The issue opens with Zero Boy and Pander’s Jack Zero, which starts out a little awkwardly… but then quickly establishes itself as a good Western. Pander’s art looks fantastic, bringing a lot of energy to the setting and Zero Boy’s script is thoughtful.
Unfortunately, I can’t say the same about Nixey’s Trout installment this issue. He changes up styles here for effect (a dream sequence) and it loses the charm the previous entries had. It’s confounding and almost adversarial. Nixey doesn’t give a point of entry for the reader here.
Macan and Edwards’s Aliens story is kind of interesting, without being noteworthy (rather good art from Edwards, of course). Macan doesn’t like the sci-fi constraints and wants to tell a human story instead; it’s a little obvious and doesn’t work.
Then Snejbjerg does scripting and art on Lords of Misrule. It’s creepy, with great art, but an awkward finish.
Gosh, these stories are so old I can barely remember them. Lords of Misrule was pretty crazy, I remember that. Read it mostly for the art. I don’t even think the trade collection of this is available any more, I used to carry it at my shop. Althoough I like looking at Nixey’s visuals, I can’t recall him ever being much of a presense in the comics field for long. These looks at DHP are a great way to relive old, obcure stuff that may not have seen print elsewhere.