Dark Horse Presents 103 (November 1995)

I want to take back all the nice things I said about Shaw’s Alan Bland. This installment is annoying and idiotic–Shaw has so many sight gags, he eventually runs out of space on the page. And the script thinks old hippies (who look more beatnik) are hilarious. It’s atrocious.

Pope’s got second slot, which is nice… makes the issue more digestible. One-Trick continues, with Pope complicating the heist aspect of the narrative. It’s such a delicate mix, overall, between genre and tone. Lots of concentration on race and culture here.

Musgrove and Chamberlin contribute The Pink Tornado. No surprise from Musgrove, it’s decently illustrated and terribly written. Presents‘s emphasis on cartoonists continues to fail.

It has to be bad (besides the Pope) because Niles’s mystery is actually the second best story in the comic. There’s less bad dialogue, only because there’s less dialogue, and the mystery’s mildly interesting.

CREDITS

Alan Bland, That’s Mr. Painter to You, Part Two; script and art by Stan Shaw. The One Trick Rip-Off, Part Three; story and art by Paul Pope; lettering by Michael Neno. The God Trilogy (excerpt); pencils by Jack Kirby; inks by Mike Royer. The Pink Tornado, Part One; story and art by Scott Musgrove and Darick Chamberlin; lettering by Sean Konot. Cal McDonald, Hairball, Part Two; story by Steve Niles; pencils by Casey Jones; inks by Bruce Patterson; lettering by Konot. Edited by Bob Schreck and Scott Allie.

Dark Horse Presents 102 (October 1995)

Shockingly, the Niles story story this issue–one of his Cal McDonald ones–is mildly inoffensive. It’s poorly written detective narration, but at least he’s work in a recognized genre (badly written detective narration). It’s stupid and Casey Jones’s art isn’t any good… but it’s not intolerable.

Oh, the Marz and Wrightson Aliens story ends this issue too. It’s not as predictable as I thought it was going to be, but it’s still pointless. Maybe it’s setup for a series or something.

Shaw’s Alan Bland, about a floundering painter, is all right. Shaw’s art isn’t quite finished enough for the cartoon look, which he seems to be going for. He’s too busy with lines. But it’s not bad.

Pekar and Sacco contribute another page–this time so Pekar can tell jazz enthusiasts to check out Sun Ra. Thanks Harvey.

The issue ends with a sublime Pope installment. It’s just lovely.

CREDITS

Aliens, Incubation, Part Two; story by Ron Marz; art by Bernie Wrightson; lettering by Sean Konot. Alan Bland, That’s Mr. Painter to You, Part One; script and art by Stan Shaw. Sun Ra; story by Harvey Pekar; art by Joe Sacco. Cal McDonald, Hairball, Part One; story by Steve Niles; pencils by Casey Jones; inks by Bruce Patterson; lettering by Konot. The One Trick Rip-Off, Part Two; story and art by Paul Pope; lettering by Michael Neno. Edited by Bob Schreck and Scott Allie.

Dark Horse Presents 101 (September 1995)

Wow, has Steve Niles ever been able to write? He has a story in this issue and it’s the worst written police procedural I think I’ve ever read. A hundred issues or no, if Dark Horse was publishing Niles… imagine what made the reject pile. The Paul Lee art on the story is bad, but much better than the writing.

Musgrove’s The Alienator is more bad writing. At least the art is good. Musgrove’s drawing a bunch of ugly stuff, but he does it well. His writing is… well, it’s almost as bad as Niles’s.

There’s some inexplicable Aliens story from Marz too. But Wrightson’s doing the art so it at least looks great.

Pope’s the saving grace—One Trick Rip-Off starts this issue. This first installment sets it up as a heist story. Fantastic art; a great eight pages.

Pekar and Sacco contribute a pointless “human interest” piece.

CREDITS

Aliens, Incubation, Part One; story by Ron Marz; art by Bernie Wrightson; lettering by Sean Konot. Iced; story by Steve Niles; art by Paul Lee; lettering by Konot. The Alienator; story and art by Scott Musgrove. The One Trick Rip-Off, Part One; story and art by Paul Pope; lettering by Michael Neno. A Rose for Greg Selker; story by Harvey Pekar; art by Joe Sacco. Edited by Bob Schreck and Scott Allie.