Hellboy: Seed of Destruction (1994) #1

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All right, so Mignola and Byrne conceive Hellboy as sort of a hard boiled detective. Not in the content so much, but in the first person narration Byrne writes for him. It also doesn’t really match the way Hellboy talks in dialogue either.

But the big problem is the way the story’s split. It opens with a mostly text (though illustrated) telling of Hellboy’s origin. Then it switches to a regular narrative (where presumably main characters is instead killed off before he can resonate). The modern day stuff is all action too—except the end reveal—and the issue wouldn’t feel like it had any weight if it weren’t for that prologue.

The art’s okay—the worst thing is Mignola’s Hellboy, who seems inconsistent-.

Inexplicably, there’s a Monkeyman & O’Brien backup. Adams’s art is lame and the writing is awful. It does have a couple King Kong references, but so what.

Dark Horse Presents (1986) #151

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Mignola’s Hellboy is inexplicably pointless. Hellboy’s sort of the main character, but it’s really this secret group of people out to… kill him? Study him? Mignola never specifies and it makes the ending flop. The first part is decent—it is nice how Mignola works out a three-act structure even in eight pages or whatever—but it quickly descends into pointlessness.

Then there’s Armstrong and Doc Thunder. Now, Armstrong’s name seems a little familiar so I’m wondering if he’s become someone. Here, he’s doing a really bad Kirby homage. Armstrong can almost do the buildings and city skyline, but when it comes to characters his artwork is terrible. As for the writing… it fails to make an impression. Once it’s clear he’s going for Kirby-esque, the art’s failings command ones attention.

Finally, Von Sholly does a fumetti mixing King Kong and The Most Dangerous Game with Nazis. It’s fairly awful.

Dark Horse Presents Annual (1998) 1999

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It’s a “theme” annual—characters in their youths.

It opens with Wagner, Chin and Wong on Xena. The art’s a little rough, but Wagner’s writing is solid.

Mignola’s Hellboy is adorable (as young Hellboy stories tend to be). It’s a cute couple pages.

Sakai’s Usagi Yojimbo drags. It’s way too didactic. Sakai’s art some okay moments and some not okay ones.

Shockingly, the Ghost story is good. Zanier and Mariano’s artwork is excellent and Kennedy’s writing isn’t bad. It’s confusing for a new reader, but quite decent.

This issue also has the first Groo I’ve read. Though Aragones’s art sometimes gets a little too dense, he and Evanier write a fine story.

Chadwick’s Concrete story is lame. It’s maybe the worst writing I’ve read from Chadwick.

Norwood’s Star Wars thing bores. Surprisingly weak art from him too.

The finish is Geary’s take on The Mask. Some decent art, but pointless.

Dark Horse Presents (1986) #142

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Presents does Lovecraft homage; they do it well.

The weakest is Mignola’s Dr. Gosburo Coffin (with Sook on art). It’s basically just standard Mignola (sure, there’s some Lovecraft influence, but the whole thing plays like an 1800s B.P.R.D. to some degree). Also, either Sook started out as a Mignola mimic or he’s just really good at matching styles. It’s not bad, just not particularly special.

The Devil’s Footprints from Allie and Showman is the strongest story in the issue. Allie manages a first-person narrator, getting a first act in for his story, and comes up with a decent plot. Showman’s artwork is fantastic, very illustration minded. It’s a nice little story.

Hartley and Giarrano finish the issue, giving it a nice, downbeat end Lovecraft might appriecate. Giarrano’s artwork is so good, I’m a little surprised I’d never heard of him before. Hartley’s writing is decent.

It’s a nice issue.

Dark Horse Presents Annual (1998) 1998

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The annual opens with Mignola doing a retelling of Hellboy‘s origin. I guess it’s all right. Kind of pointless, but fine.

Weissman finally gets a two page Phineas Page and shows why he should have stuck to a page.

Van Meter and Ross team for the first comic book appearance of Buffy. The writing is more lame than not, but it’s maybe the best Ross art I’ve ever seen.

Watson’s Skeleton Key is a fairly charming little story about a witch and a little kid. I’m assuming the character’s a witch, otherwise it’d be pointless. Some wacky art mistakes though.

The Ark is a long setup with aliens as pay-off. Verheiden’s got some okay writing and Randall’s art isn’t bad.

Guadiano’s art is the primary selling point on he and Seagle’s My Vagabond Days. It’s not terrible though.

Burke and Bolton’s Infirmary is confounding, but Boltan’s art is gorgeous.

Dark Horse Presents (1986) #107

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I’ll start with the worst—Devil Chef. Pollock threatens a second installment. He can draw, this story shows, he just choses not to. It’s an unfunny strip with a lot of details and zero charm.

On the other hand, Purcell and Mignola’s Rusty Razorciam is quite a bit of fun. Mignola’s not a good fit for sci-fi (it’s hard to tell what he’s trying to convey, action-wise, at times), but Purcell’s got an amusing set of characters. The protagonist narrates an incomplete adventure. It’s really rather nice, even with the art problems.

French’s Ninth Gland is weird and ominous. Not much happens this issue (the emphasis is on making the reader uncomfortable), but French’s art is fine; the story works.

Pope’s at a bridging point in One Trick. It’s a Paul Pope talking heads story, actually. It’s a good installment, very cinematically paced.

Geary does another inconsequential page.

Dark Horse Presents 107 (March 1996)

French’s Ninth Gland is weird and ominous. Not much happens this issue (the emphasis is on making the reader uncomfortable), but French’s art is fine; the story works.

Pope’s at a bridging point in One Trick. It’s a Paul Pope talking heads story, actually. It’s a good installment, very cinematically paced.

Geary does another inconsequential page.

CREDITS

Rusty Razorclam; story by Steve Purcell; art by Mike Mignola; lettering by Lois Buhalis. The Ninth Gland, Part Two; story and art by Renée French. The One Trick Rip-Off, Part Seven; story and art by Paul Pope; lettering by Michael Neno. Devil Chef, Part One; story and art by Jack Pollock. Humiliation and Debasement; story and art by Rick Geary. Edited by Bob Schreck and Scott Allie.

Dark Horse Presents (1986) #100-2

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The opening Hellboy story has, just on the surface, one major problem. Hellboy wrote Abe a letter, the text of that letter is the story’s narration. Hellboy writes letters where he sounds like an expository narrator. How uninteresting. Then it turns out the story’s actually Hellboy’s secret origin (he’s the son of a demon and a nun). Should be interesting. Isn’t. It’s not bad, it just doesn’t have any dramatic oomph.

Campbell’s got a sort of creepy, sort of not Alec story. It’s well-done if somewhat pointless.

Apparently Dark Horse thought they needed some cartoonists in Presents so they get three. Pollock’s Devil Chef is stupid (being vulgar doesn’t make a comic strip good). Neither does ripping off Ed the Happy Clown like Musgrove does in Fat Dog Mendoza. Gregory’s Bitchy Bitch art isn’t good, but the writing works.

The issue ends on a sublime, lovely note with Pope.

Dark Horse Presents 100 2 (August 1995)

Campbell’s got a sort of creepy, sort of not Alec story. It’s well-done if somewhat pointless.

The issue ends on a sublime, lovely note with Pope.

CREDITS

Hellboy, The Chained Coffin; story and art by Mike Mignola; lettering by Pat Brosseau. Alec, The Snooter; story and art by Eddie Campbell. Devil Chef, The Shining; story and art by Jack Pollock. Fat Dog Mendoza, The Secret Life of Leftovers; story and art by Scott Musgrove. Bitchy Bitch, Dream On; story and art by Roberta Gregory. Yes; story and art by Paul Pope. Edited by Bob Schreck and Scott Allie.

Dark Horse Presents (1986) #100-0

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This teaser for Dark Horse Presents 100 has some great stuff in it… but it also has some unbearably long entries.

Chadwick’s Concrete—though it’s always fun to read Concrete assuming the worst about humanity—goes on forever and turns out to be a prologue. It’s a little lame, though Chadwick’s art is decent.

LaBan’s Emo and Plum is relatively painless. It’s short, anyway. However Musgrove’s Fat Dog Mendoza is awful.

Paul Pope’s got a couple pages and it’s lovely (kind of an interactive discussion of Picasso). Some great figure work.

Brubaker and McEown tease their entry in 100, as does French. The Brubaker and McEown one seems a lot more compelling, with Brubaker’s writing strong even in the one page.

Then Mignola has an endless three page preview for his Hellboy story. It’s got a lot of expositional dialogue.

Still, this teaser’s better than many of the regular issues.