Category: Dark Horse Presents

Dark Horse Presents (1986) #157

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The final issue of Dark Horse Presents doesn’t even note it on the cover. On either cover actually. If it weren’t for The Goon, one might say the series just trailed off. Luckily, it does have The Goon.

That statement is not to suggest The Goon is fantastic. It might be only my second ever Goon comic. Powell’s art is nice and his writing is fun in a very mean-spirited way. I thought the series was about zombies, but here it’s just The Goon and Franky bullying people (not even sure Franky gets named in the story). Well, bullying fish. Still, it’s big and it’s different and distinctive.

Without it, Presents would go out on Witch’s Son. In this installment, Allie seems to be setting up a new superhero. Sook gets assists from Moline and Owens inks them both. The art becomes indistinct. It’s not terrible, but somewhat lame.

Dark Horse Presents (1986) #156

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Well, Gray inking Sook on Witch’s Son—at least at this stage of Sook’s career—produces a far better result than Sook inking himself. It still looks very Mignola, but there’s a lot more fluidity to the characters. As for Allie’s script? It’s competent in terms of dialogue, but the content is fairly weak. Witches, demons, yada yada yada.

Warner and Brunner—Brunner can draw (he’s a terrible writer though, good thing Warner’s here… sort of)—do a story about a hit man who dresses like a clown. Even drives a little car. It’s not bad, it’s not good. It passes the pages pretty well and there are some nice panels.

Chuah Ghee Hin has a very confusing story about dragons. His artwork is gorgeous, however; it’s almost a mix of cartooning and etching. He can’t really draw action (the etching), but there’s a lot of charm to it overall.

Dark Horse Presents (1986) #155

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Another fine issue. The pleasant surprise is the Angel story finally approaches good. Golden and Sniegoski introduce a lot of humor into this installment (completing the story) and it helps a lot. Also, Horton and Lee are mostly drawing supernatural beings and they do it well. The end’s a bit weak, but it’s something to do with the TV show chemistry, which doesn’t work if one’s reading a comic book.

Iron Reich 3000 finishes too. Land includes a page about the history of the fictional future war for those interested… though it’s hard to believe anyone would care. Even though his script is adequate, it doesn’t intrigue. The art from Saiz and Blanco is quite good, with Saiz really getting in some iconic battle panels.

Then there’s another Full Throttle. Jarvis takes over scripting too and writes a fun, quick little story. His art’s good and the story moves well.

Dark Horse Presents (1986) #154

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Finally… a solidly mediocre issue.

Iron Reich 3000 isn’t bad. Land writes it like an infantry comic set in the future (one has to wonder about Starship Troopers influences) and Saiz and Blanco do a good job with the art. Saiz’s abilities are clear here… but he does draw all his characters like male models. It’s hard to believe they’re grimy soldiers.

The second installment of Full Throttle is better than the first. Sivasubramanian is only confusing when it comes to referring back to that first part, actually. More nice art from Jarvis. It’s a story about robotic gorillas—and a cute little robotic monkey. It’s got to be all right.

The second part of the Angel story is a little bit better than the first, as Golden and Sniegoski complicate the setup a little. Horton and Lee’s artwork of scary forest animals is good, far better than their people.

Dark Horse Presents (1986) #153

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I think some of these Presents licensed properties stories might be ideal examples of why properties should never be licensed across mediums. This issue’s Angel—and Golden and Sniegoski’s script isn’t even bad—is too short and too slight, even for the concept (one of the Angel cast makes a Blair Witch movie for demons). Horton and Lee’s art could be a lot better too.

The surprise of the issue is The Mask. Gilroy’s script is engaging and entertaining—even though the Mask (as illustrated by Marangon and Emberlin) is the laughing version, Gilroy’s approach is one of terror and foreboding. The two tones don’t match well, but it’s the best story the issue… and in the last few Presents issues, in fact.

Just when I think Armstrong’s art might be getting better on Doc Thunder, he loses his ability to draw the human body proportionately. Once again, it’s awful.

Dark Horse Presents (1986) #152

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Von Shelly has another fumetti this issue. While I suppose it’s a bit of an achievement to mix all the photos together, it’s godawful. Von Shelly’s writing is real bad. It’s clear he thinks his work is maybe the greatest thing ever; only a similarly minded (i.e. illiterate) reader would enjoy it.

Full Throttle is a futuristic bike messenger story and it makes no sense. The confusing nature of it aside, writer Sivasubramanian has a couple good details (both in the first few pages, but both very creative). Jarvis’s artwork is excellent. He maintains a nice balance between detail and motion. Even if it’s incompressible, it’s entertaining.

And finally, another installment of Doc Thunder from Armstrong. This installment manages to be less ambitious but somehow stupider than the first one. Armstrong does detail on a gradient—sometimes his art has some detail; usually it’s rather unfinished. It’s a lousy comic.

Dark Horse Presents (1986) #151

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Mignola’s Hellboy is inexplicably pointless. Hellboy’s sort of the main character, but it’s really this secret group of people out to… kill him? Study him? Mignola never specifies and it makes the ending flop. The first part is decent—it is nice how Mignola works out a three-act structure even in eight pages or whatever—but it quickly descends into pointlessness.

Then there’s Armstrong and Doc Thunder. Now, Armstrong’s name seems a little familiar so I’m wondering if he’s become someone. Here, he’s doing a really bad Kirby homage. Armstrong can almost do the buildings and city skyline, but when it comes to characters his artwork is terrible. As for the writing… it fails to make an impression. Once it’s clear he’s going for Kirby-esque, the art’s failings command ones attention.

Finally, Von Sholly does a fumetti mixing King Kong and The Most Dangerous Game with Nazis. It’s fairly awful.

Dark Horse Presents (1986) #150

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The issue opens with Petrie, Richards and Pimentel on Buffy. Petrie’s writing is awful (Buffy explains the story to herself through expositional dialogue) and the art is fairly weak. Even the resolution is lame.

Chadwick’s Concrete is bad, but in interesting ways. Chadwick avoids the usual humanity of his stories (good or bad) and concentrates on the action. His art’s odd too—he outlines Concrete in thick inks.

The Devil Chef has a single good joke at the end. Maybe Pollock’s first good joke….

Amara and Davis finish The Nevermen. As usual, great art, bad writing. Here we find out the Presents three-part story is just a pointless prologue.

Brunner’s story about recent college graduates is hilariously awful. It’s so absurdly written, one wonders if Presents had any submission standards at this point.

And Moncuse’s Fish Police closes the issue. Another dumb story (with pedestrian art) for a bad issue.

Dark Horse Presents (1986) #149

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Something about this issue is just very indistinct.

It opens with Amara and Davis’s The Nevermen. It’s got some fabulous art—Davis is illustrating all these different pulpy heroes and villains with some sci-fi elements. It fabulous looking. The writing is awful. Amara’s plotting is confusing and his dialogue is wooden. Art’s great though.

Then there’s another Xena story, maybe the silliest license I can think of. Wagner manages a decent job on the script—except for the TV stuff, it feels like Roman history for a bit. Deodato does great—except on the TV characters, who he carefully draws to look like the actors. It’s a pointless story.

Arcudi and Sook’s Ragnok closes the issue. Arcudi’s writing is still confusing. It’s not clear if it’s supposed to be “real world” and just feature weirdos, because the fantastic elements aren’t here this installment. And, unfortunately, Sook’s still aping Mignola.

Dark Horse Presents (1986) #148

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Something about this issue is just very indistinct.

It opens with Amara and Davis’s The Nevermen. It’s got some fabulous art—Davis is illustrating all these different pulpy heroes and villains with some sci-fi elements. It fabulous looking. The writing is awful. Amara’s plotting is confusing and his dialogue is wooden. Art’s great though.

Then there’s another Xena story, maybe the silliest license I can think of. Wagner manages a decent job on the script—except for the TV stuff, it feels like Roman history for a bit. Deodato does great—except on the TV characters, who he carefully draws to look like the actors. It’s a pointless story.

Arcudi and Sook’s Ragnok closes the issue. Arcudi’s writing is still confusing. It’s not clear if it’s supposed to be “real world” and just feature weirdos, because the fantastic elements aren’t here this installment. And, unfortunately, Sook’s still aping Mignola.