Dark Horse Presents 87 (July 1994)

This issue is fairly weak.

The Eighth Wonder finishes. Plunkett’s art is good and Janes’s scenic writing–his dialogue, for example–is fine, but the story lacks any real heft. It feels like they hurried or ran out of pages. It ends with a great unanswered questions–why no boats? They’re building a bridge from Europe to Colombia. What happened to boats? It’s disappointing, after the first installment, but not terrible.

Geary’s got a bunch of single page contributions. Like most of his work, some are good, some are not so good. They feel like filler.

Chadwick turns in an utterly useless summary of Concrete’s origin. It might have been nice back in the late eighties, when he first appeared. Interestingly, there’s the promise of a second Concrete… though I doubt Chadwick would ever think of them fighting,

The last Star Riders appears here, thank goodness. Racine’s art is terrible.

CREDITS

The 8th Wonder, Part Three; story by Peter Janes; art by Kilian Plunkett; lettering by Vickie Williams. Concrete; story and art by Paul Chadwick; lettering by Bill Spicer. Home Remedy, Standing on Line, Yes, It Happened, The Phantom Telephone; story, art and lettering by Rick Geary. Star Riders, Part Three; story by Étienne Gagnon and Edward Martin III; art by Alex Racine; lettering by Williams. Edited by Randy Stradley.

Dark Horse Presents 86 (June 1994)

The issue opens with a sci-fi story–from Watt-Evans and Robinson–about a female space traveler who finds a world filled with adorable little creatures out of a Disney cartoon. It turns out they’re very amorous to the human female, which provides for a rather amusing story. Watt-Evans’s story is well-paced and always thoughtful. There are the technical problems of the protagonist, but she’s always around the funny little green guys. It’s too bad Robinson’s art isn’t better.

Star Riders is weak. Everything good about the first installment is missing here. Gagnon complicates everything with technical jargon and sci-fi details. Racine’s art gets real lazy–quite an achievement considering he appears to have photocopied his pencils and called them inked.

Janes and Plunkett’s Eighth Wonder is too short and too slight this issue. Some nice Plunkett art, but unfortunately Janes’s narrative seems to have stalled.

CREDITS

A Breath of Fresh Air; story by Lawrence Watt-Evans; art by Andrew Robinson; lettering by Vickie Williams. Star Riders, Part Two; story by Étienne Gagnon and Edward Martin III; art by Alex Racine; lettering by Williams. The 8th Wonder, Part Two; story by Peter Janes; art by Kilian Plunkett; lettering by Williams. Edited by Randy Stradley.

Dark Horse Presents 85 (May 1994)

This issue might be the first where there’s nothing great, but nothing bad. Everything is just solid. In fact, everything is ambitious too. Well, except maybe Star Riders, which appears to be a tie-in to a roll playing game.

Johnson and Dringenberg’s opener is about an Imperial Japanese artist who’s a little too good at his work. Dringenberg’s emotive artwork–and especially his panel designs–do well. Johnson’s a little pretentious, but it’s a ghost story set in Imperial Japan appearing in an American comic… not much chance it wasn’t going to be pretentious.

Janes and Plunkett’s Eighth Wonder is about a scientist aiding in the construction of a huge bridge. It’s in a steampunk setting and it’s generally fine. It goes on a little long though.

Star Riders (from Gagnon and Racine) is harmless space adventure stuff. It’s not too technical; it worries more about being fun instead.

CREDITS

The Painted Horse; story by Kij Johnson; art by Mike Dringenberg; lettering by Steve Dutro. The 8th Wonder, Part One; story by Peter Janes; art by Kilian Plunkett; lettering by Vickie Williams. Star Riders, Part One; story by Étienne Gagnon and Edward Martin III; art by Alex Racine; lettering by Williams. Edited by Randy Stradley.