| PORTLAND, OR (March 12th, 2025) – Oni Press – the multiple Eisner and Harvey award-winning publisher of groundbreaking comic books and graphic novels since 1997– is proud to present the first look inside DARK REGARDS #1, the SHOCKINGLY TRUE, TERRIFYINGLY HILARIOUS, AND ONLY MODESTLY EXAGGERATED tale torn from the mind of multi-hyphenate writer-comedian-actor-musician Dave Hill (Tasteful Nudes) and breakout artist Artyom Topilin (Cruel Universe, I Hate This Place)! Within these demonically cursed and never-before-seen pages, explore how one stand-up comedian forged a secret online identity as America’s first true black metal icon . . . and accidentally touched off an international trail of mayhem that included kidnappings, attempted human sacrifice, and the vandalizing of the last freestanding Bob’s Big Boy restaurant in the Midwest. Curious? We know you are. After all, this story is true. (For real!)
“A few years back, I sat down in my underwear late one night and decided to let my obsession with Norwegian black metal run wild by emailing a Norwegian black metal record label, telling them all the bands on their label sucked despite the fact that I had never listened to any of them, and suggesting they sign my extremely extreme black metal band Witch Taint, which had yet to record any music and didn’t even exist beyond the band name I’d just made up on the spot,” said Dave Hill. “This first email led to months of correspondence with the record label that I never intended for anyone to see. But the Internet being the Internet, eventually a lot of people saw it and things got nuts. Now, beyond my wildest dreams, this story has become my first comic book series Dark Regards, written by me and illustrated by the amazing Artyom Topilin. If you don’t devour every single issue, you are basically insane.”
Two decades ago, Dave Hill and his first band set out to rock their high school auditorium in a fury of heavy metal hellfire. They failed miserably. Years later, Dave has made a new life for himself as a rising star in the New York comedy scene – a career where getting laughed at on stage is the entire point and not just a tragic consequence. But when Dave’s metal ambitions are re-awakened by the über self-serious, “Satanic” genre of Norwegian black metal, Dave creates a ridiculously hyperbolic alter ego and a band to match that, together, reignite the spark of his forgotten rock ‘n roll fantasy. But when Dave’s internet-fueled rumors of Witch Taint – a metal band “so extreme that you must remove all sharp objects from the immediate area” when their music is played – spreads all the way to Europe, his story will spiral dangerously out of control as Norway’s most extreme black metal butchers come to reap their revenge . . . and put everything and everyone Dave holds dear in the crosshairs (of their axes, which, truth be told, don’t actually have crosshairs, but, hey, it’s a metaphor).
WE’RE NOT KIDDING: GIRD YOUR LOINS FOR DARK REGARDS #1 – keeping the scene alive in comic shops everywhere on May 13th with covers by Artyom Topiin (Cruel Universe, I Hate This Place), Andrew Krahnke (GI Joe: A Real American Hero – Silent Missions, Bloodrik), Scott Sugiuchi(Estrus: Shovelin’ The Sh*t), Brian Level (Razorblades, Night People) and a highly limited,1:50 HUMAN BLOOD VARIANT cover illustrated by Dave Hill himself … and printed with ink that contains the ACTUAL BLOOD of writer Dave Hill, series editor Karl Bollers, and Oni President & Publisher Hunter Gorinson. (Gross! Also: Awesome!) |
