Dark Horse Presents 100 5 (August 1995)

Only in Dark Horse Presents can you open with Art Adams and close with Paul Pope.

The Adams Monkeyman and O’Brien story appears to be some kind of homage to Plan 9 from Outer Space. So maybe Adams’s terrible dialogue is in line with that approach. Regardless, it’s fairly awful.

Then Hernandez has an utterly fantastic story about a bunch of carnies reunited. It opens with one thing, moves somewhere else. It’s just great. Second story in and they’ve already made up for Adams and set the issue apart in terms of quality.

Hedden’s Frankenstein, P.I. is well-drawn and mildly amusing.

Oh, then there’s a Milk and Cheese from Dorkin mocking alcoholism. If these strips were only a page, they might be a little less putrid.

Pope (with Smith) closes with a THB. It’s beautiful looking, but even more–Pope finds a profound moment in his action. Just great.

CREDITS

Monkeyman & O’Brien, I Was the Alien; story and art by Art Adams; lettering by Lois Buhalis. Los Malcriados; story and art by Mario Hernandez. Frankenstein, P.I., Butcher’s Night Out!; story by Rich Hedden; art by Hedden and Mike McPhillips. Milk and Cheese, Alcoholics Unanimous!; story and art by Evan Dorkin. Panfried Girl; story and art by Paul Pope and Jeff Smith; lettering by Lorie Witte. Edited by Bob Schreck and Scott Allie.

Dark Horse Presents 100 1 (August 1995)

Where to start….

Miller opens the issue with sort of a “ha ha, you can’t say it’s misogynistic because it’s intentional” Lance Blastoff! story. Killing dinosaurs, eating meat, those are the things women really need whether they know it or not. The writing’s crap—no shock—but Miller at least draws the dinosaurs.

Bennett and Guinan’s Heartbreakers returns after fifty issues and is no less boring. Sometimes it veers towards interesting territory, but it’s setup for more adventures. Bennett and Guinan avoid the human factor in the new ground situation. Art’s decent.

Pekar and Sacco’s thing is, besides being pointless, fine.

French’s Ninth Gland is really weird. It might be something good, it might not. Too soon to tell.

Lewis has a cute, foul-mouthed animal cartoon strip. Until the Dorkin piece, it’s the most annoying thing in the comic.

As for Dorkin’s Milk and Cheese? I don’t get it.

CREDITS

Lance Blastoff!; story and art by Frank Miller. Heartbreakers, Destination: Earth; story by Anina Bennett and Paul Guinan; art by Guinan and Todd Herman; lettering by Willie Schubert. Peeling and Eating a Tangerine (and Disposing of the Seeds); story by Harvey Pekar; art and lettering by Joe Sacco. The Ninth Gland, Part One; story and art by Renée French. Aboard the Drinking Leviathan; story and art by Jon Lewis. Milk and Cheese, The Devil Made Them Do It!; story, art and lettering by Evan Dorkin. Edited by Bob Schreck and Scott Allie.