Dark Horse Books announced this week in an exclusive on ICv2 that they will be publishing Dimwood, the final graphic novel by Richard Corben.
Corben was a Will Eisner Hall of Fame member and Grand Prix at Angoulême award-winner. His work includes his originals like Slow Death, Grim Wit, Murky World, and Den, in addition to his work with major comics publishers like Dark Horse’s Hellboy. He worked with indie publishers and even started his own small press, Fantagor. Corben died in 2020 at the age of 80.
Written and illustrated by Corben and lettered by Nate Piekos, this special edition collects the never before published graphic novel Dimwood, and also features bonus material, restorations and an epilogue from long-time Corben collaborator Jose Villarrubia, letters by Nate Piekos of Blambot, and an introduction by Joe Lansdale, all presented in a gorgeous hardcover with a dust jacket.
Read the official synopsis and praise for Richard Corben:
In the densely vegetated forest of Dimwood, a young woman returns to her family home after many years’ absence. Xera has gaping holes in her memories of her childhood and family, as obscured and dim as the surrounding forest. In Dimwood Mansion, with its decaying, labyrinthine levels she seeks the missing pieces of her past and makes connections with mysterious disappearances and gruesome murders in this original gothic tale, Corben’s final graphic novel.
“Richard Corben…was one of the most gifted artists to emerge from the wonderfully fertile 1960s underground scene.”
—The New York Times
“Corben is meta-cinematic, gloriously unbound by prudence, and seemingly without precedent or heirs. In an odd way, he is the one author that emerges from the American underground and seeds the imagination of authors everywhere- creating a movement that combines genre and rebellion and finds perch in filmmakers and artists in the entire world- traces can be found in France, Japan, Italy, etc., etc.”
—Guillermo del Toro
“Corben’s work is singular in its humanity. He works with towering technical skill… …the wondrous thing of it all is that underneath all that technical tour-de-force is the sound of a beating heart.”
—Will Eisner
“Mr. Richard Corben… a genuine giant of his chosen medium.”
—Alan Moore
“Richard Corben stands among us like an extraterrestrial peak. He has sat in his throne a long time, above the moving and multi-colored field of world comics, like an effigy of the leader, a strange monolith, a sublime visitor, a solitary enigma.”
—Mœbius
Dimwood goes on sale May 6th, 2025 as the next book in a series of deluxe graphic novels from Corben’s library to be published by Dark Horse Comics. Check it out along with more of Corben’s work:
