Mike Richardson

Everyday Hero, your roundup of handpicked headlines from the fanboy universe… The Oregon success story of Dark Horse comics is historic — in fact, it’s so historic that it will now be protected and indexed in a massive archive project at Portland State University. Two copies of every Dark Horse publication will be kept there, one in general circulation and the other in a special collection preserve. Heidi MacDonald has the story on her blog, the Beat: "The library’s Dark Horse collection will include everything they’ve produced, from books in 24 different languages to Aliens stickers and Hellboy lunch-boxes. The Beat spoke with Portland State University Librarian Helen Spalding, who explained that even a Buffy marquee statue can be useful to academics. ‘The key rings, action figures, mugs and tee-shirts are all rich research material for examining marketing, gender roles, […]

Mike Richardson’s Dark Horse Comics empire has put the sleepy town of 21,000 on the map. MILWAUKIE, ORE. — IT’S A three-block stroll from the leafy banks of the Willamette to Main Street here, but on most lazy afternoons, it’s so quiet you can hear the river’s lulling drone the whole way. As one local said the other day as he walked toward the malt shop on Main: “It’s like this town got to about 1959 and said, ‘This seems good, we’ll stay here.’ “ Unless there’s a remake of “Stand by Me” in the works, it’s hard to imagine this town grabbing the attention of distant Hollywood and its Bluetooth brigades of executives and agents. But it has managed to do that very thing because mild-mannered Milwaukie has a secret identity. The “Dogwood City of the West,” it turns […]