Dark Horse / M Press

A PERSONAL NOTE FROM PUBLISHER MIKE RICHARDSON:

I remember the moment I first heard the Beatles. It was the summer before they hit America and the “British Invasion” had not yet begun. The song was “Please Please Me” and I was a twelve-year-old picking strawberries outside of Milwaukie, Oregon. In those days, someone always had a transistor radio playing out in the berry fields, and we were fed a steady diet of the Beach Boys, The Four Seasons, and the assorted “hot rod” tunes popular on the top 100 lists. The instant I heard the opening notes of the song, I knew something was different… one of those moments in which you cock your head and try to understand what you are processing. I stopped picking and stood there listening until the song was through playing, waiting for the DJ to offer the name of both the tune and the band. The Beatles? Even the name was different. I remembered that name when “I Want To Hold Your Hand” exploded onto the American music scene a few months later. Did I say “music scene”? How about mentioning that the “four lads” changed the entirety of western culture. Needless to say, I have been a Beatles fanatic ever since. For both myself andVivek [the writer], this is a passion project. The story of “The Fifth Beatle” is one that deserves to be told, and I am proud that we are involved in the telling.

M Press Books is a division of Dark Horse Comics, founded in1986 by MikeRichardson. Dark Horse Comics has proven to be a solid example of how integrity and innovation can help broaden a unique storytelling medium and establish a small, homegrown company as an industry giant. The company is known for the progressive and creator-friendly atmosphere it provides for writers and artists. In addition to publishing comics from top talent such as Frank Miller, Mike Mignola, Neil Gaiman, Brian Wood, Gerard Way, Felicia Day, Guillermo Del Toro and comics legends such as Will Eisner, Neal Adams, and Jim Steranko, Dark Horse has developed its own successful properties such as The Mask, Ghost, Timecop, and SpyBoy. Its successful line of comics and products based on popular properties includes Star Wars, Mass Effect, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Aliens, Conan, Emily the Strange, Tim Burton’s Tragic Toys for Girls and Boys, Serenity, Game of Thrones and Domo. Today Dark Horse Comics is the largest independent comic book publisher in the US and is recognized as one of the world’s leading publishers of both creator-owned content and licensed comics material.