Dark Horse Presents 117 (January 1997)

Okay, Dr. Spin and Trypto come around a little here.

First, Rennie finally finds some kind of narrative for his characters (reassembling a disbanded team) to go along with all the comic book jokes. Though he does coin the title, “Infinite Crisis,” here. A shame he couldn’t sue DC. Langridge’s art is excellent, but the composition doesn’t allow for one to easily notice all his details.

Mumy and Ferrer find a story on Trypto too. The kid finds out his dog is some kind of space dog (Leialoha’s terrible about illustrating the bad aliens as cats though—it’s sort of incredible). The story’s a got a mildly touching ending, following a nice alternate reality sequence.

Then there’s the Aliens story, from Barr and Colan. Colan’s already in his pencils only phase here and Dark Horse published them without much clean-up. It’s okay Colan, decent dialogue, total waste of time.

CREDITS

Aliens, Headhunters; story by Mike W. Barr; art by Gene Colan; lettering by Sean Konot. Dr. Spin, Part Three, Requiem for a Heavyweight; story by Gordon Rennie; art by Roger Langridge. Trypto the Acid Dog, Wheel of the Broken Voice, Part Five, Days of Future Past; story by Bill Mumy and Miguel Ferrer; art by Steve Leialoha. Edited by Bob Schreck and Jamie S. Rich.

Dark Horse Presents 116 (December 1996)

Unfortunately, it’s a very loose issue.

Musgrove’s installment of Fat Dog Mendoza here is a big improvement over his previous work. Musgrove goes for cheap sight gags and a less narration while doing some decent artwork. It’s painless, occasionally amusing, but never funny.

Without the dogfighting element, Trypto is lost. There’s a space alien element introduced, which is a whole lot less interesting than what Mumy and Ferrer were doing earlier. Again, they give Leialoha a script he can’t render coherently. I’m assuming the ending—with dog and his boy owner kidnapped by aliens—means something will happen next time.

As for Rennie and Langridge’s Dr. Spin? The joke’s old and it’s only the second installment. Langridge’s art keeps the story going to some degree, but making fun of crossover events and grim and gritty comics needs some structure. Rennie just has it pop up everything. It’s a disappointing development.

CREDITS

Fat Dog Mendoza, Lies (Sweet Little Lies); story, art and lettering by Scott Musgrove. Trypto the Acid Dog, Wheel of the Broken Voice, Part Four, Lost in Space; story by Bill Mumy and Miguel Ferrer; art by Steve Leialoha. Dr. Spin, Part Two, Sgt. Bananas and the Baboon Platoon; story by Gordon Rennie; art by Roger Langridge. Edited by Bob Schreck and Jamie S. Rich.

Dark Horse Presents 115 (November 1996)

Wow, what a downer.

Arcudi’s The Creep returns (with O’Connell on art this time). It’s a very depressing story about him hanging out with a prostitute. It’s utterly fantastic. It still shocks me Arcudi can be so subtly devastating.

Trypto has a happy installment though; the dog rescues his owner from a drug cartel. Again, Leialoha’s art doesn’t convey the story well. Mumy and Ferrer’s emphasis has changed… it’ll be interesting to see where they go now.

Rennie and Langridge’s Dr. Spin is a bunch of fun too—it’s an anti-superhero comic superhero comic. It’s a lot of fun, with Rennie getting in a lot of jabs at the industry in general. Langridge is a little more restrained than usual, but excellent.

Then there’s Lowlife. It’s Brubaker writing from a girl’s perspective about her unhappy romances and perpetuating them. Some hiccups in the perspective, but it’s an effective downer.

CREDITS

The Creep; story by John Arcudi; art by Brian O’Connell; lettering by Sean Konot. Trypto the Acid Dog, Wheel of the Broken Voice, Part Three, L.A. Proved Too Much for the Man; story by Bill Mumy and Miguel Ferrer; art by Steve Leialoha. Dr. Spin, Part One, Trapped in the Dimension of Pretension; story by Gordon Rennie; art by Roger Langridge. Lowlife, Part Three, When I Started Saying “We”; story, art and lettering by Ed Brubaker. Edited by Bob Schreck and Jamie S. Rich.