Dark Horse Presents 54 (September 1991)

The big surprise this issue is Byrne’s Next Men. It’s actually pretty solid (though I think it features all four Byrne faces). The art’s great–nice flow of action–and the story’s intriguing. I think it’s the strongest narrative structure I’ve ever read from Byrne (though it might just be because it’s a prologue).

Geary’s got a few Transgression Hotline strips. They’re solid, amusing and unremarkable. Geary’s a professional though and they’re well-produced.

The Homicide closer from Morrow and Arcudi is fabulous. Morrow transforms the strip from Arcudi’s regular bore to something out of a film noir. During this installment, Arcudi even manages to insert something subtle, which I didn’t realize he was capable of doing.

Finally, Sin City. Miller uses almost this entire installment to promote violence, torture and cruelty. Wait, can you torture without cruelty? Anyway, he throws in some terrible dialogue and narration as a bonus.

CREDITS

Homicide, The Creep, Part Two; story by John Arcudi; art and lettering by Gray Morrow. The Next Men, Interlude; story, art and lettering by John Byrne. Transgression Hotline; story, art and lettering by Rick Geary. Sin City, Episode Five; story, art and lettering by Frank Miller. Edited by Randy Stradley.

Dark Horse Presents 53 (August 1991)

It turns out all I need to like Homicide is a good artist. I think Arcudi fashioned the story to fit Morrow’s sensibilities, but it’s easily the best dialogue Arcudi’s written on the series. Morrow really shows how important an artist is in making a mediocre (at best) script work.

Geary’s got a single page again. It’s a little more profound than usual and not entirely successful.

Paley’s got a crazy cat strip and it’s simply lovely. She breaks the comic strips panels and lets loose this swash of ink. Even with Morrow in the issue, it’s the best art, just because she’s doing so much on each page. It’s a great comic.

Not great (or good) is the Biggers, Brooks and Johnson entry, Earth Boys. It’s two wasted pages.

As for Sin City? The only thing worse than a regular Sin City entry is one where Miller does filler.

CREDITS

Sin City, Episode Four; story and art by Frank Miller. Secret Places of My Shameful Past; story and art by Rick Geary. Kute Kitty Kartoon; story and art by Nina Paley. Earth Boys, Wheel to Power; story by Cliff Biggers, Brett Brooks and Dave Johnson; art by Johnson. Homicide, The Creep; story by John Arcudi; art and lettering by Gray Morrow. Edited by Randy Stradley.

Blazing Combat (1965) #3

Bc3

There’s a lot of great art this issue… but it seems like Goodwin was getting worn out. There really aren’t any stories with any bite–even the WWII one with the marine taking gold teeth from every corpse he finds.

The opening story, credited to Joe Orlando but apparently pencilled by Jerry Grandenetti, is an indistinct monotony of war story. All of the faces look identical (Orlando did ink it, so maybe he is responsible after all). Goodwin relies a lot on action sequences this issue. Almost all the stories have lots of them.

Alex Toth’s story, set in what appears to be a post-apocalyptic Russia (but it could be anywhere, the Russia thing is just a guess), is probably the weakest. Toth’s art doesn’t go well with the story of a survivor who goes crazy when he encounters others.

The Wally Wood (maybe Dan Adkins pencilled) is best.

Blazing Combat 3 (April 1966)

The Wally Wood (maybe Dan Adkins pencilled) is best.

CREDITS

Special Forces; writer, Archie Goodwin; penciller, Jerry Grandenetti; inker, Joe Orlando. Foragers; writer, Goodwin; artist, Reed Crandall; letterer, Ben Oda. U-Boat; writer, Goodwin; artist, Gene Colan; letterer, Oda. Survival; writers, Alex Toth and Goodwin; artist and letterer, Toth. The Battle of Britain; writer and inker, Wally Wood; penciller, Dan Adkins; letterer, Oda. Water Hole; writer, Goodwin; artist, Gray Morrow; letterer, Oda. Souvenirs; writer, Goodwin; artist, John Severin; letterer, Oda. Editor, Archie Goodwin; publisher, Warren.

Blazing Combat (1965) #1

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In seven stories–from the Revolutionary War to the burgeoning Vietnam conflict–there isn’t a single moment of humor. Goodwin doesn’t give the reader a single moment to forget he or she is reading a war comic. There’s so little humor, it’s got to be intentional. If Goodwin had just been writing loose, someone would make a joke at some point. There’s no joking here.

Goodwin’s soldiers–regardless of what war they’re fighting in–are devastatingly human. Whether it’s the vengeful GI killing a Nazi POW, a disfigured Revolutionary War soldier or an observer in Vietnam–when they were still mostly observing. Blazing Combat needs to be read to be believed. It’s amazing anything like this comic was ever published, especially in the sixties.

There’s some amazing art–George Evans is my favorite, doing a story about fliers, but John Severin’s does a nice job too.

It’s a significant work.

Blazing Combat 1 (October 1965)

There’s some amazing art–George Evans is my favorite, doing a story about fliers, but John Severin’s does a nice job too.

It’s a significant work.

CREDITS

Viet-Cong; artist, Joe Orlando. Aftermath; artist, Angelo Torres. Flying Tigers; artist, George Evans. Long View; artist, Gray Morrow. Cantigny; artist, Reed Crandall. Combat Quiz; artist, Alex Toth. Mad Anthony; pencillers, Tex Blaisdell and Jeff Jones; inker, Maurice Whitman. Enemy; artist, John Severin. Writer and editor, Archie Goodwin; letterer, Ben Oda; publisher, Warren.

Superman (1939) #238

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Superman finally decides he can’t go around on half-power–but there’s a great butt shot from Swan on the first page for the ladies when he’s leaping instead of flying–at the end of the issue. His sand-double has been sucking his powers away and worse, the sand-double isn’t willing to help as Superman has to save the planet.

It’s kind of a neat way to agitate a situation (it starts as a ransom demand, but then there’s the atom bomb being dropped into the earth’s core) and O’Neil’s of the crisis is excellent. His devices to distract from Superman when Superman’s off page getting his plan together… not so excellent. They’re okay, but basically just standard “Where is Superman?” scenes with the supporting cast.

The back-up Krypton story has nice art from Gray Morrow, but it’s a lame Adam and Eve as sci-fi story.