Dark Horse Presents

Did anyone else get Dark Horse Presents #1? What did you think of the stories?

My faves:

Concrete. Man, I've missed Concrete so much... but Chadwick hasn't missed a step.

Finder: Carla Speed McNeil delivers a fun little short story starring Jaeger. Another favorite series I'd lost touch with. (Even though I've got one of her trades in my to-read pile.)

Mr. Monster: Zany fun, and the most playful story and art in the issue.

Snow Angel: I'm not familiar with David Chelsea (though I've heard his name before) -- this was a great little strip.

Tiny Man: A creepy, sad little Harlan Ellison tale. I hope we get one every issue.

One-pagers: I liked Personality Quiz enough to make up for not digging the other one.

Meh:

Marked Man, Blood: Chaykin being Chaykin, and Adams being Adams. Neither one surprises... and I suspect I'll never be able to read Adams' dialogue without shaking my head. As a writer, he's one of my favorite artists.

Murky World: Corben being Corben -- which I find more interesting than Chaykin & Adams -- my favorite of the Meh.

Star Wars: I haven't had any contact with the Star Wars universe for about a decade now. This was lightly entertaining, but didn't make me question that decision.

Bleh:

Xerxes, Frank Miller interview: The Xerxes art looked pretty rushed -- only the ships on the final page did anything for me. As for the interview, Miller and Richardson both seem a little defensive about historical inaccuracies in 300, which is fine.. but Richardson comes off as completely fawning over Miller. It was almost uncomfortable to read, for some reason -- just softball question after softball question. I was expecting a puff piece, but I actually felt a little uncomfortable reading it. "And you're interested in telling a fascinating tale that raises people's interest and keeps them entertained." Urgh. Take off your publisher hat, Mike -- that's no way for an interviewer to behave.

All in all, it's a good value for 8 bucks. It's not monthly, so I hopefully will be able to squeeze it into the budget. I'll be interested in knowing when some of these continued stories will be ending, though -- and hopefully there'll still be plenty of single-installment stories to keep me feeling like I got a satisfying product.

PAUL CHADWICK: You know, until I read this story I had actually forgotten that Concrete had given “birth.” It has been far too long since the last Concrete story.

HOWARD CHAYKIN: Typical Chaykin, you either like it or you don’t. Me, I eat it up with a spoon!

NEAL ADAMS: I wonder if maybe Neal Adams isn’t stretching himself a bit thin these days? Don’t get me wrong, I’ll take all the Adams art (even scripts!) I can get, but with him also being in the midst of a 12-issue Batman mini-series (currently on a hiatus built into the schedule and announced before the first issue was released), I worry about his ability to make his deadlines.

CARLA SPEED McNEIL: Our friend Jane Irwin (creator of Vogelein, the Clockwork Fairy) raves about the work of Carla Speed McNeil, and the last time we spoke I had to admit I hadn’t read any (at least to the best of my recollection). So far, so good.

MICHAEL T. GILBERT: I was never a huge fan of Mr. Monster, but I have managed to read a few stories here and there. This one’s pretty good: a send-up/tribute of Marvel’s pre-super-hero monster mags in general (and Groot in specific), but also an homage not only to Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, but to Harvey Kurtzman, Bill Elder and Wally Wood as well. It’s a good story in its own right, but it’s also fun to pick out the specific references if you’re familiar with them.

MIKE RICHARDSON: Mike Richardson interviews Frank Miller about his next project, Xerxes. Ya know what I kept thinking about while reading it? Before Dark Knight Strikes Again was even complete, Miller began waxing enthusiastically about what was then to have been his next project, the life story of Jesus Christ. I wonder whatever became of that?

FRANK MILLER: A sneak peak at the aforementioned Xerxes, a “prequel” to 300. I’ve never seen him go so far out of his way to declare his work is thoroughly researched yet not historically accurate, but if it’s as fun as it looks to be, I’ll buy it.

HARLAN ELLISON: This short story really drove home how much I miss Dream Corridor. My favorite part of Ellison’s all-too-short-lived comic book series was the short stories he’d write based on the cover paintings.

RICHARD CORBEN: Corben’s like Chaykin for me in that you either like him or you don’t. I like him when I like him and don’t when I don’t, and this particular story doesn’t move me one way of the other.

PAUL GULACY: I don’t follow Star Wars comics, but this story leads into “Crimson Empire III,” an ongoing series of adventures set in that universe. I at first approached it as an unrelated soap opera, then was drawn in. (Not enough to buy the rest of the series itself, however.)

DAVID CHELSEA: Another creator whose work I may or may not have read. Kinda weird, not really my taste.

PATRICK ALEXANDER: Very weird and very much my taste. Because the second of these one-page cartoons appears on the inside back cover, that brings the actual page count up to 81.

Still, eight bucks for 80 pages comes to $1 every ten pages. I’m not sure any comic book, especially an anthology, is worth that. OTOH, if any grouping of talent could warrant it, this is it right here.

Replies

Jeff of Earth-J April 25, 2011 at 12:07pm

PAUL CHADWICK: You know, until I read this story I had actually forgotten that Concrete had given “birth.” It has been far too long since the last Concrete story.

HOWARD CHAYKIN: Typical Chaykin, you either like it or you don’t. Me, I eat it up with a spoon!

NEAL ADAMS: I wonder if maybe Neal Adams isn’t stretching himself a bit thin these days? Don’t get me wrong, I’ll take all the Adams art (even scripts!) I can get, but with him also being in the midst of a 12-issue Batman mini-series (currently on a hiatus built into the schedule and announced before the first issue was released), I worry about his ability to make his deadlines.

CARLA SPEED McNEIL: Our friend Jane Irwin (creator of Vogelein, the Clockwork Fairy) raves about the work of Carla Speed McNeil, and the last time we spoke I had to admit I hadn’t read any (at least to the best of my recollection). So far, so good.

MICHAEL T. GILBERT: I was never a huge fan of Mr. Monster, but I have managed to read a few stories here and there. This one’s pretty good: a send-up/tribute of Marvel’s pre-super-hero monster mags in general (and Groot in specific), but also an homage not only to Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, but to Harvey Kurtzman, Bill Elder and Wally Wood as well. It’s a good story in its own right, but it’s also fun to pick out the specific references if you’re familiar with them.

MIKE RICHARDSON: Mike Richardson interviews Frank Miller about his next project, Xerxes. Ya know what I kept thinking about while reading it? Before Dark Knight Strikes Again was even complete, Miller began waxing enthusiastically about what was then to have been his next project, the life story of Jesus Christ. I wonder whatever became of that?

FRANK MILLER: A sneak peak at the aforementioned Xerxes, a “prequel” to 300. I’ve never seen him go so far out of his way to declare his work is thoroughly researched yet not historically accurate, but if it’s as fun as it looks to be, I’ll buy it.

HARLAN ELLISON: This short story really drove home how much I miss Dream Corridor. My favorite part of Ellison’s all-too-short-lived comic book series was the short stories he’d write based on the cover paintings.

RICHARD CORBEN: Corben’s like Chaykin for me in that you either like him or you don’t. I like him when I like him and don’t when I don’t, and this particular story doesn’t move me one way of the other.

PAUL GULACY: I don’t follow Star Wars comics, but this story leads into “Crimson Empire III,” an ongoing series of adventures set in that universe. I at first approached it as an unrelated soap opera, then was drawn in. (Not enough to buy the rest of the series itself, however.)

DAVID CHELSEA: Another creator whose work I may or may not have read. Kinda weird, not really my taste.

PATRICK ALEXANDER: Very weird and very much my taste. Because the second of these one-page cartoons appears on the inside back cover, that brings the actual page count up to 81.

Still, eight bucks for 80 pages comes to $1 every ten pages. I’m not sure any comic book, especially an anthology, is worth that. OTOH, if any grouping of talent could warrant it, this is it right here.
Doctor Hmmm? April 25, 2011 at 1:06pm

Jeff of Earth-J said:

RICHARD CORBEN: Corben’s like Chaykin for me in that you either like him or you don’t. I like him when I like him and don’t when I don’t, and this particular story doesn’t move me one way of the other.

.

Wait a minute ... that sounds like a third choice. ;)
Jeff of Earth-J April 25, 2011 at 1:47pm

Hmmm... yeah, I guess it does. That's probably because I didn't have anything in particular to say about his story. Sorry if that wasn't very helpful. If I were to divide the features into "faves" and "meh," this one would be a "meh."
Doc Beechler (mod-MD) April 25, 2011 at 1:49pm

I'm getting it only for the Chadwick, McNeil, and Gilbert stories...the rest was...um...not my cuppa. And 10 pages for $1 is a better deal, money-wise, than any other comic right now.
Jeff of Earth-J April 25, 2011 at 1:54pm

Maybe, but if you're buying it for only three features, you're paying more like $2.65 for only 10 pages.
Doc Beechler (mod-MD) April 25, 2011 at 2:07pm

Oh...I'm not keeping it...it gets passed on...maybe the next readers will like different parts than I did.
Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod) April 25, 2011 at 4:53pm

Was that too mean, breaking things down into Faves, Meh and Bleh?

And yeah, Jeff, I've gotta admit -- I do like the thought of something meticulously researched and not historically accurate. Miller (and anyone, really) deserves that kind of leeway.

I miss Dream Corridor, too. :(
Jeff of Earth-J April 25, 2011 at 4:56pm

Was that too mean, breaking things down into Faves, Meh and Bleh?

No, not at all.
Jeff of Earth-J June 23, 2011 at 11:01am

ISSUE #2: So far, I’ve chosen a cover and have read the first four stories.

Cover: There were three to choose from, by my LCS had only two left by the time I got there. I chose the one by Neal Adams. The one I didn’t see was probably the best.

I’ll tell you reading the new Dark Horse Presents reminds me of: reading Wednesday Comics every week and choosing a favorite. Those were good discussions/debates. I with more people here were reading DHP. I’ll have more to say once I’ve finished the entire issue.
Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod) June 23, 2011 at 2:21pm

Arrgh! I totally forgot it was coming out! I want to do the rundown again, too!

(Just called my LCS and asked them to put it aside so i don't miss it.)

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