WONDERCON: DARK HORSE COMICS PANEL

SAN FRANCISCO -- Dark Horse Comics is celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2006 will special-edition works.

At the publisher's panel at WonderCon on Saturday, Dark Horse's Lee Dawson said there are at least two projects in the works. One is a prestige format collection of Dark Horse stories and the other is a hardcover from diverse creators.

In other highlights from the panel:

* Joss Whedon is writing a comics continuation of Serenity, as well as a Buffy the Vampire Slayer story that will be "Season 8" of the television series.

* Dawson said that the new Star Wars: Legacy book will take place about 100 years after Return of the Jedi. "It's an area that has not been explored, so we are free to do what we want," he said. "There's no novels and no comics continuity."

Dawson said to be on the lookout for a descendant of Skywalker and a new Sith.

* The Goon's Eric Powell will is working on a Conan story for Conan #28. Tim Truman is taking over the monthly, but Dawson said the story focus will remain on Robert E. Howard's original novels.

* In The Goon, Chinatown becomes the focus of a story.

* Dark Horse will publish volumes of Yoshitaka Amano's work.

* Drew Melbourne talked about his new series Arch Enemies. "It's the story of a super-hero and a super-villain who in their secret identities are roommates," he said. "And as roommates, they also hate each other.

"In some aspects, it's comedy, but it's also serious drama."

* Dark Horse will broaden its manga horror line.

* Steve Niles' Criminal Macabre is returning in May.

* There will be an Art of Bone book from Jeff Smith.

* Michael Chabon's Escapist will become a regular-sized monthly book beginning in June.

For all of Dark Horse's solicitations for May, CLICK HERE.