Dark Horse's Canto by David. M. Booher

Vol 1: If I only had a Heart, co-created and illustrated by Drew Zucker, colored by Vittorio Astone, lettered by AndWorld Design
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In 2024, Dark Horse began a publication of Canto, the story by David M. Booher and Drew Zucker. This story was originally published with IDW, so to find the synopses, check out my original reviews of the paperbacks below:

​vol 1, vol 2, vol 3, vol 2.5-3.5

This review is of the new hardcovers specifically and how I believe this format will best serve library patrons.

Note: 2.5-3.5 will be re-release as Vol 3, while Vol 3 will be re-release as Vol 4 under Dark Horse​.

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Starting in 2020, Canto was published under the IDW publishing house, but the glued binding had been known to fall apart within a few circulations. In 2023, the Canto creative team shifted their intellectual property to Dark Horse and began work on hardcovers that the fandom had been requesting for years. In summer of 2024, coinciding with the release of the final story arc, "A Place Like Home" publishing in single issues, the hardcovers of volumes 1-4 began releasing. These editions have been  desperately needed to help this story stay on the shelves of libraries serving our younger patrons who can be a little tougher on books.

The binding on the Dark Horse hardcover edition is sewn and glued, providing reinforcement but also allowing the book to open flat and flexibility within the pages as the reader progresses through the story. The pages are also thicker than a typical single-issue comicbook, helping with durability across multiple circulations. The inks are a matte finish, which helps reduce glare during the reading, and also increases durability against rubbing.

Each hardcover edition also comes with a brand new cover illustration from Drew Zucker and colorist Vittorio Astone with a newer logo design and all matching spine design so everything will look beautiful on the shelves. There is also back-matter with process illustrations and cover galleries. Both are amazing for fans of the series, but the process illustrations and step-by-step creation pages are fantastic for students interested in becoming comics-creators themselves.

These beautiful and durable books are must-haves for elementary collections where fantasy-adventure stories are popular with students.

Sara's Rating: 10/10
Suitability Level: Grades 5-12

Reviews of previous volumes in this series: ​vol 1, vol 2, vol 2.5-3.5

Publisher: Dark Horse

Vol 1: If I Only Had a Heart
Publication Date: June 18, 2024
ISBN: 9781506743622 (Hardcover)

Vol 2: The Hollow Men
Publication Date: July 9, 2024 
ISBN: 9781506743639 (Hardcover)

Vol 3: Tales of the Unnamed World
Publication Date: July 30, 2024
ISBN: 9781506743646 (Hardcover)

Vol 4: Lionhearted
Publication Date: August 27, 2024
ISBN: 9781506743653 (Hardcover)

Tags: Rating: 10/10, Suitability: Elementary School, Suitability: Middle School, Suitability: High School, Comicbooks, Fantasy, Dark Horse