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Dark Horse Comics Search for 'Dark Horse Comics' on eBay Website: http://www.darkhorse.com Click here for a history of this publisher's logos Notes: Titles: Total: 1702 Skip to: A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z
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Logo(s):
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At left is the logo on the very first comic Dark Horse ever produced for normal distribution, in July of 1986. This logo, with some variation, would be in continuous use through August of 1989. Note that the image on the right, although it looks comparatively more primitive, is in fact from a much later issue. It demonstrates a couple of things that are interesting about Dark Horse's early approach to logos. First, The color of logo itself was allowed to change from time to time. Second, there could be significant variability in the lettering, as the logos were sometimes hand-drawn by the cover artist. | |
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In the month of August 1989, Dark Horse gradually phased in a new logo. Now less three-dimensional--and less evocative of a chess piece--it featured a horse's head with the words "Dark Horse Comics" encircling it. It would take some time for a final typeface and letter positioning to be locked down. The image on the left shows the first step in this evolution, one that was used on relatively few issues. Most of these were published only in the months of August and September 1989. The middle design shows one step closer to the more recognizable look of the 90s logo. The last image is what Dark Horse finally came up with in January/February 1991. The typeface used here would not be significantly altered for a decade. | |
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In about September of 1993, Dark Horse formalized the look it had achieved in early 1991. It also took the step of placing the logo in context with the rest of the issue information on the page. Here are two examples from the period which demonstrate the point. The integrity of the logo design itself is shown, in that we see for the first time a consistent black on white design. Color, unlike earlier periods, was rarely used on the logo proper--but it was fair game for the framing elements of the issue information grid. The tight integration of logo with issue information made the reader have to look at the logo if he or she wanted any of the other vital statistics on the book. It also gave a certain harmony and professionalism to their entire range. It was a clean, functional design they would keep largely unaltered until 2002. | |
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In about February of 2003, Dark Horse changed its logo one more time. Now all vestiges of the chessboard piece horse was gone, replaced by a dramatically active, vaguely angry beast. Its head is turned to the left, unlike all previous logos, and the divorce from the chess imagery seems to suggest that the company isn't playing games any more. A new bold typeface, apparently of DH's own devising, is also present, announcing the new era. Retained from the 90s is the idea that the logo should be tightly integrated with the issue information, as the first two images suggest. While the color scheme is typically black on white, as it was in the 90s, occasional use of a single color (usually red) is very occasionally warranted. In the case of the middle image, we see Dark Horse's occasional manga logo, which imploys some rising sun imagery. On very rare occasions the horse head itself is colored red. At farthest right is the simple logo itself, which is now used in a variety of media. | |
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Dark Horse would occasionally allow creators to make custom version of the Dark Horse logo for their title. This version appears to be drawn by Sergio Aragones and appeared on the cover of the humor anthology Scatterbrain. More examples of custom Dark Horse logos can be found under the entry for their Maverick imprint for creator owned work. | |
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