DARK HORSE COMICS NEWS ROUNDUP

Dark Horse Comics made three announcements on Sunday at Phoenix Comicon.

Following is a roundup:

* Steve Niles' Criminal Macabre: The Third Child is a four-issue mini-series launching on Sept. 17. Art is by Christopher Mitten.

Here's how the book is described:

"Cal's changed . . . and maybe not for the better. Locked away and drowning himself with booze and aspirin, Cal feels the evil consuming him. Will he be able to withstand its pull or will he become the monster war’s greatest weapon of destruction?"

* Dark Horse will release a 20th anniversary edition of the Oink original graphic novel, updated by the book's creator, John Mueller, on Feb. 25.

Here's how the book is described:

"In a dark, oppressive future, pig-men work tirelessly feeding a society they cannot fathom as slaves of human masters. When Oink realizes that the dogma being forced on them is all lies, he undertakes a path of revenge and revelation."

"When I produced the first edition of Oink in the nineties I was very young, and now in the journeyman stage of my career I wanted to tell a story that really reflected all that experience. This is my first creator-owned work in 16 years. Dark Horse really understands what creator owned means, and I just could not be more excited about the future for Oink," Mueller said.

The new edition is re-edited and repainted with entirely new sequences.

* Dark Horse will release Star Wars: Dark Times Gallery Edition on Nov. 5 as a 248-page black-and-white book for $99.99.

The book will feature high-quality scans of Douglas Wheatley's original art, plus the complete scripts from which Wheatley worked, including Star War: Dark Times #1-5.