Dark Horse Comics plans to release several spinoff miniseries set in the world of Jeff Lemire and Dean Ormston’s dark superhero saga Black Hammer. The first title will be Sherlock Frankenstein and the Legion of Evil, launching on October 18.

Lemire and Ormston’s Black Hammer, which launched in July 2016, is currently nominated for an Eisner Award for Best New Series (see “The 2017 Eisner Award Nominees”). The four-issue Sherlock Frankenstein and the Legion of Evil will be penned by Lemire, with art by David Rubin. Issue #1 will feature a main cover by Rubin and a variant by Mike Mignola. The story will follow Lucy Weber, daughter of the Black Hammer, as she searches for what happened to her father. Here, she heads to Spiral City’s asylum to question the various supervillains locked away inside.

Each new miniseries set in the universe will feature a different artist.  “The World of Black Hammer has become my favorite place to be,” said Lemire. “The last thing I want to do is exploit the fans of Black Hammer with needless spin-offs or tie-ins that they have to read to get the whole story. So, these new miniseries, like the regular ongoing Black Hammer series, will stand alone and tell complete, self-contained stories."