New Releases by Bob Layton

Dr. Mirage and Carmen are pursued by a necromantic parasite created by Master Darque to an explosive confrontation inside an abandoned silver mine. Can Hwen defeat a being of pure necromantic energy -- and stop thinking of Carmen''s ex-husband -- before being eaten alive?

Dr. Mirage is on the case at...the rodeo?! Called in to investigate a mysterious death, Dr. Mirage and his wife Carmen discover a terrifying evil from the far away streets of Calcutta!

While trying to sort out their shambled home, the Chaos Effect begins and makes Dr. Mirage corporeal again! Could the evil Master Darque be behind this strange phenomenon? Or is the cause something even more terrifying?

Dr. Mirage saved the world from the Chaos Effect, but at the loss of his restored physical form. Having done it once before can Dr. Mirage now figure out how to make his necromantic energy form physical again?

Back home in Miami, the Carmen and Dr. Mirage are facing the difficulties of a life together: how can one hold a ghost? Meanwhile, Master Darque begins to plot his revenge...

Pursued by Master Darque and an army of the undead, Dr. Mirage and his wife flee through the snowy slopes of Tibet. Slowly, Dr. Mirage realizes the nature of his new ghostly form, all the while seeking a way to defeat the rage of Darque.

Mama Fong arrives at the worst possible time -- just as the battle between Dr. Mirage and the shape shifter, The Otherman, is getting heated! But what can this strange villain be after? Will he stop at nothing to sabotage the Harbinger Foundation''s aerospace program and make Carmen his?!

Hwen''s hunger pains indicate his powers are fading -- and only Sandria Darque can help. In the face of this startling realization, the doctor decides to take up cooking.

With the main H.A.R.D. Corps team recovering from injuries, the ""B"" Team attempts to take out Harada. When the three-member strike team ends up out of their league against a team of Eggbreakers, the ""A"" Team comes to the rescue. And, a rookie makes the big leagues.

Tensions run high when the team starts breaking in Maniac''s new replacement. Flatline''s first day back to life in the H.A.R.D. Corps may just be his last when things go disastrously wrong during his first live fire exercise.

Shakespeare''s AWOL and the H.A.R.D. Corps team is faced with a perilous decision -- rescue their colleague from the nest of alien spiders in Oregon, or stop Harada from buying his own country?

The team travels to the Oregon wilderness to infiltrate a nest of alien arachnids and their strange machines. Meanwhile, Hotshot is inducted into the corps.

Maniac, Hammerhead, Shakespeare, Superstar and Gunslinger -- brought back to life from a comatose state by Omen Enterprises with bleeding-edge technology neural implants that allow them to mimic Harbinger abilities one at a time. Their mission: to oppose the machinations of Toyo Harada and the Harbinger Foundation. Together they make up the elite of the Harbinger Active Resistance Division -- the H.A.R.D. Corps!

With one of their own dead at the hands of one Harada''s Eggbreakers, things are getting desperate for the team when the Harbinger Foundation tracks the team to their base of operations. But it''ll take more than that to keep the H.A.R.D. Corps down as the team goes on an unauthorized excursion to get payback for Maniac!

The secrecy of Omen Enterprises'' mission starts to take its toll on Gunslinger. Will that distraction prove fatal when the team is sent on a raid to find out what''s on board the secret and heavily armed Harbinger Foundation freighter Toyo Harada is running to countries in the former Eastern Bloc?

Bloodshot''s pursuit of Don Carboni leads to a confrontation with the H.A.R.D. Corps team. Mistaking the nanite-powered Bloodshot for a Harbinger, their mission is to study the ultimate killing machine in action...then capture him! But when Carboni''s ambush pits Bloodshot against impossible odds, the team is forced to intervene.

Aric returns his space to find danger on the home front?Orb Industries scientists are breeding dinosaurs! When Aric learns that the tissue samples they''ve cloned are only weeks, and not millions of years, old, he''ll set out on a hunt for the time-lost monsters that must be leaving them behind. But he''ll need help if he wants to track down these cretaceous killers!

It''s the finale to ""The Seeds of Destruction"" saga! Aric and Maka will fight to the death-- on the moon! But without the aid of the X-O armor, what chance does Aric have against a killer with blood colder than space? One will fall and one will claim the prize: the seed of Shanhara!

Prehistory and present day collide as hyper-intelligent dinosaurs ransack Manhattan! With mankind suddenly at the bottom of the food chain, Aric will need to enlist some help to win this fight. But will the combined might of X-O Manowar and his new allies be enough to save New York from these cannibalistic sauroid underground dwellers?

The secret origin of Toyo Harada, revealed at last! Witness the rise of the Valiant Universe''s most powerful man as he undergoes the journey from a frightened young boy to a deadly global superpower. What molded Toyo into a would-be conqueror and what actions from his youth will return to haunt the Harbinger Foundation''s future? This is the side of Toyo Harada you''ve never seen before!

At last - the landmark issue that laid the foundation for the future of the Valiant Universe, featuring the first appearance of Bloodshot! Guest-starring X-O Manowar, Archer, Shadowman, Toyo Harada, the Eternal Warrior and a cast of thousands, the next generation of Valiant heroes begins here! But just what is the Blood of Heroes? And how will it create a legacy that stretches from the modern day into the distant future?

""Darque Daze"" It''s Archer VS. Armstrong! Under the influence of a mystical spell, Armstrong embarks on a mission to kill the Eternal Warrior! Desperate to stop Gilad''s assassination, Archer must put his friendship with Armstrong aside and stop his partner by any means necessary. But just how do know you stop an un-killable immortal - and what happens when two of them come to blows?

""Seed of Destruction - Part 2"" From fitful dreams, Aric wakes to discover the good skin is taking him into the far reaches of space! There Rexo and the last of Aric''s one-time captors lie in wait, desperate to claim the Manowar armor as their own!

X-O Manowar (1992-1996) #11 ""Alien Whispers: Seed of Destruction Part 1"" Aric dons the good skin for the first time since his return from the past, only to find it changed. The armor''s new form, together with sinister dreams of a golden seed and an alien arena, promise to reveal the true origin of the X-O armor!

""Takeover"" Aric wakes from centuries of subterranean slumber to return to his corporate kingdom and the era he now calls home. And back in the modern day, Ken schemes to take the X-O armor for himself, while aliens lurk, but soon both will earn that here and now, Aric rules!

Archer and his peculiar partner are drafted by Armstrong''s brother, the Eternal Warrior, to fight in war on the far side of time and space! But who and what they find there offers ominous clues about what the future may hold for Archer & Armstrong and the final fate of the Valiant Universe...

""Revival: Lifelines Part 1"" Obadiah Archer is a boy with a special talent and some very unusual parents. Once he escapes their clutches, he embarks on an international adventure that will take him from the sacred halls of a Tibetan monstrary to the filthy underpasses of Los Angeles. And when a mysterious stranger hires him to assassinate the inebriated immortal known as Armstrong, the world''s most mismatched crimfighting duo is born!

""Besieged: Homecoming Part 1"" Aric is returned to his own time and, with the power of the X-O armor at his command, he''s determined to lay waste to the Roman Empire once and for all! But have his adventures in time and space changed him too much for his family, his love and his people to welcome this man returned with the power of a god?

""Crossroads"" Aric''s will to live is tested to its absolute limit as he leads his army of time-tossed barbarians to war against a trans-temporal empire!

""A Call to Arms"" The Geomancer warns of a grave threat to all of existence! Aric and the Harbinger renegades team up to fight temporal slavers and an army from beyond time and space!