The Thing: The Northman Nightmare 3 (October 2011)

Uh oh, Reynolds had to show something on the last page–an ominous reveal of future Viking Thing incidents I think–and he couldn’t do it.

I’m getting to hate those moments in comics, where writers do something totally natural for film and then the artist can’t get the point across.

Otherwise, Reynolds’s art continues to be fantastic. The really gross Thing moments are great here, making me wish it was a real comic and not just some online thing.

Niles’s script is mostly action and it works. Until that confusing last page anyway.

What’s most interesting, having only read the comics and seen the 1982 Thing, is it seems like Niles’s Thing is unrelated. Same species, different alien. It doesn’t have me racing out to see the new movie to find out because Niles doesn’t draw any attention to it.

Sure, Northman promotes the movie, but not very well.

The Thing: The Northman Nightmare 2 (September 2011)

Niles is beginning to impress me on Northman. He moves into the famous Thing standard… a lot of suspicious people standing around inspecting one another.

His dialogue’s somewhat better too. There’s one passage where he’s completely obvious at trying to lay the groundwork for a reveal and it’s stunning he’s so brazenly predictable.

But still, I liked this installment. It’s the Vikings in this village trying to figure things out. The resolution to the previous issue’s cliffhanger is so quiet, I had to go back and look to see there was indeed a cliffhanger.

The installment is three scenes. One talking scene, a brief nighttime scene to show time is passing and then another talking scene. Niles paces them out quite well.

And artist Reynolds continues to do well. Even though he occasionally loses track of people.

Northman’s still a stunt, but it’s getting to be a better one.

The Thing: The Northman Nightmare 1 (September 2011)

As an online exclusive, Dark Horse is publishing these Northman Nightmare “issues” (for free). It’s a prequel to the new Thing movie, which is a prequel to the old Thing movie (the 1982 one, not the original). Dark Horse previously published sequels to the 1982 film. It’d be more interesting if they’d done a sequel to the movie prequel, but whatever.

Since Vikings are all the rage now (or semi-rage, thanks to Thor), this unlikely prequel takes place in the twelfth century or something and features Vikings versus the Thing.

Patric Reynolds does a fine job. He draws Vikings, he draws snow-covered landscapes, he draws icky creatures and their skeletons. It’s not exactly heavy lifting, but Reynolds’s approach isn’t a sci-fi comic starring Vikings, it’s Vikings having a sci-fi adventure.

Steve Niles writes an okay script. His dialogue could be better.

Still, it’s a boring stunt.

CREDITS

Writer, Steve Niles; artist, Patric Reynolds; colorist, Dave Stewart; letterer, Nate Piekos; editors, Scott Allie and Daniel Chabon; publisher, Dark Horse Comics.

Dark Horse Comics 16 (December 1993)

I feel like I need to send Dan Jolley a thank you letter for making this issue of Dark Horse Comics tolerable. Well, for his Aliens story anyway. It’s got an unexpected conclusion. There’s not a lot of story—it’s a chase sequence and a resolution—but Jolley plays with expectations a little. Nadeau and Pallot do fine on art.

Naifeh and inker Alex Nino, however, are even worse this issue than last on their Thing story. Not the mention Martin’s conclusion is mildly inexplicable. It’s too bad Dark Horse didn’t keep their creators on the Thing comics consistent. Martin really doesn’t cut it, when it comes to plotting. I guess his dialogue is fine, but the art’s so ugly it’s hard to even look at the story.

As for Charles Moore, D. Alexander Gregory and Rob Hayes’s Predator with gangsters in the forties?

The art’s good. Moore’s writing isn’t.

CREDITS

Predator, The Hunted City, Part One; writer, Charles Moore; penciller, D. Alexander Gregory; inker, Rob Hayes; colorist, Gregory Wright; letterer, Bill Pearson. Aliens, Cargo , Part Two; writer, Dan Jolley; penciller, John Nadeau; inker, Terry Pallot; colorist, James Sinclair; letterer, Clem Robins. The Thing From Another World, Questionable Research, Part Four; writer, Edward Martin III; penciller, Ted Naifeh; inker, Alex Nino; colorist, Ray Murtaugh; letterer, Robins. Editors, Randy Stradley and Martin; publisher, Dark Horse Comics.

Dark Horse Comics 15 (November 1993)

Well, when Naifeh’s art falls off, The Thing gets a lot less interesting. Martin falls into the same tropes the pervious series did (even though Martin ignores them)—repeating the plot points in the Thing movie, only in a new setting. But Naifeh’s the disappointment here. It doesn’t even look like his work.

Barr and Rader finish up The Mark. Barr seems to let Rader just take over and create this homage to a film noir, only in color. It reminds a lot of M. The installment ends on a soft cliffhanger, preparing for a limited series, and it’s unnecessarily confusing.

Dan Jolley, John Nadeau and Terry Pallot contribute an Aliens story. It’s perfectly fine (compared to The Thing). Jolley concentrates on his first person narration; he does a good job with it, combining a natural tone with his exposition. Nadeu and Pallot are competent, what I expect from Aliens.

CREDITS

The Thing From Another World, Questionable Research, Part Three; writer, Edward Martin III; penciller, Ted Naifeh; inker, Alex Nino; colorist, Ray Murtaugh. The Mark, Part Two: What Goes Around; writer, Mike W. Barr; artist, Brad Rader; colorist, John A. Wilcox. Aliens, Cargo , Part One; writer, Dan Jolley; penciller, John Nadeau; inker, Terry Pallot; colorist, James Sinclair. Letterer, Clem Robins; editors, Bob Schreck, Dan Thorsland, Randy Stradley and Martin; publisher, Dark Horse Comics.

Dark Horse Comics 14 (October 1993)

I realized, a few pages in to Mike W. Barr and Brad Rader’s Mark story, Rader’s a good artist. He’s at the beginning of his career, but he’s good. He does these Eisner-homage close-ups. Nice stuff. But The Mark looked bad at the start—because the character’s design is ludicrous.

It takes place in a pseudo-Nazi Germany or something. The writing’s generally okay, but the comics’s all about those close-ups.

Dorkin and Thompson finish their Predator story next and, wow, does Thompson get lazy. Dorkin’s script is dumb—his high humor is a dying guy making dumb jokes about being Ford-tough, but the art hammers in the nail.

Naifeh’s good on The Thing story, which really does seem to avoid any previous comic appearances. There’s some excellent writing… too bad it’s lines directly from the movie and not from Martin.

Besides Predator, it’s not bad.

CREDITS

The Mark, Part One: Taking Back the Streets; writer, Mike W. Barr; artist, Brad Rader; colorist, John A. Wilcox; letterer, Clem Robins. Predator, Bad Blood, Part Three; writer, Evan Dorkin; penciller, Derek Thompson; inker, Ande Parks; colorist, Robbie Busch; letterer, Pat Brosseau. The Thing From Another World, Questionable Research, Part Two; writer, Edward Martin III; penciller, Ted Naifeh; inker, Moose Baumann; colorist, Ray Murtaugh; letterer, Clem Robins. Editors, Bob Schreck, Chris Warner, Jerry Prosser, Randy Stradley and Martin; publisher, Dark Horse Comics.

Dark Horse Comics 13 (September 1993)

So is Dark Horse Comics where Dark Horse stuck all their licensed properties once Presents’s sales dropped?

The creative teams are mildly interesting. Jim Woodring writing Aliens—nothing happens, it’s an all action story—with Kilian Plunkett on the art? It looks good anyway.

Ted Naifeh pencilling a Thing story? It’s more distinct because Edward Martin III’s script sort of ignores all the other Dark Horse Thing comics. It’s not a bad thing necessarily, but Martin’s a little less creative than one would like.

Then it’s an Evan Dorkin Predator story. It’s kind of funny—a Predator crashes a paint ball competition. But the humor doesn’t carry over to the dialogue; it’s just a funny idea. The Derek Thompson art is trying something different for a Predator story, lots of emotive, elongated faces.

It’s interesting to see these attempts, but none of them are good. Especially not the Aliens.

CREDITS

Aliens, Backsplash, Part Two; writer, Jim Woodring; artist, Kilian Plunkett; colorist, Matthew Hollingsworth; letterer, Ellie De Ville. The Thing From Another World, Questionable Research, Part One; writer, Edward Martin III; penciller, Ted Naifeh; inker, Moose Baumann; colorist, Ray Murtaugh; letterer, Clem Robins. Predator, Bad Blood, Part Two; writer, Evan Dorkin; penciller, Derek Thompson; inker, Ande Parks; colorist, Robbie Busch; letterer, Pat Brosseau. Editors, Ryder Windham, Randy Stradley and Martin; publisher, Dark Horse Comics.

The Thing from Another World: Eternal Vows 4 (March 1994)

I’m sadly unimpressed with de Vries’s finish to Eternal Vows. It’s all supposed to be this great love story about this sailor and his squeeze in this little town. I thought de Vries was actually going to kill MacReady or something.

I swear I read these Thing comics back when I was a kid and they were a lot more sensical.

Gulacy does a fine job with everything. Davis continues to be a good inker for him. It’s too bad there wasn’t much to do. The monstrous aspects of the Thing are sort of tame in the comic book form. Without slime, it just doesn’t work.

It’s also unfortunate de Vries ran out of ideas and did yet another blood test with the flamethrower and the dishes. He moves the action to an anchored ship and rapidly repeats the same tropes.

The finale’s a disappointment. It seemed to be improving….

CREDITS

Writer, David de Vries; penciller, Paul Gulacy; inker, Dan Davis; colorist, Matthew Hollingsworth; letterer, Steve Haynie; editors, Randy Stradley and Bob Cooper; publisher, Dark Horse Comics.

The Thing from Another World: Eternal Vows 3 (February 1994)

For someone who really likes explaining things, de Vries doesn’t go into how MacReady has become an international Thing hunter.

But while his presence is narratively ludicrous, de Vries uses the character well. Oh, there’s some lame dialogue, but the issue’s sort of good. de Vries cuts back a little on how the Thing operates and behaves, but only on the telling part. He still shows this one Thing spread its control over a town. The problem is with the infected having autonomy. It doesn’t fit with the movie, or even the previous comic books. Instead, it’s Body Snatchers with tentacles.

But sort of good.

Gulacy is a fine asset on the book—he brings some professionalism to it, but it’s still a difficult plot to visualize. The Thing in a small fishing town. It’s not a particularly interesting setting.

As a mix of action, suspense and horror, it works.

CREDITS

Writer, David de Vries; penciller, Paul Gulacy; inker, Dan Davis; colorist, Matthew Hollingsworth; letterer, Steve Haynie; editors, Randy Stradley and Bob Cooper; publisher, Dark Horse Comics.

The Thing from Another World: Eternal Vows 2 (January 1994)

Turns out de Vries has the reverse problem of John Arcudi on The Thing. de Vries is better with MacReady around.

MacReady shows up—in a private helicopter, in sunglasses and maybe with a laser gun. Gulacy loves sunglasses. They make no sense in the context and it’s not particularly good art, but it’s an amusing misfire.

All the exposition about the Thing’s society and purpose is somewhat interesting. de Vries decides each creature makes a little society for itself, never letting a piece get more important than it. It’s probably laying groundwork for a Thing to team up with MacReady so who cares…

But at least de Vries is thinking.

It’s a shame this information is presented to the reader in goofy narration or bad expository dialogue.

Oh, and I was mistaken before, it takes place in New Zealand, not Australia.

Hopefully it’ll get scary soon; it’s not now.

CREDITS

Writer, David de Vries; penciller, Paul Gulacy; inker, Dan Davis; colorist, Matthew Hollingsworth; letterer, Steve Haynie; editors, Randy Stradley and Bob Cooper; publisher, Dark Horse Comics.