Dark Horse Presents (1986) #114

Miller’s pseudo-anti-misogyny Lance Blastoff is back… it’s amazing how someone can turn in something so stupid and pretend it’s profound. I guess the sci-fi setting means Miller has to work a little harder on his art.

Trypto gets weird this time. The dog develops superpowers and goes around (flying like Krypto) freeing and magically rehabilitating dogfighting dogs. And maybe killing the fight audience. Mumy and Ferrer’s script is fine. They turn their passion for the cause (anti-dogfighting) into a working story. Again, Leialoha bites off more than he can chew art-wise.

Simonson copies and pastes a bunch of panels, zooming sometimes, for Star Slammers. It’s some dumb sci-fi thing (better than Blastoff, but not really).

And Brubaker’s Lowlife? Wow. He gives another breakup this end of the world importance and drags his protagonist through the gutter. Then gets somewhere quietly profound. Very good story.

Dark Horse Presents (1986) #113

I was trying to remember where I knew Leialoha from… he inks now. He pencils and inks Trypto, which has a superhero dog splash page and then a rather traditional story. It’s about a stolen dog being forced to dogfight. Mumy and Ferrer’s script is fine and Leialoha has some imaginative composition, but his art doesn’t carry it.

Seagle and Gaudiano’s My Vagabond Days is set in the late sixties; it concerns a disrespectful young kid learning those soldiers in Vietnam are over there dying for his freedom. Seagle’s writing is, politics aside, lame. Worse, Gaudiano doesn’t work very hard on the art—it’s almost like a sketch album.

Thankfully, Brubaker’s Lowlife appears. Is Chris the protagonist the whole time (the Brubaker stand-in)? Anyway, this story chronicles the first day of a breakup. Inventive, human dialogue and some great composition. I’ve read these stories before, and they’re still great.

Dark Horse Presents (1986) #112

One Trick Rip-Off finishes here, the first story in the issue too. It’s pretty clear Pope was thinking, especially here—it has a multi-page wordless sequence for dramatic effect—of a single sitting read, not a one-year one. Some very nice art; some weak sentiment. The finish might read better as a single piece.

Actually, it’s an issue of finale installments—French has Ninth Gland’s strange close next and it’s… creepy and disturbing but not at all horrifying. In fact, if one were to synopsize the series, it would sound strange but not scary.

And then there’s Egg. Lovece writes this installment from the perspective of the egg creature. It’s an alien of some sort. I think Lovece is trying to do something about the cycle of abuse (inferring the kid beat the ugly alien for misbehaving with a crowbar). Well-intentioned or not, the writing’s idiotic.

Dark Horse Presents (1986) #111

I was expecting The Ninth Gland to be creepier this issue, but I guess French has to save something for the finish. While it’s disturbing, it’s just disturbing imagery. The story itself is rather tame—though I imagine the payoff next issue will be something awful.

Speaking of awful… Egg, Lovece and Schenck after-school special about a father beating his son and the son bringing home a giant monster. This issue is from the father’s perspective and Lovece writes him even worse than he wrote the son. It’s interesting how, in both installments, the whole world is actually out to get the father and son.

Pope’s penultimate One Trick Rip-Off is gorgeous—lots of great panels this time, fantastic movement between them. It’s an action story; a great looking action story.

Too Much Coffee Man is incredibly bland this issue. Wheeler’s observations are straight out of “Dear Abby.”

Dark Horse Presents (1986) #110

The issue opens with Egg, which is a well-intentioned look at child abuse. The narrator’s father is beating him and the school officials aren’t doing anything to help, even though some are well-intentioned. Lovece’s writing is better in dialogue. Dealing with the narrator’s Stockholm Syndrome, he fails. Also, introducing a giant creature into the situation seems a little cheap. Schenck’s art is fine.

Pope’s One Trick is an action installment. He seems to be ramping up for the conclusion. The art’s great but it’s gone on too long, especially if Pope’s going to load up the ending with action versus story.

The Ninth Gland is getting even freakier—one of the girls is now hallucinating some very disturbing things. Let’s not forget these two girls are hanging around in a hospital basement with the janitor either….

Then Wheeler’s got a page of Coffee Man, who I didn’t miss.

Dark Horse Presents (1986) #109

I can’t believe I’m about to make this statement—I liked Milgrom’s story the best. It’s some charming little thing about a guy treating his roaches as pets (after all other attempts at pet owning in New York fail). Milgrom’s style is more comic strip than I’ve seen and it works. Even if the protagonist does look like Peter Parker with a receding hairline.

Pope’s One Trick opens the issue and I remembered all the characters in this installment. One of them was mentioned briefly in the first installment. One Trick doesn’t seem to be meant for a lengthy, interrupted read. Pope’s pacing suggests it should be read in a sitting (I know Dark Horse traded it eventually).

Devil Chef ends this issue… it’s a slightly less annoying read knowing Pollock won’t be back with it next time.

And French’s Ninth Gland? Still no real story, just incredibly, uncomfortably weird.

Dark Horse Presents (1986) #108

Ninth Gland is fairly gross this issue, though French still hasn’t done anything to tell the reader what the story’s about. There’s something growing in the alien horse and the two girls who brought it to the hospital maintenance man will be affected somehow. It’s creepy.

Pollock’s Devil Chef installment is somewhat less annoying than usual for most of the pages, then it has a moronic ending. The concept—the FDA approving food with a parasite in it to force consumers to eat only that foodstuff—is interesting, actually. Too bad Pollock’s writing is awful.

Then Pope’s got problems with One Trick. It’s impossible to keep his characters straight here (I swear he’s changed one character’s hair color from blond to brown). Also, it feels a little padded. Nice last page though.

DeMos and Gillis have an anti-suicide story. Gillis’s art is fine. DeMos wrote two lines of dialogue.

Dark Horse Presents (1986) #107

I’ll start with the worst—Devil Chef. Pollock threatens a second installment. He can draw, this story shows, he just choses not to. It’s an unfunny strip with a lot of details and zero charm.

On the other hand, Purcell and Mignola’s Rusty Razorciam is quite a bit of fun. Mignola’s not a good fit for sci-fi (it’s hard to tell what he’s trying to convey, action-wise, at times), but Purcell’s got an amusing set of characters. The protagonist narrates an incomplete adventure. It’s really rather nice, even with the art problems.

French’s Ninth Gland is weird and ominous. Not much happens this issue (the emphasis is on making the reader uncomfortable), but French’s art is fine; the story works.

Pope’s at a bridging point in One Trick. It’s a Paul Pope talking heads story, actually. It’s a good installment, very cinematically paced.

Geary does another inconsequential page.

Dark Horse Presents (1986) #106

Okay, so Wray did have something to do with “Ren & Stimpy.” Otherwise, it’d be a little too coincidental. He does the art on Big Blown Baby (Fleming scripts). Great art, very detailed, very fluid. Too bad Fleming’s script is just a mediocre absurdist comedy thing. It’s amazing how many of these poorly written, obscenity-laden strips Dark Horse felt the need to publish.

Very nice One Trick installment, with Pope stranding protagonist Tubby in the middle of nowhere. The story’s a neo-noir, maybe the most inventive ever. Pope paces the installment slowly, more cinematically than the rest of it. I sometimes forget how good Pope is with narrative structure. He really works hard at it.

Then it’s Ed Brubaker writing a Godzilla. More, it’s Brubaker writing a comedic Godzilla strip. Cooper’s art is fun, the story’s inventive. It’s amazing how much better it is than Baby. See, writing helps.

Dark Horse Presents (1986) #105

Dark Horse had a misprint this issue. A couple pages were out of sequence on Niles’s Cal McDonald. Well, that misprint in addition to continuing Shaw’s Alan Brand and Musgrove and Chamberlin’s Pink Tornado.

What’s funniest about Shaw this issue is how lazy he gets. Lots and lots of white space here. Alan Brand started out interesting and then got idiotic very quickly. As it did, Shaw’s art got lazier and lazier.

As for Pink Tornado, the art’s a bit better this issue. Musgrove and Chamberlin have problems with eyes. They also, again, write poorly. It’s amazing someone at Dark Horse thought this material constituted quality. Given the subject matter (a fetus as a superhero), maybe they were just trying to get press.

Niles’s story ends. It’s bad, but fine.

This installment of One Trick finds Pope plotting a very European twist. The cliffhanger’s sort of confusing, but excellent overall.