Tag: Bill Mumy

Dark Horse Presents 114 (October 1996)

194824.jpg
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.

CREDITS

Lance Blastoff!; story, art and lettering by Frank Miller. Trypto the Acid Dog, Wheel of the Broken Voice, Part Two, Where Angels Fight; story by Bill Mumy and Miguel Ferrer; art by Steve Leialoha. Star Slammers, Fever Dream; story and art by Walt Simonson; lettering by John Workman. Lowlife, Part Two, Under a Big Black Sun; story, art and lettering by Ed Brubaker. Edited by Bob Schreck and Jamie S. Rich.

Dark Horse Presents 113 (September 1996)

194823.jpg
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.

CREDITS

Trypto the Acid Dog, Wheel of the Broken Voice, Part One, Circle of Fire; story by Bill Mumy and Miguel Ferrer; art by Steve Leialoha. My Vagabond Days; story by Steven T. Seagle; art by Stefano Gaudiano; lettering by Megan Rodriguez. Lowlife, Part One, Wreck; story, art and lettering by Ed Brubaker. Edited by Bob Schreck and Jamie S. Rich.