Dark Horse potentially getting sold

Dark Emperor

Dweller of the Lotus Moon
There is some speculation going on right now in comic book circles that Dark Horse is looking to be sold off. This could be disastrous if some IP hungry company like Disney or Netflix buys them out. What do you guys think of such news? If so, what do see as the future of Berserk regarding manga or potentially a new anime adaption if such a thing comes to fruition?
 

Walter

Administrator
Staff member
The source for this (Bloomberg) isn't too concrete. It just indicates that Dark Horse is open to being acquired by a delicious streaming giant:

[Dark Horse Comics] is working with an adviser to weigh options that could include a sale, according to people familiar with the matter. A representative for Dark Horse couldn’t be reached for comment.

Sounds to me more like they're at the valuation stage. Putting out feelers. Dark Horse has a few titles in its pocket that have received adaptations on Netflix (Umbrella Academy is the big one). But Dark Horse isn't a company like Marvel with tons and tons of lucrative IP. The vast majority of things Dark Horse publishes aren't its own. Take Star Wars, or Sin City, or Berserk for example—all big titles, but DH is just the publisher of the print side of those things (and for Berserk, only the English localization). So aside from simply selling off any hold they have on lucrative, adaptation-worthy titles, I'm not sure I grasp why a big company would be interested in Dark Horse Comics itself. In the situation of the company being sold, Hakusensha would presumably have an opportunity to offer Berserk off to another US publisher like Viz, for example. Then they'd have to republish and retranslate it.

And as for your question about an anime, let's be clear: Dark Horse doesn't hold the keys to Berserk. They're a licensee that pays Hakusensha for the right to publish an English adaptation of the manga.
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
If so, what do see as the future of Berserk regarding manga or potentially a new anime adaption if such a thing comes to fruition?

Just to underline what Walter said above: Dark Horse's fate means nothing for Berserk. They could go bankrupt and disappear tomorrow, and it would have no impact whatsoever on the series. Hakusensha would just have to find another US distributor. Needless to say, Dark Horse has had no role in any of the adaptations that were produced in the past and won't have a role in the future.
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
This could be disastrous if some IP hungry company like Disney or Netflix buys them out.

Beside the point that this wouldn't affect Berserk, this is like saying it'd be a disaster if Larry David acquired my account and started making his humorous observations exclusively on SK.net. That is to say, I'm pretty, pretty sure it'd be an objective improvement! Say what you will about the big name mediocrity of Netflix's and Disney's output, but Dark Horse is still a thousand leagues below them.
 
Even if Berserk's rights did end up in other hands, I doubt a new localization of the whole manga would be done. Kodansha currently prints Akira, but the editions they're printing are the same as Dark Horse did back in like 2011.
 

Walter

Administrator
Staff member
Is it? There's even still a message from the Dark Horse president in Kodansha' volumes.
Ah, maybe? That’s what it says on the listing for the 35th anniversary editions that i have, anyway.

Edit: Just did a page-by-page, and the 35th anniversary editions are indeed a different translation, but not a comprehensive one. I only noticed a handful of text changes in a handful of pages. It seems the biggest difference is that they reflowed the text into new bubbles, likely as they were returning the art to the proper orientation.

That being said, retranslations do happen. In France (between Dybex to Glénat) Berserk got a new translation, and in Spain it has had three different publishers, with at least one translation reset.
 
Ah, maybe? That’s what it says on the listing for the 35th anniversary editions that i have, anyway.
Oh, that's an even newer edition than I have. We could both be right in this case lol. Their 2011 release might be reused from Dark Horse.

I guess it might depend on who got it. I know a company like Viz would probably start over, but smaller publishers might not want to make such an investment.
 
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