Dr. Horrible and Other Horrible Stories TPB

October 11, 2010

Writer: Zach Whedon
Art: Eric Canete, Farel Dalrymple, Jim Rugg, Joelle Jones & Scott Hepburn
Colorist: Dave Stewart
Letterer: Nate Piekos
Cover: Kristian Donaldson
Editor: Sierra Hahn
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics

Spinning out of the online sensation, Dark Horse Comics presents this collection of short stories based on the world of Dr. Horrible, his friends and enemies. We start with a Captain Hammer story (beautifully illustrated by Eric Canete) that features a confrontation between the smug superhero and our favorite villain. Farel Dalrymple illustrates the origin story for Billy’s buddy, the Moist, and it’s a tale about as sad as you’d expect it to be. Jim Rugg, who you may remember for his depiction of actress Felicia Day in the comic based on her series The Guild, tackles her again in Penny’s “origin” story in this book. Scott Hepburn gives us an untold tale of the Evil League of Evil, and finally, Joelle Jones gives us the origin of Dr. Horrible himself.

As many of these stories are seeing print for the first time (having appeared before online), most of this material was brand-new to me, and it was all very entertaining. Having Whedon (one of the co-writers of the show) steering this book no doubt helped considerably when it comes to keeping the characters true to themselves and the stories engaging. The book works very well to flesh out the world that the movie established, and the differing artists were matched to the characters they depicted very well.

Fans of the film will dearly love these stories that help fill out that universe. And if you’ve never seen Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog… well, first of all, what’s up with that? And second, this book will still give you some interesting insight into a world where heroes and villains are never what they appear to be.

Rating: 8/10