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The Damned (2006) #5
Bunn brings Damned to a predictable, yet still unpredictable conclusion. The main story about the mob war ends predictably… but there’s a lot unexpected elements here. One’s a new story thread introduced, another’s a conclusion for a character—both have to do with how little Bunn has actually revealed about his protagonist. Unfortunately, the ending is… 📖
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Dark Horse Presents 97 (May 1995)
I wonder what Rennie’s Kabuki Kid scripts look like. This installment has a setup, introduces some villains, then it just goes wild. Langridge has the Kabuki Kid and his sidekick fighting an army of adversaries (though it does get weeded through fast). It’s funny and fast, even better than the first installment. Schutz and Pander… 📖
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Con Air (1997, Simon West), the extended edition
I loathed Con Air back when I first saw it. I’ve only seen it that one time, opening night thirteen years ago. And many of my complaints at the time still hold true–Nicolas Cage is awful, John Cusack is awful (worse, his jokes fall flat), Simon West is a terrible director (but thirteen years later… 📖
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The Damned 5 (February 2007)
Bunn brings Damned to a predictable, yet still unpredictable conclusion. The main story about the mob war ends predictably… but there’s a lot unexpected elements here. One’s a new story thread introduced, another’s a conclusion for a character—both have to do with how little Bunn has actually revealed about his protagonist. Unfortunately, the ending is… 📖
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Amblin’ (1968, Steven Spielberg)
Amblin’ might have more charm if I cared about hippies. The film should be called, The Adventures of Two Hitchhiking Hippies. Or one and a half hippies. I’m not even sure they’re supposed to be hippies, maybe just kind of hippies. There’s no dialogue in the film (oddly, it’s not even implied the two protagonists… 📖
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The Damned (2006) #4
I’m not sure if I just remember the twist in The Damned or if it’s obvious. It’s probably a little of both. Here, in the fourth issue, Bunn gets around to really establishing the demon mythology (still no word on when they first showed up). Hurtt really shows his range here. He’s got the period… 📖
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The Damned (2006) #3
I think this issue is Bunn’s first all action issue. I guess it’s not all action, but the second half is a long action sequence (a gunfight) punctuated by a mob shootout. The opening is some more weirdness going on with the demons and Eddie talking to the Worm. Bunn’s dialogue makes the Worm sequence… 📖
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The Damned 4 (January 2007)
I’m not sure if I just remember the twist in The Damned or if it’s obvious. It’s probably a little of both. Here, in the fourth issue, Bunn gets around to really establishing the demon mythology (still no word on when they first showed up). Hurtt really shows his range here. He’s got the period… 📖
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The Damned 3 (December 2006)
I think this issue is Bunn’s first all action issue. I guess it’s not all action, but the second half is a long action sequence (a gunfight) punctuated by a mob shootout. The opening is some more weirdness going on with the demons and Eddie talking to the Worm. Bunn’s dialogue makes the Worm sequence… 📖
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Open Range (2003, Kevin Costner)
Because I’m a cynic, I have to point out the following–in order to revive the Western, that most American of genres (sort of), Costner had to film Open Range in Canada. It’s hard to think of a more traditional Western than Open Range. But the way Costner films it, it’s nouveau-Technicolor–the sky impossibly blue, the… 📖
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The Damned (2006) #2
Hurtt gets really gross this issue. Not so much in the first half. The first half is all demons and bigger demons and Eddie being all beat up. The second half has a multi-eyed demon with all his eyes torn out wrapped in barbed wire. Then there’s the Worm, who Bunn first mentioned last issue.… 📖
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The Damned (2006) #1
It’s amazing how much Bunn fits into this issue. It really shows what a comic can do without ads to worry about. He does a cinematic opening of the protagonist—Eddie—being resurrected. Then he has Eddie meet up with one gangster (all the major gangsters are demons, not sure Bunn ever bothers explaining it), then another,… 📖
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The Damned (2006) #0
This prequel slash teaser slash ashcan ran as a backup in other Oni titles and online. I’ve read The Damned before and… although there’s some nice Hurtt art here (there’s a double page spread, not a lot of action, but the art is beautiful), it’s not a very good preview. Bunn sort of introduces the… 📖
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The Damned 2 (November 2006)
Hurtt gets really gross this issue. Not so much in the first half. The first half is all demons and bigger demons and Eddie being all beat up. The second half has a multi-eyed demon with all his eyes torn out wrapped in barbed wire. Then there’s the Worm, who Bunn first mentioned last issue.… 📖
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The Damned 1 (October 2006)
It’s amazing how much Bunn fits into this issue. It really shows what a comic can do without ads to worry about. He does a cinematic opening of the protagonist—Eddie—being resurrected. Then he has Eddie meet up with one gangster (all the major gangsters are demons, not sure Bunn ever bothers explaining it), then another,… 📖
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The Damned 0 (October 2006)
This prequel slash teaser slash ashcan ran as a backup in other Oni titles and online. I’ve read The Damned before and… although there’s some nice Hurtt art here (there’s a double page spread, not a lot of action, but the art is beautiful), it’s not a very good preview. Bunn sort of introduces the… 📖
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Dark Horse Presents (1986) #96
I’m not sure if Presents has ever had such a good issue. They may have… but this one’s rather excellent. Brubaker and Gaudiano’s Here and Now is a detective story, but one with an introspective, lost in his thoughts not his cases detective. Gaudiano’s artwork is fantastic–it’s basically a guy walking around most of the… 📖
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Bathing and the Single Girl (2010, Christine Elise McCarthy)
There are a couple moments in Bathing and the Single Girl where McCarthy almost laughs at herself. The short is a filmed monologue. McCarthy, in a variety of settings, talks directly to the camera. She’s recounting two related events–with digressions. The second event has an excellent punchline. But she doesn’t end on the punchline; she… 📖
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Dark Horse Presents 96 (April 1995)
I’m not sure if Presents has ever had such a good issue. They may have… but this one’s rather excellent. Brubaker and Gaudiano’s Here and Now is a detective story, but one with an introspective, lost in his thoughts not his cases detective. Gaudiano’s artwork is fantastic–it’s basically a guy walking around most of the… 📖
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Dark Horse Presents (1986) #95
LaBan finishes Eno and Plum better than he started but not as good as the second installment. I think this one is the first I laughed out loud reading, but the story’s predictable and LaBan still doesn’t do anything to turn Plum into a character. Worse, he gives her these moronic thoughts. I’d say it’s… 📖
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Dark Horse Presents (1986) #94
Okay, so the issue opens with Eddie Campbell doing an action story. It’s not all action, but there’s a bunch of action. It’s crazy—there’s a big fight scene. Campbell keeps all the humor and a lot of the thoughtfulness (he tones down the thoughtfulness a little) and adds a regular fight scene. It’s crazy and… 📖
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Dark Horse Presents (1986) #93
This issue’s content implies the Presents editors didn’t care about the script, as long as the art was good. It’s a real improvement, actually, since there are some issues whether neither are any good. I’ll start with Blackheart to get it out of the way. Morrison uses demonic possession as his deus ex machina here.… 📖
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Dark Horse Presents (1986) #92
The issue opens with Wheeler’s Too Much Coffee Man, which is a cute enough story about a disaffected guy with a coffee pot for his head. Wheeler uses the character to generally rail against modern capitalist society. Wheeler’s got a good sense of design and some of the observations are funny (none are profound). It’s… 📖
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Dark Horse Presents 95 (March 1995)
LaBan finishes Eno and Plum better than he started but not as good as the second installment. I think this one is the first I laughed out loud reading, but the story’s predictable and LaBan still doesn’t do anything to turn Plum into a character. Worse, he gives her these moronic thoughts. I’d say it’s… 📖
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Dark Horse Presents 94 (February 1995)
Okay, so the issue opens with Eddie Campbell doing an action story. It’s not all action, but there’s a bunch of action. It’s crazy—there’s a big fight scene. Campbell keeps all the humor and a lot of the thoughtfulness (he tones down the thoughtfulness a little) and adds a regular fight scene. It’s crazy and… 📖
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Dark Horse Presents 93 (January 1995)
This issue’s content implies the Presents editors didn’t care about the script, as long as the art was good. It’s a real improvement, actually, since there are some issues whether neither are any good. I’ll start with Blackheart to get it out of the way. Morrison uses demonic possession as his deus ex machina here.… 📖
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Dark Horse Presents 92 (December 1994)
The issue opens with Wheeler’s Too Much Coffee Man, which is a cute enough story about a disaffected guy with a coffee pot for his head. Wheeler uses the character to generally rail against modern capitalist society. Wheeler’s got a good sense of design and some of the observations are funny (none are profound). It’s… 📖
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Dark Horse Presents (1986) #91
You know, Mignola doing a fight scene isn’t particular impressive. In fact, Hellboy had a fairly boring finish. Mignola tries to maintain the minimalist tone for the fight and so the fight is lame. There isn’t even any resolution to the story itself. It’s just Hellboy versus a big werewolf, who may or may not… 📖
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Time Bomb (2010) #3
Well, if anything, this issue of Time Bomb does feature Gulacy’s best two panels in the last… five years? I’m trying to remember the last time anything he did wowed me. It’s been a long time, but there are a couple close-ups here… it’s just beautiful art. It got me looking at the rest of… 📖
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The Immortal Iron Fist: The Origin of Danny Rand (2008) #1
Thank goodness Marvel felt the need to recolor the first two appearances of Iron Fist with some terrible glossy digital coloring from Andrew Crossley. Someone with time on his or her hands should do a comparison between Crossley’s “modern” colors here and the originals from Marvel Premiere. Oddly, there’s a classy opening from Fraction and… 📖
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Dark Horse Presents (1986) #90
Mignola looks good in black and white. There are some very effective panels in Hellboy. The writing helps. He knows when to write and when to just let the art do its work. Up until the end of this issue, it’s almost like Hellboy is a passive force in the story. He’s an unknown quantity.… 📖
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Dark Horse Presents (1986) #89
This issue features something I never wanted to see… a Paleolove pin-up from Davis. You can tear it out and put bad art up on your wall. His artwork is really weak for the first half, maybe his worst ever. It gets a little better for the second half of the boring installment. The writing… 📖
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Dark Horse Presents 91 (November 1994)
You know, Mignola doing a fight scene isn’t particular impressive. In fact, Hellboy had a fairly boring finish. Mignola tries to maintain the minimalist tone for the fight and so the fight is lame. There isn’t even any resolution to the story itself. It’s just Hellboy versus a big werewolf, who may or may not… 📖
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Time Bomb 3 (December 2010)
Well, if anything, this issue of Time Bomb does feature Gulacy’s best two panels in the last… five years? I’m trying to remember the last time anything he did wowed me. It’s been a long time, but there are a couple close-ups here… it’s just beautiful art. It got me looking at the rest of… 📖
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The Immortal Iron Fist: The Origin of Danny Rand 1 (October 2008)
Thank goodness Marvel felt the need to recolor the first two appearances of Iron Fist with some terrible glossy digital coloring from Andrew Crossley. Someone with time on his or her hands should do a comparison between Crossley’s “modern” colors here and the originals from Marvel Premiere. Oddly, there’s a classy opening from Fraction and… 📖
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Dark Horse Presents (1986) #88
Is this issue the first appearance of Hellboy? I think it might be my first full Hellboy (not B.P.R.D.) story. It’s good, but Mignola does something weird with the conclusion. He sets the whole thing up, then has Hellboy come in and reveal it all before the first installment’s done. Makes all the setup a… 📖
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Dark Horse Presents 90 (October 1994)
Mignola looks good in black and white. There are some very effective panels in Hellboy. The writing helps. He knows when to write and when to just let the art do its work. Up until the end of this issue, it’s almost like Hellboy is a passive force in the story. He’s an unknown quantity.… 📖
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Dark Horse Presents 89 (September 1994)
This issue features something I never wanted to see… a Paleolove pin-up from Davis. You can tear it out and put bad art up on your wall. His artwork is really weak for the first half, maybe his worst ever. It gets a little better for the second half of the boring installment. The writing… 📖
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Dark Horse Presents 88 (August 1994)
Is this issue the first appearance of Hellboy? I think it might be my first full Hellboy (not B.P.R.D.) story. It’s good, but Mignola does something weird with the conclusion. He sets the whole thing up, then has Hellboy come in and reveal it all before the first installment’s done. Makes all the setup a… 📖
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Dark Horse Presents (1986) #87
This issue is fairly weak. The Eighth Wonder finishes. Plunkett’s art is good and Janes’s scenic writing–his dialogue, for example–is fine, but the story lacks any real heft. It feels like they hurried or ran out of pages. It ends with a great unanswered questions–why no boats? They’re building a bridge from Europe to Colombia.… 📖
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Dark Horse Presents 87 (July 1994)
This issue is fairly weak. The Eighth Wonder finishes. Plunkett’s art is good and Janes’s scenic writing–his dialogue, for example–is fine, but the story lacks any real heft. It feels like they hurried or ran out of pages. It ends with a great unanswered questions–why no boats? They’re building a bridge from Europe to Colombia.… 📖