"Dark Regards: The Comic with an Outrageous Origin Story"

Dark Regards emerges as one of the most captivating new indie comics in recent years, boasting a backstory as wild and engaging as the comic itself. Dive into our exclusive preview of Dark Regards #1 and form your own opinion on this thrilling new series. Just a heads-up: be prepared for some mature language in the images below!

Oni Press' Dark Regards #1: Preview Gallery

13 ImagesDark Regards is the creative brainchild of the multi-talented Dave Hill, known for his work as a comedian, writer, and musician, and artist Artyom Topilin, celebrated for his work on Cruel Universe and I Hate This Place. This four-issue series draws inspiration from Hill's own adventures in forming a fictional Satanic metal band called Witch Taint, leading to an unpredictable spiral of chaos.

Here's how Oni Press officially describes the series:

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 carved out a new life for himself as a rising star in the New York comedy scene – a career where being laughed at on stage is the whole point, not just a tragic consequence. But when Dave's metal ambitions are rekindled by the über self-serious, “Satanic” genre of Norwegian black metal, he creates a ridiculously hyperbolic alter ego and a band to match that 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 – spread all the way to Europe, his story spirals dangerously out of control. 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).

In a statement, Hill shared the origins of the series: “A few years back, I sat down in my underwear late one night and 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. 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.”

For more exclusive previews of upcoming comics, take a look at the final issue of TMNT: The Last Ronin II and the Dark Knight Returns-inspired Daredevil: Cold Day in Hell.