Vertigo editor Karen Berger’s new Dark Horse Comics imprint, Berger Books, has announced four brand new series coming in 2018:
The first is Hungry Ghosts, a four-issue anthology co-written by Anthony Bourdain and Joel Rose, and illustrated by artists including Vanesa Del Rey, Leo Manco, Alberto Ponticelli, Paul Pope and Mateus Santolouco.
Inspired by the Japanese Edo Period game Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai or 100 Candles, played by samurai warriors to test their courage, Hungry Ghosts reimagines this classic game of dread and terror as a circle of international chefs invoke modern tales of horror, terrifying yokai, yorei, and obake, all with the common thread of food.
Hungry Ghost #1 is scheduled for Jan. 31, 2018.
“A century after her death, Mata Hari tells her story through fictional diary excerpts, drawn from biographies of the real woman whose past has been shrouded in mystery by both the lies of her accusers and the outlandish stories she told about herself.”
The Seeds comes from legendary Ann Nocenti and artist David Aja. The synopsis for the four-issue series, slated to debut on March 28, 2018 is as follows:“In an imminent America where fact-based reporting is gasping its last breath, an idealistic journalist stumbles into the story of a lifetime, only to realize that she can’t report it. Instead, she has to pitch the biggest myth of her career. An eco-fiction tech-thriller where flora and fauna have begun to mutate, The Seeds is also a story of love beyond race and gender, and of the resilience of both human and animal kind.”
Is that it for this year? According to Berger:
“I plan to have another wave of books later in the year as well. It’s not going to be a huge line, because it’s only me editing, which is another reason why I’m excited about doing this: It’s me back to my roots editing comics all the time, which I didn’t get a chance to do hands-on as much as Vertigo grew and grew.”
Stay tuned…