Dark Horse Presents 74 (June 1993)

I think Madwoman would read better as a single narrative, instead of sectioned off into installments. Jordorowsky makes a major plot addition this installment–the protagonist hallucinates his younger self as an advisor when it comes to being inappropriate with one of his students–and it just changes the tone completely from the last entry. The content might more fit Moebius… but the writing is nowhere near as strong.

Then there’s The Chairman, from Moore and Robinson. Robinson is not ready to be illustrating professionally. His figures are loose, his action is awful… Dark Horse has been publishing good artists in Presents (or at least recognized ones) for quite a while. Robinson is step back. Of course, Moore’s writing is really dumb, sci-fi stuff; they just don’t care.

The Eudaemon story finishes here. Nelson’s art will have these fine panels, then terrible ones. But the writing… wow, it stinks.

CREDITS

The Chairman, Part One; story by Charles Moore; art by Andrew Robinson; lettering by Pat Brosseau. The Madwoman of the Sacred Heart, Part Five; script by Alexandro Jordorowsky; art by Moebius; lettering by Dave Cooper. The Eudaemon, Night of Fear, Part Three; story and art by Nelson DeCastro; lettering by Steve Dutro. Edited by Randy Stradley.

Dark Horse Presents 73 (May 1993)

The Madwoman is growing on me. Moebius’s artwork is solid throughout, maybe not the best thing for a talking heads story, but Jordorowsky keeps getting better. The story–and the reason for the title to include Madwoman–is becoming more and more clear. It’s no longer a boring academia story, it’s now a quirky academia story. I’m not sure how many installments are left, but it’s getting good.

Hopefully, Dominique ends this issue. Balent’s losing the ability to properly show perspective–the first page of the story is almost incomprehensible, as he also is making his male characters appear female. Not intentionally, just out of laziness. It’s wrong to blame Balent for Dominique being awful though… the writing is at fault. Charles and Lisa Moore are inane. The story couldn’t end fast enough.

As for Nelson’s Eudaemon? It’s just as dumb as ever, with lots of lazy art. Icky bad.

CREDITS

The Madwoman of the Sacred Heart, Part Four; script by Alexandro Jordorowsky; art by Moebius; lettering by Dave Cooper. Dominique, The Hardest Part, Part Three; story by Charles Moore and Lisa Moore; script by Charles Moore; art and lettering by Jim Balent. The Eudaemon, Night of Fear, Part Two; story and art by Nelson DeCastro; lettering by Steve Dutro. Edited by Randy Stradley.

Dark Horse Presents 72 (April 1993)

What a disaster.

Madwoman is probably the best entry overall and even it’s pretty weak. Moebius is drawing a melodrama–it’s a soap opera and not a visually interesting one. Once the talking heads section passes, there’s some nice design at least. He’s always capable, but it’s sort of pointless. Jordorowsky has one rather excellent scene, but he immediately follows it with a lousy one.

Nelson’s Highlander with monsters epic, Eudaemon, has decent enough art and terrible writing. Dark Horse Presents hasn’t published such bad writing in a while–it’s hard to get through a page without snickering. Nelson’s exposition is particularly bad.

The final story, Dominique, finishes the issue on a low point. Balent starts fine, but then gets weaker and weaker. First his anatomy goes, then his faces. It starts, visually, fine and ends bad. The writing is somewhere between weak and dumb.

It’s a very bad issue.

CREDITS

The Eudaemon, Night of Fear, Part One; story and art by Nelson DeCastro; lettering by Steve Dutro. The Madwoman of the Sacred Heart, Part Three; script by Alexandro Jordorowsky; art by Moebius; lettering by Dave Cooper. Dominique, The Hardest Part, Part Two; story by Charles Moore and Lisa Moore; script by Charles Moore; art and lettering by Jim Balent. Edited by Randy Stradley.