Check Out the Zany New MST3K Dark Horse Comics Series

Mystery Science Theater 3000 pioneered the art of “movie riffing”—which is to say, making fun of the foibles of really low-quality movies—but never has it brought its particular brand of irreverent humor to the printed page. Until now, that is, because MST3K’s team-up with Dark Horse Comics, first announced in 2017, has finally arrived. And the first covers are quite the trip.

Reports on the comics say they the series is being “helmed” by series creator Joel Hodgson, which we can only assume means that he’s involved in the writing, although this isn’t explicitly stated. The announcement comes in lockstep with this week’s reveal that Hodgson will return to live riffing with the MST3K crew for the first time since season 5 of the show’s original run, donning the red Gizmonics jumpsuit for the upcoming 30th Anniversary Live Tour.

The comic, meanwhile, will feature the MST3K crew as it currently exists in the Netflix revival: Host Jonah Ray/Jonah Heston, Crow T. Robot (Hampton Yount), Tom Servo (Baron Vaughn) and Gypsy (Rebecca Hanson). Rather than non-riffing adventures aboard the Satellite of Love itself, the writers have made what we think is probably a wise decision by making the comic series still riff-centric. This they’ll achieve by having Jonah, Tom and Crow do superimposed riffing over a bevy of old, shameful public domain comics. Can we nominate some Chick Tracts, please?

Here’s an official synopsis: