Employees at Dark Horse Comics and its retail store Things From Another World have formed a union on Wednesday named Dark Horse Workers United, affiliated with the Communications Workers of America (CWA). The union is seeking “equitable pay, workplace democracy, and a continued commitment to creator-owned comics.”

The union is seeking voluntary recognition from Dark Horse Comics and its interim CEO Jay Komas by June 3. If the company does not recognize the union by then, the union will petition the National Labor Relations Board for an election. 

The union cites “looming uncertainty from recent layoffs, wage/hiring freeze, change in leadership power, emergence of artificial intelligence, and return-to-office policies (despite their economic impact on employees)” as the reasons for its collective organization.

Publishing company Seven Seas Entertainment voluntarily recognized the United Workers of Seven Seas (UW7S), a union for its employees, in 2022. Like Dark Horse Workers United, UW7S is affiliated with the CWA.

Should Dark Horse Workers United be voluntarily recognized or win an election, it will be the third U.S. comic publisher to form a union affiliated with the CWA (with the first being Workers at Image Comics, and the second being UW7S). Employees at Abrams Books and its manga- and comic book-focused division Abrams ComicArts also recently formed a union in 2025, but part of UAW Local 2110.

Dark Horse Media’s parent company Embracer Group announced on May 20 that it plans to split the group into two publicly listed companies, through the spinoff of Fellowship Entertainment. The board plans to list Fellowship Entertainment, which will include Dark Horse Media, on the Nasdaq Stockholm stock exchange in 2027. Fellowship Entertainment aims to become an IP (intellectual property)-led entertainment company built around game development, publishing, and licensing. The company will include Dark Horse Media and several other companies. Its IPs include The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, and Tomb Raider. Dark Horse Comics announced on May 21 that it would shutter all three of its Things From Another World retail locations from June to September later this year.

Embracer Group began acquiring Dark Horse Comics in December 2021, and completed the acquisition in March 2022. The acquisition was part of the company’s spree of acquisitions of media and game companies beginning in 2019. After a planned US$2 billion investment from Savvy Games Group (a company owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund) did not go through as planned in May 2023, the company found itself in debt, with the company soon planning restructuring, leading to mass layoffs, the sale of properties and subsidiary companies, and the three-company split from April 2024. Dark Horse Comics founder and CEO Mike Richardson departed the company earlier this year in March, after 40 years with the company. Jay Komas — General Manager of Dark Horse‘s owners within Embracer Group, Middle-earth Enterprises — is serving as Interim CEO.

Richardson founded Dark Horse Comics in 1986 as an offshoot of his comic book store chain Things From Another World. The company published its first manga, Godzilla: King of the Monsters, in 1987.

Dark Horse confirmed in February 2025 it had begun laying off staff positions. Dark Horse stated at the time it was responding to “increasing overhead, changing market conditions, and external economic factors.”

Sources: Dark Horse Workers United’s website, ICv2 (Milton Griepp)

Series launched in 2015, inspired anime adaptation in 2020

The official X (formerly Twitter) account of Houbunsha‘s Manga Time Kirara magazine announced on Thursday that Sou Hamayumiba‘s Dropout Idol Fruit Tart (Ochikobore Fruit Tart) manga will end in three chapters. Houbunsha will publish the manga’s final chapter in Manga Time Kirara Carat‘s September issue, which it will release in July. To commemorate the manga’s final chapter, the magazine plans to include a special feature of pages filled with messages sent in by the readers. 

The manga’s story begins when first-year high school student Ino Sakura heads to Tokyo to pursue becoming an idol. She teams up with fellow Nezumi Dorm residents — unpopular former child actor Roko, musician HAYU, and model Nina — to form the new idol unit Fruit Tart. These dropout idols get back on their feet and enter the world of show business to prevent their dorm from being demolished.

The story debuted as a one-shot manga in Manga Time Kirara Carat in 2014. The manga then launched as a series in 2015. Houbunsha published the manga’s eighth compiled book volume in December 2024. 

The manga inspired an anime adaptation in 2020. Funimation streamed the series, and also produced an English dub in 2021.

Hamayumiba launched the earlier Hanayamata manga in Houbunsha‘s Manga Time Kirara Forward magazine in 2011 and ended it in 2018. The 10th and final compiled book volume shipped in April 2018. That manga inspired a television anime by Madhouse in 2014, and Crunchyroll streamed the series as it aired in Japan. Sentai Filmworks licensed the anime, and released it with an English dub on home video in 2016. The manga also inspired several smartphone apps, as well as a PlayStation Vita game in 2014.

Sources: Manga Time Kirara magazine’s X/Twitter account, Oricon via Otakomu