Chris Roberson and Michael Avon Oeming Unveil The Shadow of the Golden Crane
B.P.R.D. Agent Sue Xiang Takes Center Stage in a Four-issue Standalone Hellboy Universe Series
Acclaimed writer and iZombie creator Chris Roberson is teaming up with superstar artist Michael Avon Oeming (Blue Book, Powers) for The Shadow of the Golden Crane, an all-new Hellboy Universe mini-series. In this four issue series, a mysterious B.P.R.D. case forces Agent Sue Xiang to dive into the history of the secretive Golden Crane Society… and her own complicated family history.
“As far back as Hellboy and the B.P.R.D.: 1953 we have teased the idea that there is some connection between Susan Xiang, an agent of the B.P.R.D. with psychic abilities, and an organization called the Golden Crane Society, a secret society that protected the people of China from otherworldly threats for centuries. Susan was raised on stories of the Golden Crane, and when she was seven there was an incident involving her uncle and some jiangshi (Chinese ‘hopping vampires’) that we have so far only caught glimpses of. In The Shadow of the Golden Crane, we follow Susan and her fellow B.P.R.D. agents Hellboy and Victor Koestler as she uses her abilities to unlock the secrets of the Golden Crane Society. In each issue Susan relives the experiences of a different group of Golden Crane members at different points in history in a variety of locations in China and beyond, so that each chapter is essentially a standalone story that makes up one part of a larger narrative. And in the end, Susan discovers that she and her family might be more closely connected to the legacy of the Golden Crane than she ever imagined.”
Former FBI Analyst Sue Xiang’s psychic intuition and keen investigative skills helped Hellboy and the B.P.R.D solve numerous paranormal mysteries throughout the 1950s. Now, in The Shadow of the Golden Crane she sets out on her first solo adventure to investigate a paranormal puzzle involving the mysterious Golden Crane Society and her own family’s connection to the occult organization.
“When I turned 50, I reflected on my career and what else I wanted to do,” said Oeming. “Working more on the Hellboy Universe was at the top of my list. So, when I reached out to Mike and Dark Horse, I was thrilled to be assigned to work on Susan Xiang with Chris Roberson. I jumped right into sketching as soon as I got the assignment. Chris wrote a fantastic series that’s easy to dive into, even if you’re a casual Hellboy fan—it’s fully accessible and packed with spooky action.”
The stand-alone series is written by Roberson with covers and interior art from Oeming, with lettering by Clem Robins. The Shadow of the Golden Crane #1 will be available in comic shops on January 15, 2025 from Dark Horse Comics.
Be sure to follow DarkHorseComics on social media and check our website, www.darkhorse.com for more news, announcements, and updates.
About Mike Mignola
Mike Mignola’s fascination with ghosts and monsters began at an early age; reading Dracula at age twelve introduced him to Victorian literature and folklore, from which he has never recovered. Starting in 1982 as a bad inker for Marvel Comics, he swiftly evolved into a not-so-bad artist. By the late 1980s, he had begun to develop his own unique graphic style, with mainstream projects like Cosmic Odyssey and Batman:Gotham by Gaslight. In 1994, he published the first Hellboy series through Dark Horse.There are thirteen Hellboy graphic novels (with more on the way), several spin-off titles (B.P.R.D., Lobster Johnson, Abe Sapien, and Sir Edward Grey: Witchfinder), prose books, animated films, and two live-action films starring Ron Perlman. Along the way he worked on Francis Ford Coppola’s film Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992), was a production designer for Disney’s Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001), and was the visual consultant to director Guillermo del Toro on Blade II (2002), Hellboy (2004), and Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008). Mike’s books have earned numerous awards and are published in a great many countries. Mike lives in Southern California with his wife, daughter, and cat.
About Chris Roberson
Chris Roberson is the co-creator with artist Michael Allred of iZombie, the basis of the hit CW television series, and the writer of several New York Times best-selling Cinderella miniseries set in the world of Bill Willingham’s Fables. He is also the co-creator of Edison Rex with artist Dennis Culver, and the co-writer of Hellboy and the B.P.R.D, Witchfinder, Rise of the Black Flame, and other titles set in the world of Mike Mignola’s Hellboy. In addition to his numerous comics projects, Roberson has written more than a dozen novels and three dozen short stories, and has been a finalist for the World Fantasy Award four times; twice a finalist for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer; three times a finalist for the Eisner Awards; and has won the Sidewise Award for Best Alternate History in both the Short Form and Novel categories. He lives with a teenager, two cats, and far too many books in Portland, Orego
