Dark Horse Presents (1986) #145

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Wow. Another generally stinky issue.

Obviously, Burglar Girls is the worst. Amara’s writing here is more confusing than anything else–he’s trying to pull a trick on the reader, but doesn’t give it any tension. In fact, the only time he foreshadows, he reveals the next panel. Barberi and Velasco’s art continues to be bad.

Shabrken is mostly weird, only getting silly and bad at the end. Henry and Lieber’s art is all right–it’s professional. Hartley’s on dialogue and he does okay for a while, then the finish just gets dumb. There’s only a page dedicated to giving it a hard cliffhanger… which comes off incredibly bad.

This Ghost story is my first. Luke’s attempts at writing a female character have a nice mainstream comics undercurrent of misogyny. Baker and Kolle’s art is so professional and decent it has no personality whatsoever. But it’s the best story this issue.

Dark Horse Presents (1986) #144

Dhp144

If it weren’t for Hedden and McPhillips, this one would be a complete stinker.

Okay, Vortex, from Kennedy, Larson and Moncuse, isn’t atrocious. It’s a dumb superhero story about a guy from another dimension who comes to Earth and does stuff, blah blah blah. What’s crazy is Kennedy does it all in summary, so the story’s present action is maybe a hundred years. The art’s not terrible.

Burglar Girls suggests Dark Horse really wanted to sell American manga… it’s an idiotic little story about three obnoxious thieves in training who go out to a nightclub. There, they meet boys, get in fights, et cetera. It’s awful. Barberi and Velasco’s art is bad, but it’s nothing compared to Amara’s dreadful writing.

Then there’s Galactic Jack (from Hedden and McPhillips). It’s light, sci-fi action comedy stuff. Lots of lasers and slime. It’s a lot of fun. They’ve still got the touch.

Dark Horse Presents (1986) #140

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The art’s not terrible on the Aliens story—Leonardi and Wiacek do all right (they certainly get the art win for this issue)—but Schultz and Amara’s writing is atrocious. They don’t just feel the need for bad dialogue, they want lots of it too. There’s endless poorly written expository dialogue. And the story is some segue into Dark Horse’s next crappy Aliens series, it doesn’t bother focusing on the neat idea—the aliens home planet. Anyway, decent looking crap.

Then it’s Usagi Yojimbo—my first time reading it ever. I thought the art would be better. Sakai seems to be doing a kids’ book, regardless of the samurai content, but he doesn’t take much time detailing his figures. I wouldn’t even call it anatomy.

Chichester, Barberi and Hvam’s Saint Slayer is ugly and bad. The art’s incomprehensible and Chichester’s writing makes the Aliens guys seem like Faulkner. Total crap.

Dark Horse Presents (1986) #139

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It’s a strange Roachmill because it’s very confined—Hedden and McWeeney set it at a public school where Roachmill’s after the school bully. So it’s sort of an all-action story. Dark Horse seems to have included both parts in this issue (there’s a very clear break, with cliffhanger), which is nice. McWeeney’s art is still good though it lacks the vivacious enthusiasm of the early days. The story’s also less about the inappropriate laughs. Maybe because it’s set at a school. Still, it’s a nice piece of work and it’s good to have some more Hedden and McWeeney.

As for Chichester and Barberi’s Saint Slayer? Umm… I don’t get it. Dark Horse had the Buffy license, so why did they print this kung fu Buffy knock-off. It’s an unpleasant read—Chichester’s writing is awful and Barberi’s art isn’t much better. It’s all action… but it plods along. Ick.