Review - Dark Horse Presents 6

Ah. Dark Horse Presents. I remember picking up the first issue on a whim, looking to expand my pull list, and curious about what this new on-going anthology offered. 6 issues latter and it now rests securely at the top of my comics pile. Dark Horse Presents is easily my most anticipated comic these days. Which is strange. Because while I appreciate anthologies, they often leave me cold. Usually anthologies are themed, or have a number of creators I'm interested in. But nearly universally the short stories are self-contained done-in-one style. And while I can enjoy that. It doesn't necessarily make me interested in picking up the next anthology collection.

So what is DHP's secret? SERIALS. DHP has no fewer then 8 serialized stories going on at this time. Serialized means I can expect to read more of a given story in the future. I can get invested in the situation and character, and get excited waiting for the next installment. And boy-howdy, what a bunch of stories we have in this issue. As this is an anthology I'm going to break the book down by each story. For those who don't know, an issue of Dark Horse Presents typically contains 80 full-color pages, broken into ten 8 page story chunks. So there is a lot to enjoy.

Resident Alien Part 3 - I've really liked this sci-fi murder mystery. Peter Hogan and Steve Parkhouse do a really good job at making a town live and breath. And I really like the lead character and his motivation. That being said, this third chapter ends on a cliffhanger, and doesn't appear to be continuing next issue, or the next few if the solicitations are anything to go by. Hopefully its back in a few months. Excellent.

Finder: Third World Part 6 - Finder is an exceptional series already, this series continues that trend in full color. Each installment seems to tell a self-contained story, but you can feel the entire thing is building to something. Carla Speed McNeil is very good at world building, and this series really lets her explore it more. Fantastic.

The Adventures of Dog Mendonca and Pizzaboy Part 3 - I'm not really sure what to make of this series. Its about a Private-eye who recounts his origins as a were-wolf captured by Nazis in WW2. Which sounds interesting, but the origin story is presented in a rather laid back fashion that I find hard to get into. The origin story is book-ended by the lead character saying and doing humorous things with his partners. Its those bookends I'm enjoying far more the meat of the story. I want to read about those guys. Juan Cavia brings some seriously good looking art to the table, but it runs the risk of being too busy. Entertaining.

Beasts of Burden: Story Time - The second in a series of Beasts of Burden one-shots brought to us by Evan Dorkin and Jill Thompson. This installment the Wise Dog tells a spooky story, that really is quite cleaver and epic. BoB is such a great series, I'm glad to see it here. Fantastic.

Change - Fabio Moon brings us a short one-off story that is poetry in comic form. I can't get over how cool this story was, in style and execution. And that art. To die for. Amazing.

Blood Part Part 5 - Oh, what can I say about Neil Adam's Blood. Not much that's very nice I'm afraid. A very confusing story, characters with no personality, a progression with no logic, muddy art that's mostly covered by dialog balloons. This series has been a dud since day one. But... if only one story is truly terrible I call that a win. Horrible.

Criminal Macabre: Die, Die, My Darling! Part 3 - I don't know much about Criminal Macabre the series, so this 3 part story has been largely hard for me to get excited about. The story seems to follow a pair of vampires given a task to perform by a strange supernatural being. The resolution felt rather rushed, and based entirely on the lead character's intuition then any kind of facts. Eh. Its okay I guess. Not really my sort of comic. Fine.

Number 13 Part 5 - This series took a little while before I really started to get excited about it. Its post-apocalyptic landscapes, strange twisted mutants, and strange cyberpunk designs finally brought me around. Robert Love's artwork is gorgeous. Unfortunately, like Resident Alien this appears to be the last installment for this series for the near future. And again, its another story that ends of a cliffhanger. Annoying. But I await its return! Fun!

Marked Man Part 6 - Two issues ago Howard Chaykin cemented himself as a creator I'm going to start paying attention to. With three pages he conveyed silent emotion in a comic like I've not seen in a while. Marked Man has been overall a decent series, Chaykin's art is nice to look at (though the shiny coloring can be really distracting), and the story of a hitman with a mark on his head has been largely interesting. Even though Chaykin sometimes leaves out some story transitions that could really make this series soar. As it is, its pretty good. But not exceptional. Solid.

Skeleton Key: Room Service - A very cute series, that's a sort of super-natural Doctor Who. With two girls traveling time and space with a magical 'skeleton key', spilling them into trouble wherever they end up. I really like Andi Watson's art style. Sort of whimsical. The series is presented as a series of one-offs, and appears to be sticking around for the near future. Adorable!

Phew, that was a lot of comics to mini-review. Dark Horse Presents is in my mind everything a monthly comic should be. High in content, high in talent, and low in price (80 pages for 8 bucks is a STEAL).