One of the best things about digital comics is that you can read them online pretty much anywhere, but sometimes, every now and then, you want to read them in print. Whether it's the extra features that inevitably come with a printed collection, the texture of paper or just the comforting reminder that physical objects exist and you are therefore not alone and isolated in a formless void, printed webcomics have a lot to offer today's discerning reader, and Dark Horse is stepping up to give you three of the most exciting collections of the year.

Set for release next spring, Eisner winning digital comic Bandette and the webcomic Polar: Eye For An Eye are returning to Dark Horse for the book trade customers, but the third, Murder Book is a newcomer, and it looks awesome.

 

MURDER BOOK

Murder Book, Dark Horse Comics
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Written and lettered by Ed Brisson with art by Simon Roy, Vic Malhotra, Michael Walsh, Johnnie Christmas, Jason Copland, Declan Shalvey, Brian Level, JD Faith, Damian Couceri and a cover by Walsh, Murder Book is a crime comic anthology that originally ran online at murderbookcomic.com, although there have been previous printed issues funded by an IndieGoGo campaign. A four-part Murder Book serial will run in future issues of Dark Horse Presents, with the big collection hits shelves on March 18 of next year.

A you might expect from the title, Murder Book isn't exactly a book that's focused on sunshine and rainbows:

A term used by detectives, murder book refers to a case file on a homicide investigation. Typically including crime scene photographs and sketches, autopsy and forensic reports, transcripts of investigators’ notes, and witness interviews, they chronicle the life of a case from the time a murder is reported until an arrest is made.

Dark Horse has always been pretty keen on stylish crime fiction, going all the way back to Sin City, and Murder Book seems to fall right in line with all that, particularly in these pages by ComicsAlliance favorite Declan Shalvey:

 

Murder Book, Ed Brisson and Declan Shalvey
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Murder Book, Ed Brisson and Declan Shalvey
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Murder Book, Ed Brisson and Declan Shalvey
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Murder Book, Ed Brisson and Declan Shalvey
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POLAR: EYE FOR AN EYE

Polar by Victor Santos, Dark Horse Comics

 

Also announced for next spring is the second collection of Victor Santos' Polar, a spy action thriller that was serialized on the web as a sprawling, fantastically violent 160-page adventure that was told as a "silent" story, without any words to obscure all the blood and mayhem.

When Dark Horse released the first story, it included a full script of English dialogue added in to flesh things out, which makes a pretty big change from the version that runs on the web. Given the critical success of the first volume, it's not surprising that they're planning to do the same for the strip's second "season," Eye For An Eye, which Santos refers to as a tribute to Lady Snowblood and I'll Spit On Your Grave. In this volume, the story shifts to focusing on a new main character, with the star of the first volume, the amazingly named international hitman Black Kaiser, taking a supporting role.

Polar: Eye For An Eye is set for release on April 15, 2015.

 

 BANDETTE VOLUME TWO: STEALERS, KEEPERS

Bandette v.2: Stealers Keepers
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Also set for an April 15 release: Bandette vol. 2: Stealers Keepers!

Unlike the other two series, which are webcomics, Paul Tobin and Colleen Coover's Eisner Award-winning Bandette was serialized on Comixology through Monkeybrain. The second volume collects issues #6 - #9 of the ongoing series, with a new prose story and other bonus material. One assumes that it will also continue being one of the single best comics currently being published, regardless of medium. If for some reason you can't wait until next April, Stealers Keepers can be pre-ordered right now.

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