The Sunday Spotlight: The ‘So? Haven’t You Ever Cried Before?’ Edition

Begone to winter and welcome spring, time to uncurl yourself from under that blanket and get out into the wide world. Well, after you finish that latest coffee and settle in to peruse a little comics news in The Sunday Spotlight …

MIKE RICHARDSON OUT AS CEO OF DARK HORSE…

Shock news (well, sort of) that Mike Richardson, founder and CEO of Dark Horse Comics is out of the company he founded in 1986.

I say sort of shock news because it follows the sale of Dark Horse by Richardson to Swedish gaming company Embracer in 2022. And we all know that the ethos and spirit that Richardson brought to comics and to Dark Horse was bound to change given the sale. But it’s still shocking in that it all happened so fast and that there’s seemingly no place for Richardson at the new company.

I mean, hearing them say that he was stepping down (he is 75 after all, and doing pretty well for himself after the sale) but would continue in some sort of consultancy role would surely have been the more conventional way of things from the corporate takeover playbook.

As it is, they can talk all they want of how video game company executive Jay Komas will take over to ‘build on Dark Horse’s legacy and strengthen its position in an increasingly connected entertainment landscape,’ but there’s still that sense that something important has gone from the company.

Seriously, this is Dark Horse. The company that gave us Mike Mignola‘s Hellboy, Frank Miller‘s Sin City, Paul Chadwick‘s Concrete, Stan Sakai‘s Usago Yojimbo, Mark Badger‘s The Mask, and so many more unique comic series. It’s also the company that took a near forgotten Star Wars comic franchise and reenergised the whole thing. Then they did the same with Godzilla, Aliens, Predator, Terminator. And since then, they’ve maintained their presence as a quality publisher of quality comics. Where it goes from here is up to those now in charge. We wish Mike Richardson well in whatever he chooses to do next. But one thing is for sure, Dark Horse really won’t be the same without him.

Tellingly, there seems to be little certainty amongst what Embracer will no doubt term ‘the talent’ at Dark Horse, where Mignola is perhaps the highest-profile creator at the company. He had this to say on Facebook…

‘Sad news– Dark Horse WAS Mike Richardson. As a young comics guy I knew that Dark Horse was where the good guys went if they wanted to do creator-owned comics. It was the only home I ever considered for Hellboy–Not that I actually believe Mike would WANT Hellboy–An uncommercial artist (Me) and a very uncommercial character with a silly name and a tail (Hellboy)–But he trusted me and actually agreed to publish without really even knowing what it was all about. For whatever reason he trusted me and for 30 years he left me alone to do what I do the way I wanted to do it. I don’t believe I would have gotten that treatment anywhere else.
I know he will go on to do other things. That’s who he is.’

‘For me–As far as I know Dark Horse is still home to Hellboy and my new “Lands Unknown” books. My hope is that things will continue as they have as far as publishing goes. Time will tell.’

Yes, that ‘as far as I know’ comment is telling. If you want to read more, including the various press releases around it all – Heidi has more coverage at The Comics Beat here and here.

LAKES INTERNATIONAL COMIC ARTS FESTIVAL — NEW LOGO, NEW WEBSITE, NEW 2026 POSTER, SAME GREAT FESTIVAL — 2-4 OCTOBER 2026…

The Lakes International Comic Arts Festival (LICAF) returns to Kendal, UK this year on the 2nd to the 4th of October, bringing with it the usual love of comics and a great weekend at one of the very best comics festivals in the UK.

The first big name guest has been announced — Bill Sienkiewicz — who’s also responsible for this year’s LICAF poster, a beautiful thing capturing the feel of the festival, the beauty of the setting, and, with a couple of cleverly constructed clouds, the comics aspect of it all.

Alongside that, there’s a brand new logo and website as well. LICAF 2026 — have a good look at what’s new and get your early bird tickets here.

THE COMICS JOURNAL INTERVIEWS SCOTT DUNBIER — ‘FROM WILDSTORM TO ACT 4’…

Scott Dunbier‘s been a major player in comics for decades now, moving from being a comic art dealer in the early ’90s, he moved to editor at Jim Lee‘s WildStorm, becoming Editor-in-Chief through the company’s move to becoming an imprint at DC Comics. Leaving DC in 2008 to become special projects editor at IDW, he pioneered the sorts of huge, high-end archival collections of comics work through Absolute Editions and Artist’s Editions. Most recently, in 2024, Dunbier left IDW and formed his own publishing company, Act 4, bringing his vision for publishing works including an artist’s edition of Steve Ditko’s fabled Amazing Spider-Man and a new collection of Darwyn Cooke’s Spirit — just two of the high-profile projects coming from Act 4.

Zach Rabiroff at the Comics Journal has a career-encompassing interview with Dunbier, where they speak Act 4, Artist’s Editions, the production process, possibly getting into publishing 32-page comics once more, and the ‘blatant thievery of AI’. Definitely worth a read.

AWARDS NEWS – LA TIMES GRAPHIC NOVEL SHORTLIST REVEALED…

Another month, another awards list announced. This time, the celebrated LA Times announces its five picks for their graphic novel category – winners to be announced at the 46th L.A. Times Book Prizes on April 17, itself the prelude to the L.A. Times Festival of Books, which runs the 18th and the 19th of April .

The five picks are — Eagle Valiant Brosi, Black Cohosh; Jaime Hernandez, Life Drawing: A Love and Rockets Collection; Michael D. Kennedy, Milk White Steed; Lee Lai, Cannon; and Carol Tyler, The Ephemerata: Shaping the Exquisite Nature of Grief.

MATTHIEU BONHOMME’S THIRD LUCKY LUKE VOLUME BEGINS SERIALISING IN SPIROU…

Matthieu Bonhomme‘s Lucky Luke volumes, part of the whole Lucky Luke By… series, where artists are given their chance to do Morris’s classic cowboy in their own unique style, are gorgeous things. Truly wonderful – and I’ll tell you more here in the review of The Man Who Shot Lucky Luke.

He’s done The Man Who Shot Lucky Luke in 2016, and Wanted, Lucky Luke in 2021. And Spirou began serialising the third volume, The Long March of Lucky Luke, earlier in the month. This is good and bad news. Good news because it’s more Bonhomme Luke. Bad news because my French is atrocious, and I’ll have to wait until either the Cinebook or Europe Comics English translations to come out.