WEBVTT 00:00.031 --> 00:04.566 [SPEAKER_00]: Dark Horse CEO Fire, another Vertigo title sells out. 00:04.727 --> 00:08.118 [SPEAKER_00]: Images invincible team up variants drive big sales. 00:08.258 --> 00:11.830 [SPEAKER_00]: This is comic book club news from March 6th, 2026. 00:29.090 --> 00:40.109 [SPEAKER_00]: It a true shocker for the comic book industry, Dark Horse CEO Mike Richardson, who found to the company 40 years ago in 1986, has been let go and replaced by a gaming executive. 00:40.149 --> 00:46.761 [SPEAKER_00]: The news came from a Hollywood reporter who framed it as, is out, which makes it clear that Richardson did not leave by choice. 00:47.021 --> 00:53.713 [SPEAKER_00]: Instead, it was the choice of embracer, a Swedish company that mostly specializes in owning other video game companies. 00:53.693 --> 01:04.833 [SPEAKER_00]: Richardson sold Dark Horse to Embracer in 2022, and though he stayed on his CEO since then he's subsequently been replaced by gaming exec J. Thomas, who'll be the interim CEO of the company. 01:04.853 --> 01:13.609 [SPEAKER_00]: Konis, again, per THR was campaigning for Richardson's job for months, but also doesn't have any Hollywood experience, let alone comic book experience. 01:13.589 --> 01:23.628 [SPEAKER_00]: He has worked in quote, senior leadership roles at Electronic Arts, Activision Blizzard and Lucas Arts, with a background in managing and expanding IP across multiple categories. 01:23.868 --> 01:32.965 [SPEAKER_00]: Given Dark Horse helped pioneer IP back in the 80s with licensed sequels to aliens, Terminator and Predator as well as Star Wars, all of that is not totally out of left feel. 01:32.945 --> 01:39.640 [SPEAKER_00]: And there have been plenty of other Dark Horse comics that made the leap to movies in TV from the Embrilet Academy in Sydney to the mask. 01:39.660 --> 01:48.220 [SPEAKER_00]: But to be frank, seeing the company pivot from a comic book life or like Richardson to a gaming exec who may or may not be interested in comics is alarming. 01:48.200 --> 01:57.631 [SPEAKER_00]: Richardson is so passionate about the medium he left his job and took out a loan in 1980 to open Pegasus fantasy books, which later became the chain things from another world. 01:57.711 --> 02:07.863 [SPEAKER_00]: He then launched Dark Horse Comics off the success of the stores in 1986, and expanded what the company does dramatically since then, with a long list of books, monthly comic books, collectibles, and more. 02:08.043 --> 02:15.692 [SPEAKER_00]: What this means from the future of Dark Horse as well as Richardson is TBD, as is and Bracer certainly picked the Dark Horse candidate. 02:17.900 --> 02:20.552 [UNKNOWN]: Thank you. 02:24.076 --> 02:31.485 [SPEAKER_00]: DC's renewed vertigo lineup has pulled off a hat trick with parallel of the brutal dart becoming the third title of the road to sell out and go back to print. 02:31.505 --> 02:48.126 [SPEAKER_00]: The book by Chris Condon and Jacob Phillips follows Bleeding Hearts and End of Life in the Second Printing Club, curiously the nice house by the scene number 7, which kicked off the line, did not seem to sell out, though perhaps given that it's a known property in halfway through a sequel series, retailers knew how much of that two order in advance. 02:48.106 --> 02:56.086 [SPEAKER_00]: The second printing apparel of the Brutal Dark will feature a new logo coloring cover, and a variant featuring Hayden Sherman's Inks from their original variant. 02:56.106 --> 03:04.748 [SPEAKER_00]: Both covers will hit stores on April 22nd. 03:08.491 --> 03:13.861 [SPEAKER_00]: Image Comics has been on a terribly ad drawn affair amount of scrutiny for its comic book sales. 03:14.181 --> 03:26.263 [SPEAKER_00]: While titles like Dork, White Sky, and Narco have been selling out to publishers upcoming invisible team-up covers, have reportedly been driving big sales across the borers, specifically half a million copies and sales. 03:26.243 --> 03:47.245 [SPEAKER_00]: Perpleting cool the other sources in image, which means image-scented to them directly to post let's be honest, the March debuting T-bub covers drove an average order of 14,000 copies per title, 435 titles, while that surely varies per book and per store, that's a big bum for image titles that may regularly get sub-5,000 orders per copy or even less. 03:47.405 --> 03:54.833 [SPEAKER_00]: Despite all the growing about the health of the comic book industry lately, there's still a wide gap between the top selling titles and the bottom selling ones. 03:54.813 --> 04:02.190 [SPEAKER_00]: With more programs like this in the offing, Gert from I hate Fairyland takes over an April with the image revolution 2.0 continue. 04:02.752 --> 04:03.313 [SPEAKER_00]: Stay tuned. 04:03.473 --> 04:05.819 [SPEAKER_00]: For comic book club news, I'm Alex Salman. 04:05.959 --> 04:12.214 [SPEAKER_00]: And this podcast is an invincible team up as well, so you've got to listen 14,000 times. 04:12.194 --> 04:14.259 [SPEAKER_00]: Got tips or stories you'd like us to cover? 04:14.480 --> 04:17.347 [SPEAKER_00]: Email us at comic bookclublive at gmail.com. 04:17.508 --> 04:22.481 [SPEAKER_00]: For more comic book news, reviews, and interviews, check out comic bookclublive.com. 04:22.501 --> 04:27.233 [SPEAKER_00]: Listen early and add free on patreon.com slash comic book club.