Comic book update: Dark Horse and Hammer

Comic book companies doing tie-ins for movies is nothing new. Warner Brothers owns DC Comics, so various adaptations or companion comics come out through the various imprints of the company. However, the recent partnership between Dark Horse Comics and Hammer Films is one to get excited about.

Dark Horse and Hammer Films are names that hold weight independent of each other.

Dark Horse Comics is one of the major publishers in the comic book industry, and one with a very diverse catalogue. They are known for great horror and suspense series, including Mike Mignola’s Hellboy and Arvid Nelson’s Rex Mundi.

Hammer Films is most known for their genre-defining horror films during the 1950s and 1960s. Hammer was to that time what Universal was to the 1930s and 1940s — the premier horror studio. Classic monsters like The Wolfman and Frankenstein came to life, and Christopher Lee gave his iconic performances as Dracula under the Hammer banner. Collaboration between the two of these companies is exciting news to film and comics fans alike.

So far, the union seems to be off to a good start. The first product of the collaboration is a companion piece for the upcoming film Let Me In. The film is the American remake of the Swedish film Let the Right One In — a smart, interesting vampire film. The remake is a bit precarious, but Matt Reeves, the director of Cloverfield, is behind it, so it has a strong chance of being good. The companion piece is set to be written by Marc Andreyko, also a very talented comic book writer. All signs point to this being a fruitful collaboration.

The pairing of Dark Horse and Hammer could lead to some very interesting directions. In additions to new projects from Hammer, there might also be a chance that the classic films of the 1950s and 1960s will get comic adaptations. New stories of Christopher Lee’s Dracula? The Wolfman? Some classic psychological thrillers? One can only hope.