Myspace Dark Horse Presents Vol. 6

Written by Mac Walters, LeVar Burton, Mark Wolfe, Frank Stockton, Art Baltazar, Scott Morse, Andi Watson, Larry Marder, Stan Sakai, Ron Chan, Jaime Hernandez, Jason Little, Garaham Annable, Matt Kindt, Gabriel Bá, Mark Crilley, Justin Aclin, Simon Spurrier, Jackie Kessler, and Evan Dorkin
Art by Eduardo Francisco, David Hahn, Frank Stockton, Art Baltazar, Scott Morse, Andi Watson, Larry Marder, Stan Sakai, Ron Chan, Jaime Hernandez, Jason Little, Graham Annable, Matt Kindt, Gabriel Bá, Mark Crilley, Ben Bates, Christopher Mitten, Paul Lee, and Hilary Barta

I'll be completely honest - most of the comics collected in this book are completely skippable.  That's probably one of the main reasons why the whole Myspace Dark Horse Presents experiment failed (well, that and the fact that just about the whole world stopped using Myspace).  It was a commendable concept, and I believe it did lead to the resurrection of the monthly Dark Horse Presents, which has been a very good thing, but it's clear that Dark Horse was rarely coming through with their A-game on this thing.

Because I want to stay positive though, I will focus on what is good about this collection.  Scanning the credit list above, one name should immediately stand out to anyone who knows what I like - Gabriel Bá!  He provides a short piece called Fiction that could only work in comics.  A writer appears at a festival, where he grumbles about how his readers think they know him by reading his books, but they don't.  After a few pages though, Bá pulls a switch on the reader, and we find out that that character is a character in someone else's writing.  The whole thing has a very Borgesian feel to it, and is beautiful to boot.  Easily worth picking up this book for, as so far as I know, this story hasn't been collected anywhere else.

Among the other things I liked were the Giant Man story by Matt Kindt, a companion piece to his 3 Story: The Secret History of the Giant Man graphic novel.  I've read this before though - it was recently collected alongside two other stories in a one-shot.  It's still good though.

Likewise the Beanworld story by Larry Marder.  I think it was included in the recent Tales of the Beanworld collection.  Every day needs a little Beanworld in it though, so it's also all good.

I was also pleased to see a Bee story by Jason Little.  I read Motel Art Improvement Service a little while ago, and enjoyed it.  In this story, Bee spends a day in New York with her friend, and goes through some of the existential issues of Bá's story.

Simon Spurrier and Christopher Mitten provide a creepy horror story involving a man whose pregnant wife was killed in a car wreck, and who is visited by the fetus's ghost (in a really disturbing way).  Also of note are the collection of Brody's Ghost stories by Mark Crilley.  These aren't exactly my cup of tea, but I like the fact that Dark Horse gave over a fair amount of space to them, making them stand out a little more through sheer volume.

The rest of the book is a melange of licensed properties (Mass Effect, Buffy), children's comics (which never feels like a good fit), and stuff that just didn't resonate with me.

Myspace Dark Horse Presents Vol. 4

by a lot of people

My thoughts on this volume of Dark Horse's on-line comic collection are basically no different from my thoughts on the previous three.  Dark Horse is putting together a very mixed bag with this series, and while I appreciate diversity in story content and art, I don't like it when there is a lot of diversity in quality.

There are some very good short comics in this book, but there are a lot of plain old mediocre ones too.  The mix is about 50/50.  As I prefer to accentuate the positive, I should talk about what I like.

I think my favourite story in this book David Malki's 'The Catch!: A Wondermark Tale.'  I think there may have been a Wondermark story or two in previous volumes, but they didn't catch my notice the way this very funny story about a Victorian man who brings home an early computer to helps him find things, only to discover that it's part of an ingenious marketing ploy.  The story is funny enough on its own, but when you start to accept the weirdness of people dressed in Victorian clothing talking about their TV remote, the story takes on a new level of enjoyment.  Very cool stuff.

I also loved the Achewood story, and really liked Matt Kindt's Giant Man piece.  There are stories that didn't do much for me but that had some very pretty art, contributed by people like Farel Dalrymple, Jim Rugg, and Kristian Donaldson.

As usual, most of the licensed stories (Star Wars, Buffy) were weak, and the stories that were effectively trailers for minis (like The Rapture) were pretty ineffective.  I keep holding out hope for more, but am increasingly disappointed.  I am now in the market for some of the Wondermark books though...

Myspace Dark Horse Presents Vol. 3

Various creators

To be honest, there's not much to say about this volume that would be different from my thoughts on the first two.  Dark Horse appears to be using their Myspace digital platform as a way of advertising existing properties or upcoming series through short pieces that work as a sampling menu of the greater Dark Horse line.

Anything with a Beanworld story in it can't be too bad, and while this is a nice little bit about recycling, it doesn't add much to the Beanworld mythos.  I also liked Becky Cloonan's (I know, shocking that I liked this) short story about a man plagued by nightmares, Chris Onstad's Achewood piece, and the Serenity and Buffy the Vampire Slayer shorts.

Some other pieces had potential, but didn't go very far.  The Mister X piece and the Applegeeks story are good examples of this.  One piece that stood out for weirdness and originality was the Creepy: Om Nom Nom story by Andrew Mayer and Lukas Ketner.

Overall, this book is enjoyable, but not particularly memorable.

Myspace Dark Horse Presents Vol. 2

by many people

I mentioned when I reviewed the first book in this series how much I enjoyed the original Dark Horse Presents, and I was very pleased to hear that it is set to return soon.  It was a reliable source of new ideas and creators, as well as short stories from established series or properties.  I didn't always love what was in it, but I usually found something positive in each issue.

This volume of the Myspace on-line revamp didn't work for me as well as the books I remember.  I found that most of the stories in this book were facile and shallow, and they did little to encourage me to pick up related titles, or seek out some of the creators.

There was still a fair amount to like in this book, such as Fábio Moon and Gabriel Bá's brilliant 'Wonder Twins Activate'.  I know I'm a huge Moon and Bá fan, so it's no surprise that I would single this story out for praise, but it's a very cool story designed to help explain their collaboration process.  In contrast, Bá's 'Umbrella Academy' story (with Gerald Way) did nothing for me.

I also liked John Arcudi and Steven Young's 'A Going Concern' which is basically Jonah Hex played by a cockroach, but I couldn't figure out what the hell his horse was supposed to be, and it made me hate the story by the end of it.  Gilbert Hernandez's 'Manga' was cute, but short.

Lately I've been working my way through the Mignola-verse, so I was pleased to see a BPRD story by Arcudi and Davis, and while it was good, it was fairly inconsequential.

By far the prettiest and most impressive art in the book belongs to Francisco Ruiz Velasco, with 'Legion of Blood', a flying-alien version of the first world war.  I hope this is something that is going to be developed into a longer project, as it was quite good and visually stunning.

The final piece that impressed me was a Conan story (normally I hate Conan) written by Tim and Ben Truman.  What made this special is that it had artwork by Marian Churchland (read Beast), with lettering by Brandon Graham!  It's a very cool-looking story.

One story that seemed to have a lot of potential but then quickly lost me was the Hobo Fet story by the Matkinson Brothers and Jon Adams.  There was a lot that could have been done with this story, but it fell flat.  Another disappointment was the two-page Rex Mundi story.  Nothing happened, and it just served to remind me that I miss this title.

Anything else in this book doesn't really feel like it's worth mentioning.  There are some things that I know people like - Milk & Cheese, Steve Niles - but it left me cold.  I have Volume 3 on my reading pile - I hope it's more consistently good.

Myspace Dark Horse Presents Vol. 1

The original Dark Horse Presents is a title that I remember with great fondness. It was somewhat of a mixed bag - the quality varied quite a bit at times, and so did my interest in what was on offer in any given issue, but for the most part, the series contained some great comics, and introduced me to some titles and creators that I went on to enjoy a great deal.

I like the idea of revitalizing the series, but am not a huge fan of on-line comics. There's something about sitting in front of the computer screen that doesn't work for me, so I was pleased that the inevitable print version has come out.

This book, like the original series, is a very diverse anthology, of mixed quality. I loved Whedon and Moons' 'Sugarshock' story - it's very silly, but enjoyable. I'm also always up for a FEAR Agent story, so that went over quite well for me.

One of the most interesting stories was 'A Circuit Closed' by Ezra Claytan Daniels. Unlike many of the other parts of this book, it doesn't appear to be promoting another series, and is instead the type of story that I loved in the old DHP (and Cheval Noir, the European version). It's a little confusing, but ultimately a great comic.

I must say that I was disappointed in the silliness of the Goon, and found the 'Gear School', 'Umbrella Academy' and 'Empowered' stories didn't do much to encourage me to pick up the related trades. I hope in future the editors at MDHP focus more on telling good stories, and not line-wide advertisements in short story form (which I admit is often what the original DHP was).