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?!

Review - Usagi Yojimbo 142

Three months ago I suddenly came to a shocking revelation. I'd never actually read any of Stan Sakai's Usagi Yojimbo! Oooops! Not one to let such injustice stand I ran out and bought the first three collections. Going in I knew some of the basics, Usagi is a traveling masterless Samurai, also he's also a rabbit. The mix of fast paced action, quite introspection, physical comedy, historical drama, and fantasy adventure hit all the right notes for me and I immediately regretted not jumping on the title years ago. Along with working my way through the many (many!) collections I bit the bullet and hopped on the latest issue.

First off, one thing I really respect about Usagi Yojimo as a whole is its accessibility. Its stories typically are self-contained, either within a single issue or in a story arch. This latest issue illustrates this rather well. With Usagi wandering the Japanese countryside, as he does, and coming across people in danger and in need of assistance. In this case a team of runners in the employ of a local lord are rapidly transporting a precious cargo as a special gift to another lord. But their long over-land route is beset by bandits and wild animals. Usagi steps in to help, and finds himself taking up the duty of the runners though he has no personal ties to their lord. The beautiful elegance of this story is in its apparent straight forwardness, but taking a step back reveals its larger complex nature. Particularly where what drives Usagi to do what he does is concerned. At 24 pages long, it weaves a very satisfying narrative, that makes you long for other comics to have as much economy of space.

Stan Sakai might be a good writer, but he's also something of a deft hand with a pen too. The line work showcased in this issue is nothing short of inspirational. Characters are lively, backgrounds are detailed, motion flows from panel to panel you can definitely feel a lot of love goes into the creation of this comic.

After years of putting it off, I've finally jumped into this series with both feet, and have continued to find it rewarding. Its certainly the sort of on-going series I can see myself following for years to come, and this issue is a really good example of just why that is. EXCELLENT.

Next: INVINCIBLE (well... soonish. I don't actually have my copy yet. Its in the mail. Maybe not til the end of the week.)

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.