Tag: Steve Moncuse

Dark Horse Presents (1986) #150

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The issue opens with Petrie, Richards and Pimentel on Buffy. Petrie’s writing is awful (Buffy explains the story to herself through expositional dialogue) and the art is fairly weak. Even the resolution is lame.

Chadwick’s Concrete is bad, but in interesting ways. Chadwick avoids the usual humanity of his stories (good or bad) and concentrates on the action. His art’s odd too—he outlines Concrete in thick inks.

The Devil Chef has a single good joke at the end. Maybe Pollock’s first good joke….

Amara and Davis finish The Nevermen. As usual, great art, bad writing. Here we find out the Presents three-part story is just a pointless prologue.

Brunner’s story about recent college graduates is hilariously awful. It’s so absurdly written, one wonders if Presents had any submission standards at this point.

And Moncuse’s Fish Police closes the issue. Another dumb story (with pedestrian art) for a bad issue.

Dark Horse Presents (1986) #144

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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.