work on The Avengers but that it could still happen. Until then, hopefully there will be more comics in the future.
