Back in 2009, Dark Horse Comics published Noir: A Collection of Crime Comics, an anthology featuring black-and-white stories by some of the top creators in the crime genre. The long out-of-print collection featured original work by such crime comics luminaries as Dean MotterEd Brubaker and Sean Phillips, and Brian Azzarello. Now, in a Beat exclusive, Dark Horse has announced a new hardcover reissue of the collection, to be released next year.

Noir includes 11 stories that are a mix of comics and prose, featuring both standalone tales and shorts spun out of established properties like Brubaker & Phillips’s Criminal, Motter’s Mister X, and Paul Grist‘s Kane. Creators rounding out the collection include Jeff LemireKanoStefano Gaudiano, Joëlle JonesAlex de Campi, M.K. Perker, Azzarello, Fábio Moon, and Gabriel Bá, among others. Where the original release of Noir featured a fairly stark black cover with white lettering for the title and a city’s skyline in gray within the letters, the hardcover edition will sport a new cover incorporating art from each of the book’s dark entries.

I read Noir back when it was originally released and was blown away by the sheer volume of talent found between its covers. Each of the stories within is pitch-black in tone, and totally accessible even if it’s part of an established property. The standout story for me was the final entry, Azzarello, Moon, and Bá’s “The Bad Night,” a story about a small-time hood who takes a job helping with an insurance scam. The twist at the end of that story has stuck with me for ten years, and I’m excited to read that one, and all the other stories, again once this hardcover is released.

Check out the new cover for Noir and the full announcement from Dark Horse below. The 120-page hardcover will retail for $24.99, and is scheduled to go on sale on July 22nd, 2020.

Noir: A Collection of Crime Comics, from Dark Horse Comics
Noir: A Collection of Crime Comics, from Dark Horse Comics

BLEAK TALES OF MURDER AND DECEIT!

Collecting Quintessential tales of Crime and Mystery from Top Talent in Crime Comics

MILWAUKIE, Ore., (October 22, 2019)— Noir: A Collection of Crime Comics gets the Dark Horse hardcover treatment! Murder, passion, and criminal enterprise are reprinted in their darkest form in this new edition, directly from the most talented writers and artists in crime comics! In these eleven pitch-black noir stories, you’ll find deadly conmen and embittered detectives converging on femme fatales and accidental murderers, all presented in sharp black and white by masters of the craft. Featuring stories by Brian Azzarello, Jeff Lemire, Ed Brubaker, Sean Phillips, and many more of crime comics’ top talent! With artists such as Joëlle Jones, Gabriel Bá, Fábio Moon, Paul Grist, and more bringing these gritty, smoke filled stories to life.

Noir: A Collection of Crime Comics goes on sale July 22, 2020, and is available for pre-order on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and TFAW, and at your local comic shop. This 120-page hardcover collection will retail for $24.99.