Dark Horse Presents #8

Written by Mike Mignola, John Arcudi, Evan Dorkin, Tony Puryear, Neal Adams, Howard Chaykin, Alan Gordon, Brian Wood, Martin Conaghan, Rich Johnston, and MJ Butler
Art by Duncan Fegredo, Jill Thompson, Tony Puryear, Neal Adams, Howard Chaykin, Thomas Yeates, Kristian Donaldson, Jimmy Broxton, Simon Rohrmüller, and Mark Wheatley

There are a lot of new things popping up in Dark Horse Presents lately, as some of the inaugural series in this anthology have conclude or gone on hiatus.  With these new stories come some big-name creators, and some people with whom I'm unfamiliar but am very curious to see more from.

This issue starts with a Kate Corrigan story.  Kate is a central character in Mike Mignola's BPRD, and in this story she reacts to the news of Hellboy's death, after meeting his companion Alice in a cemetery in England.  Some of the emotion in this story feels a little forced, and I found myself much more interested in what was happening between Kate and her German boyfriend Bruno than I was in the death of Hellboy.

There is an excellent Beasts of Burden story by Evan Dorkin and Jill Thompson, involving our usual cast of animals meeting a group of strange sheep one day.  Dorkin and Thompson have just about perfected their approach to these horror stories that feature talking animals.  Normally, I'd stay away from something like this, but these two have made these characters so loveable, and their stories so sad and loving, that I can't stay away.  This is one of the best comics being made these days.

I continue to be very interested in Tony Puryear's Concrete Park.  It's a near-future gangster science fiction story, and while he's still really just establishing characters and their relationships to one another, I find it pretty fascinating.  I've always been drawn to strong world-building in comics, and I'm appreciating the level of thought and planning on display in this series.

Howard Chaykin's Marked Man ends well.  I haven't always enjoyed this story of a hired thief and assassin who, after many years of successfully anonymous crime, is exposed, and his family killed.  He gets his revenge in this chapter, and Chaykin makes some interesting choices.

There is a very strange Tarzan story that starts in this issue.  It's set in a future world where most of our world lies in ruin.  Tarzan lives in a series of hidden apartments which are also greenhouses (I think), and gets approached by some people to do something.  Really, I think I need to read this again.  I did enjoy Thomas Yeates's art, which always looks so old school and so great.  This story reminded me a lot of Arvid Nelson's Zero Killer series of a few years back.

Brian Wood and Kristian Donaldson's new series The Massive debuts here, although what all it's going to be about is not yet clear.  We do get some very cool visuals of an independent military contractor being the only survivor after an oil rig that has been taken over by eco-terrorists gets buffeted by insanely strong waves.  It's Wood, so I know this is going to be great.

Martin Conaghan (who?) and Jimmy Broxton (who I loved on Knight & Squire, and who has reached some internet notoriety of late over his involvement in the failed Kickstarter sequel to Smoke) give us a very cool done-in-one story about time travel and cloning (two things which should never mix).

Rich Johnston, of Bleeding Cool fame, starts off a new series here, 'The Many Murders of Miss Cranborne.'  This is about a little old British lady who kills men of the cloth who she believes are not pure in their intent.  With Simon Rohrmüller's art, and the doughty speech patterns of the murderess, we are strongly in Agatha Christie meets Rick Geary territory, and I love it.

There are also new chapters of Skultar, which is kind of funny, and Neal Adams's Blood, which is still god-awful.  It's a shame there isn't a new chapter of Finder this month - that would have made this just about perfect.

Dark Horse Presents #6

Written by Peter Hogan, Carla Speed McNeil, Felipe Melo, Evan Dorkin, Fábio Moon, Neal Adams, Steve Niles, Robert Love, David Walker, Howard Chaykin, and Andi Watson
Art by Steve Parkhouse, Carla Speed McNeil, Juan Cavia, Jill Thompson, Fábio Moon, Neal Adams, Christopher Mitten, Robert Love, Howard Chaykin, Andi Watson, and Geof Darrow

Another month, another incredibly varied collections of stories in Dark Horse Presents.  This issue is a treat though, as it has a story by Fábio Moon, who is one of my favourite artists working today.  His story is about people challenging themselves, and it has the poetic quality familiar in his and his brother's work, especially to anyone who has read the brilliant Daytripper.  This piece was a nice surprise.

Also, there's a new Beasts of Burden story by Evan Dorkin and Jill Thompson, which is also always welcome.  I did have a problem with this story though - it's flashback nature (the Wise Dog is telling a story to some puppies as the framing device) led Thompson to use sepia tones instead of her usual warm watercolours.  Still, this is a lovely little story.

I'm currently reading the first of the two Dark Horse Finder Library editions, and so the new Finder story by Carla Speed McNeil was of particular interest to me.  I like how accessible she's been making these shorts, and they definitely played a part in my seeking out the rest of her work.

I also continue to enjoy some of the on-going serials in this volume.  Number 13 is great, as is Resident Alien.  The Adventures of Dog Mendonca and Pizzaboy continues to grow on me, as does Howard Chaykin's Marked Man.

I found Andi Watson's ghost story to be cute if not really to my tastes, and I continue to not be very impressed with Criminal Macabre (which is at least over).  I find Neal Adams's Blood unreadable.

Dark Horse Presents #4

Written by Evan Dorkin, Chuck Brown, Felipe Melo, Robert Love, David Walker, Peter Hogan, Steve Niles, Howard Chaykin, Ricardo Delgado, Carla Speed McNeil, and Dara Naraghi
Art by Jill Thompson, Sanford Greene, Juan Cavia, Robert Love, Steve Parkhouse, Christopher Mitten, Howard Chaykin, Ricardo Delgado, Carla Speed McNeil, and Victor Santos

Now this is a lot more of what I was expecting from the beginning with Dark Horse Presents.  This issue launches a few new stories, and misses some of the others that have been annoying me, creating a much more balanced book, which made me much happier.

Of course, there are three stories in here that make the whole thing worth buying: a Beasts of Burden story, another chapter of Finder, and The Protest, a memoir.  The Beasts are as great as always, as two of the wise dogs (of course, one is Orphan the cat) go hunting for a Goblin that has been eating chickens in the town.  Beasts of Burden is beautiful, and this story is both amusing, and a little darker than some of the previous ones.  The Finder story was a little unclear (I miss McNeil's annotations, which would have come in handy here), but reinforces that I should really be getting the Finder Library collections.

The Protest is terrific.  It is about Dara Naraghi's life in Tehran, shortly after the Revolution.  He and his friend are supposed to attend a protest march with their school, but the bully who usually tortures them helps them out.  It's a subtle and interesting work, and would work alongside Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi's comic memoir which deals with the same material.  I love the way Victor Santos drew this - it reminds me a lot of Rafael Albuquerque.

The Adventures of Dog Mendonca and Pizzaboy didn't look too interesting, until we established that the private eye main character has been around for a really long time, and is a werewolf.  The art is nice, and I'm curious to see where this story goes.

Resident Alien, by Peter Hogan and Steve Parkhouse shows a lot of promise.  It's about an extraterrestrial who is trying to live in secret on Earth, but who has now been tapped by the police in the middle of nowhere area he lives to help with a murder case.  I'm looking forward to the rest of this one.

Ricardo Delgado's Age of Reptiles is pretty, but silent, so I found it didn't do a whole lot for me.  I think I just don't care about dinosaurs, really.

I'm continuing to really enjoy Love and Walker's Number 13, and was surprised to find myself getting more interested in Howard Chaykin's Marked Man.  The new Criminal Macabre story did nothing for me, despite having art by Christopher Mitten, and I continue to not really get Rotten Apples.

I missed Concrete this month, but was very happy to see that Neal Adams's Blood was not to be seen.  I feel like this anthology is on the right track.

Beasts of Burden #4

Written by Evan Dorkin
Art by Jill Thompson

I really feel like this was the best mini-series of 2009, and it came as a total surprise to me. I had never read the 'Book of...' shorts (still haven't despite their being available on-line for free), and wasn't a fan of Evan Dorkin's comedic work. I picked up the first issue for Thompson's art, and was blown away by the level of quality in this comic.

Now, with this fourth issue, we get more of the same greatness. While each of these issues has told a done-in-one story, we see here that they build on each other, and paint a picture that shows that bad things are happening in Burden Hill. This time around, the gang investigates some strange goings on in a cemetery, which includes a resurrected human, who the animals can talk to.

Central to this comic is the strong character work from both Dorkin and Thompson. These animals are individual characters, and the creators have a really good feel for who they are, and what they each bring to the story.

I strongly urge anyone who hasn't been buying this to either snatch up the single issues, or buy the trade when it becomes available.

Beasts of Burden #3

Written by Evan Dorkin
Art by Jill Thompson

This title is one of the best things on the stands right now. This issue is a perfect example of how to write a one-off comic.

The Orphan, the only cat to ever be accepted by the Wise Dogs, is convinced that Dymphna, another cat who I assume the gang met during one of their earlier appearances, is still alive and in trouble in the Burden Hill sewer system. He gets geared up, and travels into the tunnels with another cat, The Getaway Kid.

This being 'Beasts of Burden', they do of course run into trouble with rats, and their rescue plans don't work out exactly the way they wanted.

The fact that I never read the earlier story with Dymphna did not in any way make it difficult to understand everything I needed to know about these characters and their relationships, which is such a nice thing to come across when one is used to reading continuity-heavy comics.

As always, the art here is absolutely gorgeous. Thompson has outdone herself yet again. I'm very sad that there is only one issue of this series remaining, but I hope to see it return in some form or another.

Beasts of Burden #2

Written by Evan Dorkin
Art by Jill Thompson
The first issue of Beasts of Burden was a pleasant surprise for me. With this second issue, I had pretty high expectations, and they were met and surpassed. This is one of the best books on the stands today.

In this issue, the crew of Watchdogs have been working hard at investigating the paranormal around their area, and have apparently built up a reputation for solving problems, attracting any number of crackpot animals.

Then, a mother who has lost her pups comes looking for help, and the gang embark on a mission that is both heartbreakingly sad and disturbing.

As with the previous issue, Thompson's art is incredible, and the story has a perfect blend of funny and suspenseful moments.

Beasts of Burden #1

Written by Evan Dorkin
Art by Jill Thompson

Most comic artists can't draw dogs. I remember reading something by Dan Jurgens once - I think it was a spin-off mini-series from JMS's Rising Stars, and being embarrassed for him when I saw the dog in it - it looked like that robot dog-thing in the original Battlestar Galactica. Since then, I've noticed that whenever dogs, or often any animals, appear in comics, they look terrible, unless they're just standing very stiffly.

Jill Thompson can draw dogs. Really, Thompson can draw just about anything, but in this comic, it's the dogs that stand out. Okay, the giant demon frog stands out, but the dogs look very doggy. Thompson is able to give them all distinct personalities and character traits, but without really humanizing them. She keeps within the visual repertoire of the dog world. Her painted colours are beautiful, and this book really stands out.

This is not the type of book I would normally buy. Humour comics of the type Dorkin usually writes aren't my thing. I hated The Incredible Journey as a kid, and only liked The Littlest Hobo for the theme song. Don't get me started on Lassie or any other pet-based TV show. I'm not an animal person.

But, this book - about a group of animal paranormal investigators (think Buffy the Vampire Slayer, if everyone was a pet) - is now going to be added to my pull list on the strength of Thompson's beautiful art. The story is a good one - it has a demon frog after all, and I'm a little interested in the characters. And, if I haven't mentioned it yet, the book is damn pretty.