by Jarrod Jones. Luther Arkwright, Bryan Talbot’s complex, dimension-transcending hero of comics legend, returns in 2023.
“As a crucial stepping stone between where comics were and where they are now, Bryan deserves our gratitude, and Luther Arkwright deserves to be read,” Alan Moore once said of Talbot and his creation. “More than this, it demands our attention as an intricate and fascinating graphic accomplishment in its own right.” He said this back in 1987, in an introduction for the debut issue of The Adventures of Luther Arkwright published by Dark Horse Comics, less a ringing endorsement than a statement of fact.
35 years on, Moore’s words still ring true. Bryan Talbot, a celebrated writer and artist whose work has graced the pages of landmark periodicals such as 2000AD and The Sandman among many others, brought Luther Arkwright to life in 1976, thrilling and challenging readers with his mature, and cerebral, psycho-freakout narratives. When Luther first powered through the pages of Mixed Bunch Comics, he was a different man (Talbot described him as “a mixture of Clint Eastwood and Moorecock’s Jerry Cornelius”), but as the strip evolved—and jumped from one publisher to the next before making its home at Dark Horse—so did Luther Arkwright. So did his stories.
In effect, Talbot innovated what is widely held to be one of the cornerstones of British comics and the form itself, a comic creator’s kind of comic. At last, long after Talbot’s sequel series Heart of Empire was published in 1999, Luther Arkwright is back.
DoomRocket can exclusively reveal Bryan Talbot’s return to the world of Luther Arkwright with The Legend of Luther Arkwright, an all-new tale published in hardcover by Dark Horse Comics in 2023.
In an official press release from Dark Horse Comics, Luther Arkwright’s multiverse-hopping lifestyle has changed not one bit. “Luther Arkwright, an evolved human with psychic power capable of traversing the swirling multiverse of infinite existences, is pursued by a far superior adversary across multiple historically divergent parallel worlds, both utopian and dystopian,” it reports. “Only Arkwright’s experience and force of will provide any hope to avert humanity’s annihilation.”
The stakes remain no less daunting, but Luther is up for the challenge, as ever.
Be there when The Legend of Luther Arkwright hits comic shops on February 15, 2023 and bookstores on February 28. The full press release can be read below.
MILWAUKIE, Ore. (September 2, 2022) — Dark Horse Books and Bryan Talbot (The Adventures of Luther Arkwright, Heart of Empire) are proud to present The Legend of Luther Arkwright. Talbot returns to the science fiction world of Luther Arkwright for an all-new tale of legendary proportions.
Luther Arkwright, an evolved human with psychic power capable of traversing the swirling multiverse of infinite existences, is pursued by a far superior adversary across multiple historically divergent parallel worlds, both utopian and dystopian. Only Arkwright’s experience and force of will provide any hope to avert humanity’s annihilation.
The Legend of Luther Arkwright hardcover will be out in comic shops February 15, 2023 and bookstores Feb 28 2023. It is available for pre-order on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and at your local comic shop and bookstore. The Legend of Luther Arkwright will retail for $39.99.
Praise for The Adventures of Luther Arkwright and Heart of Empire:
“I think that posterity will certainly look back on Luther Arkwright as one of THE great watersheds in British comics history.”–Grant Morrison
“This is a work that is rich in texture, vast in scope and charged with sexual energy.”–Page45
“A work ambitious in both scope and complexity that stands unique upon the comics landscape… stunning.”–Alan Moore
“From riveting action scenes to beautiful silent sequences, from studies in hateful obsession to humor both ribald and gentle… surely one of the all-time great epics of the medium… an intriguing story, characters with genuine resonance, and illustrative excellence in perfect balance with clear and precise storytelling.”–Garth Ennis
