Dark Horse Presents (1986) #134

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Warren finishes up Dirty Pair and I guess it’s good. I mean, it’s a lot of well-drawn action and the jabbering is starting to grow on me. There really isn’t a story though, just scantily clad girls in action scenes. But Warren’s art carries it.

Macan’s writing is sort of better on Carson of Venus and Doherty has a couple good panels. Still, it’s a weak series and it makes me wonder if Dark Horse was just trying every Burroughs license they could get.

The Mask returns to Presents here for the first time in a hundred issues or so. Sibin’s artwork is fantastic so it’s hard to dislike it and Fingerman concentrates on the human protagonist. It doesn’t seem dumb until the very end.

Finally, The Fall. Brubaker introduces the first fantastic element into the narrative and it’s too soon to tell if he can finish it well.

Dark Horse Presents (1986) #133

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Starting with The Fall, Brubaker introduces some complications and revelations here. I’ve read it before, but I can’t remember how it ends. This installment implies there might be some very bad things about to happen. Brubaker handles the change in tone well and Lutes’s art is great. He does fantastic night scenes.

Macan and Doherty’s Carson of Venus is pretty lame. Doherty seems like he’s just about ready to be doing profesional work… but not quite yet. And Macan’s writing is lame. He plots slow and his dialogue is terrible.

The Dirty Pair continues to be action-packed and sort of boring. The back and forth between the protagonists is occasionally amusing, but the whole thing feels artificial, like Warren was writing down quippy conversations and inserting them here.

Clugston’s Blue Monday is well-composed, but badly written. Would Dark Horse have published it if it were by a guy?

Dark Horse Presents (1986) #132

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Cooper brings Dan & Larry to a very disturbing conclusion. I mean, he really goes for it here–after backing down from going too far a few issues ago–but here, Cooper sort of leaps off the cliff and makes the installment just plain disgusting on a dozen levels. It’s great.

As for Warren’s Dirty Pair story, I don’t know what to say. Warren’s artwork is generally good, but since he’s fitting a style for the two protagonists, there’s a limit to it. He lays out his panels well for an action sci-fi comic and I suppose the writing’s all right. Doubt I’m its intended audience.

And then Brubaker starts getting towards the core of The Fall. This installment is particularly nice because it changes so much throughout–the beginning never suggests the end (at least to the protagonist). Lutes does a great job, particularly with on the last page.