-
Dark Horse Presents (1986) #103
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… 📖
-
Dark Horse Presents 106 (February 1996)
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… 📖
-
Dark Horse Presents 105 (January 1996)
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… 📖
-
Dark Horse Presents 104 (December 1995)
Musgove and Chamberlin have a Helen Keller joke in this installment of The Pink Tornado, presumably because they thought it makes them edgy. They’re really just incredibly stupid and rather terrible writers. Their dialogue’s endless and their art’s bad. As for Niles’s Cal McDonald, it’s fine. I mean, it’s bad, but it’s Jones’s fault. Niles… 📖
-
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… 📖
-
F/X2 (1991, Richard Franklin)
F/X2 is very affable. It’s so affable, it encourages one to overlook its major shortcomings. First off, it’s a PG sequel to an R-rated original, which cuts down on the grit (though rated PG-13, the rating’s needlessly inflated with minor nudity). Second, it’s got Toronto standing in for New York. There’s some New York location… 📖
-
Robin’s Big Date (2005, James Duffy)
All the Warner Bros. Batman films have, for the most part anyway, avoided the Adam West TV series. So thank goodness for Robin’s Big Date, which doesn’t just embrace the show, but forces it into “reality.” The big draw of Big Date is Sam Rockwell playing Batman. Sorry, The Bat-Man. He and Justin Long–as Robin–are… 📖
-
Dark Horse Presents (1986) #102
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… 📖
-
Dark Horse Presents (1986) #101
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… 📖
-
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… 📖
-
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… 📖
-
Starborn (2010) #2
There are countless issues with Starborn. I mean, the thing opens in an alien council—it looks like a mix of Star Wars and fantasy (some big minotaur looking thing)—but my major problem is buying into the story requires the reader to buy into the protagonist’s stupid sci-fi enthusiasm. The gimmick (the protagonist’s dumb sci-fi novels… 📖
-
Léon (1994, Luc Besson), the long version
When he’s doing good work, Luc Besson makes these transcendent films, but even some of his lesser works often have some moments with that quality. Léon does not. Many of the elements are there–but something’s off. Maybe it’s something simple, like Jean Reno is supposed to be playing an Italian immigrant who, apparently, just acts… 📖
-
Starborn 2 (January 2011)
There are countless issues with Starborn. I mean, the thing opens in an alien council—it looks like a mix of Star Wars and fantasy (some big minotaur looking thing)—but my major problem is buying into the story requires the reader to buy into the protagonist’s stupid sci-fi enthusiasm. The gimmick (the protagonist’s dumb sci-fi novels… 📖
-
The Traveler (2010) #2
Maybe I’m just overly sensitive to this kind of thing right now, but Waid refers to one of the characters as an “unemployed sales clerk.” Um, if she’s unemployed, she’s not a sales clerk. I guess it sounds better than token black character. This issue is actually leaps and bounds better than the first, even… 📖
-
Soldier Zero (2010) #2
It’s actually kind of impressive how substantial a read Cornell makes this issue… especially since it takes place over about an hour. Unfortunately, Cornell’s writing failures here are the kind of thing…. A big part of the issue is what voice Soldier Zero is talking to the protagonist with. The Soldier Zero part (which goes… 📖
-
The Traveler 2 (December 2010)
Maybe I’m just overly sensitive to this kind of thing right now, but Waid refers to one of the characters as an “unemployed sales clerk.” Um, if she’s unemployed, she’s not a sales clerk. I guess it sounds better than token black character. This issue is actually leaps and bounds better than the first, even… 📖
-
Soldier Zero 2 (November 2010)
It’s actually kind of impressive how substantial a read Cornell makes this issue… especially since it takes place over about an hour. Unfortunately, Cornell’s writing failures here are the kind of thing…. A big part of the issue is what voice Soldier Zero is talking to the protagonist with. The Soldier Zero part (which goes… 📖
-
Dark Horse Presents (1986) #100-5
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… 📖
-
Red Princess Blues (2010, Alex Ferrari)
Oh, it’s Robert Forster narrating? It sounded like someone doing a William Shatner impression. Red Princess Blues is a superhero short. Sure, Rachel Grant is playing a kung fu vigilante (or something), but it’s basically a superhero thing. It opens with a very nice shot of a carnival (the establishing shots utilize the Panavision aspect,… 📖
-
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… 📖
-
Dark Horse Presents (1986) #100-4
I guess Dave Gibbons had no quibbles about Frank Miller ripping off Watchmen for their Martha Washington story this issue. Nice art, bad writing. Forney’s got an anecdote about meeting Tom Waits. It has some charm, but not enough to sustain it. Then Geary’s back with a one page strip, as are Pekar and Sacco.… 📖
-
Dark Horse Presents (1986) #100-3
The Concrete story goes on forever, but it’s actually pretty funny how it turns out. Not funny enough to laugh at, but Chadwick definitely comes up with something amusing. Oh, I’ll just spoil it–a mom and son pull a long con on Concrete for something he did back in his first appearance. Decent art, nothing… 📖
-
Dark Horse Presents (1986) #100-2
The opening Hellboy story has, just on the surface, one major problem. Hellboy wrote Abe a letter, the text of that letter is the story’s narration. Hellboy writes letters where he sounds like an expository narrator. How uninteresting. Then it turns out the story’s actually Hellboy’s secret origin (he’s the son of a demon and… 📖
-
Dark Horse Presents 100 4 (August 1995)
I guess Dave Gibbons had no quibbles about Frank Miller ripping off Watchmen for their Martha Washington story this issue. Nice art, bad writing. Forney’s got an anecdote about meeting Tom Waits. It has some charm, but not enough to sustain it. Then Geary’s back with a one page strip, as are Pekar and Sacco.… 📖
-
Hustle (1975, Robert Aldrich)
Leonard Maltin calls Hustle pretentious. I think he’s referring to the spotlights Aldrich shines in people’s faces for close-ups. I think Maltin’s wrong about those shots and their pretense. Aldrich isn’t being pretentious, he’s just totally incompetent when it comes to directing a movie like Hustle. But I’m not talking about the story content–it’s a… 📖
-
Dark Horse Presents 100 3 (August 1995)
The Concrete story goes on forever, but it’s actually pretty funny how it turns out. Not funny enough to laugh at, but Chadwick definitely comes up with something amusing. Oh, I’ll just spoil it–a mom and son pull a long con on Concrete for something he did back in his first appearance. Decent art, nothing… 📖
-
Dark Horse Presents 100 2 (August 1995)
The opening Hellboy story has, just on the surface, one major problem. Hellboy wrote Abe a letter, the text of that letter is the story’s narration. Hellboy writes letters where he sounds like an expository narrator. How uninteresting. Then it turns out the story’s actually Hellboy’s secret origin (he’s the son of a demon and… 📖
-
Dark Horse Presents (1986) #100-1
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… 📖
-
Dark Horse Presents (1986) #100-0
This teaser for Dark Horse Presents 100 has some great stuff in it… but it also has some unbearably long entries. Chadwick’s Concrete—though it’s always fun to read Concrete assuming the worst about humanity—goes on forever and turns out to be a prologue. It’s a little lame, though Chadwick’s art is decent. LaBan’s Emo and… 📖
-
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… 📖
-
Dark Horse Presents 100 0 (July 1995)
This teaser for Dark Horse Presents 100 has some great stuff in it… but it also has some unbearably long entries. Chadwick’s Concrete—though it’s always fun to read Concrete assuming the worst about humanity—goes on forever and turns out to be a prologue. It’s a little lame, though Chadwick’s art is decent. LaBan’s Emo and… 📖
-
The Damned: Prodigal Sons (2008) #3
Bunn and Hurtt finish up The Damned here (for now). Apparently, Prodigal Sons was nothing but a bridging series to the next storyline, where the demons are at war once more. This series, in some ways, serves its goals—it introduces Eddie’s brother, it introduces Eddie’s parents, it explores the underworld. It’s also a complete and… 📖
-
The Damned: Prodigal Sons 3 (August 2008)
Bunn and Hurtt finish up The Damned here (for now). Apparently, Prodigal Sons was nothing but a bridging series to the next storyline, where the demons are at war once more. This series, in some ways, serves its goals—it introduces Eddie’s brother, it introduces Eddie’s parents, it explores the underworld. It’s also a complete and… 📖
-
The Damned: Prodigal Sons (2008) #2
And here’s where The Damned falls apart. The entire first series, it was implied if not directly stated people knew the demons lived among them. This issue establishes people do not. Only a select few (namely, all the humans in the first series). Why they don’t tell other people? Bunn doesn’t explain. This issue is… 📖
-
The Damned: Prodigal Sons (2008) #1
I’m not sure when Bunn and Hurtt came up with the idea for Prodigal Sons, but it seems like it was during the last issue of the first Damned series. Here, Eddie’s not the protagonist. Instead, it’s his brother (Morgan, I think). And we find out Eddie was always cursed, ever since he was a… 📖
-
Dark Horse Presents (1986) #99
Campbell finishes Doreen Grey here and it’s an awkward installment. It’s almost like he would have been better not resolving things. He’s got a lot of expositional dialogue here from the Eyeball Kid and it really just doesn’t work. It’s maybe his least successful Presents entry and story (the story gradually getting weaker over time).… 📖
-
The Damned: Prodigal Sons 2 (May 2008)
And here’s where The Damned falls apart. The entire first series, it was implied if not directly stated people knew the demons lived among them. This issue establishes people do not. Only a select few (namely, all the humans in the first series). Why they don’t tell other people? Bunn doesn’t explain. This issue is… 📖
-
The Damned: Prodigal Sons 1 (April 2008)
I’m not sure when Bunn and Hurtt came up with the idea for Prodigal Sons, but it seems like it was during the last issue of the first Damned series. Here, Eddie’s not the protagonist. Instead, it’s his brother (Morgan, I think). And we find out Eddie was always cursed, ever since he was a… 📖
-
Dark Horse Presents 99 (June 1995)
Campbell finishes Doreen Grey here and it’s an awkward installment. It’s almost like he would have been better not resolving things. He’s got a lot of expositional dialogue here from the Eyeball Kid and it really just doesn’t work. It’s maybe his least successful Presents entry and story (the story gradually getting weaker over time).… 📖
-
Dark Horse Presents (1986) #98
I’m tempted to mention Cooper’s one page strip first because it’s a page and I don’t really have anything to say about it. Oops, there I went and did. Brubaker and Gaudiano finish up Here and Now. It’s got a bit of a surprise ending, which makes perfect sense, but for whatever reason (probably a… 📖
-
Dark Horse Presents 98 (June 1995)
I’m tempted to mention Cooper’s one page strip first because it’s a page and I don’t really have anything to say about it. Oops, there I went and did. Brubaker and Gaudiano finish up Here and Now. It’s got a bit of a surprise ending, which makes perfect sense, but for whatever reason (probably a… 📖