Dark Horse Reveals Premiere Lineup for Karen Berger’s Berger Books Imprint

Comics News Berger Books
Dark Horse Reveals Premiere Lineup for Karen Berger’s Berger Books Imprint

While we already knew that powerhouse comic book editor Karen Berger was starting her own Dark Horse imprint, Berger Books, we weren’t sure what sorts of series the company would release. Well, as of today, we now know Berger Books will release four new series in 2018: Hungry Ghosts by Anthony Bourdain (yeah, that one) and Joel Rose; Incognegro: Renaissance by Mat Johnson and Warren Pleece; Mata Hari by Emma Beeby and Ariela Kristantina; and The Seeds by Ann Nocenti and David Aja. Additionally, they’ll be re-releasing Dave Gibbons’ The Originals in an expanded edition, and publishing a tenth-anniversary edition of Johnson and Pleece’s acclaimed Incognegro: A Graphic Mystery.

Releasing Jan. 31, 2018, Bourdain’s Hungry Ghosts will be a play on a traditional Japanese game called 100 Candles. The basic gist of the game is that a bunch of samurai would sit around and try to one-up each other’s stories in an effort to get the other warriors to soil their armor in fear. Ghosts will swap samurai for chefs, and their scary stories will be focused in some way on food. Somehow, this four-part anthology series manages to sound like Seth Rogen’s Sausage Party, of all things. Hungry Ghosts will include art by Vanesa Del Rey, Leo Manco, Alberto Ponticelli, Paul Pope and Mateus Santolouco.

On Feb. 6, Incognegro: Renaissance will be unleashed on the world as a prequel to Incognegro: A Graphic Mystery. The series stars cub reporter Zane Pinchback—a black man who has the ability to “pass” as white—as he explores the nightlife of the Harlem Renaissance. According to Berger herself, “The series and the characters are great lenses in which to explore race and prejudice in America. The polarizing times we live in — you’ve got to tell more and more stories about those issues.”

Next up, on Feb. 21, Mata Hari will explore the real-life story of the eponymous Dutch exotic dancer convicted of being a German spy back in WWI before her execution. The series positions itself as historical fiction, but that doesn’t mean the story isn’t well-researched. Hari will attempt to sort through “the lies of her accusers and the outlandish stories she told about herself.”

And finally, on March 28, Berger Books will drop The Seeds. In what seems like an extremely timely story, the series is set in “an imminent America where fact-based reporting is gasping its last breath.” When a reporter comes across a massive story she isn’t allowed to actually write about, she publishes “the biggest myth of her career.” Hopefully, somebody will battle a giant Trump at some point during the series.

See Dark Horse’s full announcement here for more details, and find covers for all four new series below.

Hungry Ghosts by Anthony Bourdain

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Incognegro: Renaissance #1 by Mat Johnson and Warren Pleece

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Mata Hari #1 by Emma Beeby and Ariela Kristantina

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The Seeds #1 by David Aja and Ann Nocenti

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