Review - Dark Horse Presents 7

Publisher 

DARK HORSE

Writers

MIKE MIGNOLA, ANDI WATSON, NEAL ADAMS, HOWARD CHAYKIN, M. J. BUTLER, STAN SAKI, TONY PURYEAR, BRANDON GRAHAM, FELIPE MELO, and CARLA SPEED MCNEIL

Artists 

MIKE MIGNOLA, ANDI WATSON, NEAL ADAMS, HOWARD CHAYKIN, M. J. BUTLER, STAN SAKI, TONY PURYEAR, BRANDON GRAHAM, JUAN CAVIA, and CARLA SPEED MCNEIL

Editor

MIKE RICHARDSON

 

What They Said 

Mike Mignola's Hellboy is the centerpiece for the 7th all-star issue of Dark Horse Presents!

In addition, this issue packs the beginnings of two new stories--200 People to Kill and Skultar, a brand-new Age of Reptiles story by Ricardo Delgado, a new Skeleton Key story by Andi Watson, and continuing stories by Howard Chaykin and Neal Adams!

* Brand new Hellboy story written and drawn by Mike Mignola!

* New Age of Reptiles and Skeleton Key stories!

What I Say
Contrary to what the solicitation text says, neither 200 People to Kill or Age of Reptiles appear this issue. In their place we appear to to have gotten a new Usagi Yojimbo by Stan Saki and a one-off story by Brandon Graham. I'm going to call that a win on our part.

Another issue of Dark Horse Presents is upon us, and once again it provides us with ten 8-page comics as only the most creative folks in comics can bring us. I'll break things down once again just to keep things concise.

HELLBOY: THE AZTEC MUMMY - Mike Mignola graces us with a one-off Hellboy tale that is largely an extended fight scene book ended by some exposition to explain the set-up. Other then Mignola's exceptional artwork I found this story a little thin on the ground, it didn't feel like it economize its space resrictions very well. But it's Hellboy and Mignola. So its still OKAY.


SKELETON KEY: LOST PROPERTY - Those adorable time and space traveling rascals; fox spirit Kitsune, schoolgirl Tamsin, and Mr. Raccoon find themselves completely lost and trapped in a museum of lost things and the only way out is to get even more lost. This is quickly becoming one of my favorite strips running in DHP. The art style, though deceptively simple, is full of life and energy. Sight gags, little background gags, and general madcapness makes this strip EXCELLENT.


BLOOD PART 6 - More incomprehensible madness. GAWD AWFUL.

MARKED MAN PART 7 - The penultimate chapter to a rather good hitman story. Lately I've been getting more and more interested in Howard Chaykin as a creator. I've really warmed up to his art style recently, and though sometimes figures look a little weird, and sometimes its a little hard to tell what characters are doing its always very unique to look at. I wish I could say the same about the coloring, which feels overly digital, with lots of very mood breaking brightness too it. This seems to be Chaykin's preferred coloring style at the moment, but I sort of wish it would get dialed back a bit. This installment sees a number of plot threads come together with LaFarge and Hecht meeting for the first time as LaFarge heads to confront the bastards who murdered his family. GREAT.

SKULTAR THE UNCONQUERED PART 1 - A new strip. I'm honestly not entirely sure what the make of it. It starts out with typical epic fantasy, with a Conan style hero, Skultar, saving a township from soldiers stealing all their male children for a far off war. But it soon turns to a bit of parody with Skultar's sidekick who interprets prophecy concerning Skultar the Unconquered, predicting how Skultar should conduct himself, how to act, and being self aware of their cliche situation. Only he gets things a little wrong in the end. Like I said, I'm, not sure about this strip yet. The art is only so so, a little muddy in places, but it has potencial. We'll see where it goes next month. WE'LL SEE.

USAGI YOJIMO: BUNTORI - Stan Saki brings us a spooky one-off story of ghostly samurai, who don't know they are dead, locked in eternal battle. And only the rabbit ronin Usagi can bring them their peace. Usagi Yojimbo is one of those great long running comics that is both storied and accessible. And this short-story is no exception. Easy to jump right into, and tells a complete story. That takes a special kind of talent. And Stan Saki has no shortage of that. His art style is at once cartoony, but lavishly detailed with bold lines. This particular story is also in color, which is a nice change of pace but I'm not sure it strengthens the piece. Maybe I'm just used to it in black and white. FANTASTIC.


CONCRETE PARK PART 1 - In the near future rapid population growth is driving up organized crime rates as the cities of the world face massive food shortages. Issac is a young tough who watches his sister get gunned down, while Luca is a young up and coming gang leader out to solidify her position by making a deal with another local gang. Being the first installment there are still a lot of lingering questions about what this series is actually about. Art wise its not that impressive or exciting but it gets the job done. Another WE'LL SEE.

THE SPEAKER - Ah, Brandon Graham you brilliant bastard. King City was one of the best sci-fi series of the last 10 years and while I wait patiently here for his next series (Extreme Studio's Prophet revival) we get this unexpected surprise. Presented in Graham's typically experimental style, it tells the story of a man's Voice who returns after the man has passed away. If that sounds crazy, it sure is. The world needs more comic creators like Brandon Graham, he does more cool stuff in 8-pages then most creators do in 80. Chestnuts like this are why I read DHP. AMAZING.

THE ADVENTURES OF DOG MENDONCA AND PIZZABOY PART 4 - I liked this installment of AoDMaP a lot more then last month's origin story conclusion. We still have the 'present day' book ends that are rather humorously tongue and cheek, but the main meat of the story was also in good fun. Plus we get to see a bit more of chain smoking monster girl Puzzal in action, who I really want to see more of. Seeing more of Dog in an afro would also be just fantastic. I'm starting to warm up to this series a lot more, though the art still seems a bit dark despite its very cartoonish style. I get the feeling its been shrunk down a bit from its original dimensions to fit, as apparently the Dog Mendonca series hails from Europe, and probably isn't drawn with US standard comic dimensions in mind. FUN.

FINDER: THIRD WORLD PART 7 - I finished reading Finder Library Volume 2 and Finder: Voice GN this month, so I have Finder on the brain pretty good at the moment. Jaeger is still at his delivery job, this time saddled with a nearly impossible task, even with his amazing skills as a tracker. He winds up in the back seat of a very particular car, and what happens next blows his mind. This particular installment felt a little light thanks to a pair of single page splash-pages that didn't do a whole lot to move the story forward. But overall its as good as it ever was. MCNEIL's artworks is completely off the chains, and seeing Finder in color is one of the cooler parts of its inclusion in DHP. AMAZING.

So there we go. Another fantastic issue of Dark Horse Presents. Next month sees the launch of Brian Wood's new science fiction series The Massive. And Mignola is back with a new BPRD short-story. Also more Beasts of Burden apparently. And the final chapter of The Marked Man. And more Finder. Basically the next issue is going to be the best issue yet. Which is pretty much the case with every new issue of Dark Horse Presents. This book drives me crazy with how great it continues to be. Why aren't you reading it?!

New Comics for the Week of 12-21-11

Thanks to going out of town to see family for Christmas I'm now hopelessly behind schedual. As much as I want to I'm never going to get through the backlog of week's I'm behind on. There are certain reviews I still want to write up, but the fact is I'm going to cherry pick them instead of doing them all. Its the only way at this point.

At any rate, it is a new week and that means Five New Comics!

DARK HORSE PRESENTS 7. FABLE 112. LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES 4. NEAR DEATH 4. SAVAGE DRAGON 177.

DARK HORSE PRESENTS 7 - Listen to this line-up. Mike Mignola. Howard Chaykin. Stan Sakai. Brandon Graham. Carla Speed McNeil. Good lordy that sure is a line up. Cover is very striking as Mignola is a master of cover design.

 
FABLES 112 - Tis the season. Long time series Fables brings in the holidays with this fab Joao Ruas cover. Santa! Death! Some little girl!

LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES 4 - This covers a little boring, but this book is on FIRE. Action! Adventure! Ultra-Boy!

NEAR DEATH 4 - Start of the series first two-part story. This series has some of the better cover designs on the stands. Some crazy rough and tumble gunplay going on here.

SAVAGE DRAGON 177 - Giant radioactive Osama Bin Laden. You're either going to loath it for its obvious shock value, or you are going to love it for its complete inanity. Either way Erik Larsen is in top form on the cover. Not sure I dig the old style logo though, and I've never been a fan of artificial 'weathering' of cover art. But some people dig it.

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).

New Comics for the Week of 11-23-11

These are the five comics I was most interested in back on Monday the 21st.

The reasons I chose the following being...

DARK HORSE PRESENTS 6 - DHP has consistently been one of my most anticipated books for the last three months. It has a certain magic too it that many other comics don't manage.
INVINCIBLE 85 - Cory Walker's return to the title for a two-part fill-in arc has got my attention.
RASL 12 - This book doesn't come out nearly often enough. So every new issue is an EVENT.
THE SHADE 2 (of 12) - James Robinson's return to the characters that made him famous has so far been a treat. Lets see if the next issue keeps up the pace.
USAGI YOJIMBO 142 - I'm fairly new to Stan Saki's ronin rabbit. So I continue to get excited every time a new issue comes out.

So that's the five for this week. Tune in soon, as I run them down one by one.