Tag: Francisco Velasco

Dark Horse Presents (1986) #145

Dhp145

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.