Today, we see the next of Dark Horse Presents, issue #22 (you can read my review of issue #21 here) which holds some new pieces as well as the sequels of many pieces seen in #21. It has something for everyone, from alternate history to superheroes to an interview with Shaolin Cowboy creator Geof Darrow. And, I mean, come on. The cover has a guy riding the biggest turtle I’ve ever seen. If that’s not worth a gander, what is? (Turtle after the jump)
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| All hail the mighty tortoise! |
GIANT TORTOISE, HO! Yeah, between writing the intro and pulling the picture into the article I realized it was a tortoise technically. If you want to learn how to tell the difference between turtles and tortoises, read the rest of the paragraph. If I’m wasting your time, and you just want to get to the comic review, jump to the next paragraph instead. Tortoises have big round shells, where as turtles’ shells are flatter. Tortoises also have much more obvious knees. Now you know. Anyways, COMICS!
George Armstrong Custer: The Middle Years, by Howard Chaykin, is an alternate history story which proposes what might have happened if General Custer has won the Battle of Little Bighorn. The story is written from the perspective of his wife Elizabeth and covers his travels and subsequent political career. It’s a good length for such a story and holds a good pace. I’m not a history person, and I probably couldn’t read a whole series just about Custer, BUT if Chaykin did a series of alternate histories with different historical figures, I would certainly read it.
Chapter 5 of Alabaster Boxcar Tales continues from the end of chapter 4, found in the previous Dark Horse Presents issue. Dancy Flammarion is left to ponder the significance of her choices in the previous chapter and is approached by the witch intending to drive her even further into conflict. This chapter concludes this story arc, but, in a narrative homage worthy of Scheherazade herself, the author teases that there might be more to come.
Part 3 of The Victories: Babalon Falling continues the story where it left off with much of the team trying desperately to stop the wave of destruction started by the Jackel, as one of their own is left to fight him one-on-one. This is the end of the three part series BUT it promises a new story beginning in May, and it acts as just enough of a teaser that my interest is certainly piqued.
Chapter 3 of Journeyman answers almost none of my questions and confusions from the first two chapters, but adds so many more. I’m fairly sure Geoffrey Thorne is playing out the suspense, and I’m totally on the edge of my seat to learn more about this mysterious “Journeyman” figure, but seeing as very little has been explained in the first three chapters I’m a little worried about the pacing. If this were a novel or a television series or practically any other narrative medium, the suspense would work. But I’m worried that if Thorne doesn’t start explaining some things to his readers soon the suspense won’t be able to tide them over for very long.
Part 2 of Arcade Boy is another continuation from the previous Dark Horse Presents. Alex Raje meets Hiroshi and agrees to become the Daniel Russo to his Mr. Miyagi, but of video games instead of Karate. We meet the mysterious criminal “Game Master” and learn about the equally sinister Vega Campuses. I said it in my last Dark Horse Presents review, but I’ll say it again: I’m loving this series already.
There is a four page interview in the middle of the comic with Geof Darrow, best known for The Big Guy and Rusty the Boy Robot and Hard Boiled. The interview is what you’d expect of an interview with any well known industry figure: where he started, how he got into the business, people he worked with and projects he’s worked on. If you’re interested, I won’t try to summarize for you: enjoy it for yourself.
Villainman is a new piece by Patrick Alexander in which a superpowered individual named Villainman either does a great job mutilating innocent people or a terrible job helping them with their problems. One or the other. It’s a little hard to tell. It reads very much like a silly comic strip and breaks the fourth wall as the narrator tries to explain to the Villainman what he’s doing wrong. It’s cute, but I’m not especially looking forward to any more from this series.
Part 2 of Tiger Lung takes us deeper into the same cave the titular character entered in the last Dark Horse Presents. We learn more about the legend which leads him to this perilous spelunking adventure we find him on. Personally, I still think he’s going to tumble into a new time or place, but we shall see. Time traveling. I think cavemen knew how.
Clark Colins, by Kel McDonald, is dumb. It is a … I hesitate to call it a mystery, because it’s obvious and boring. It was like the mystery in an episode of Dora the Explorer or Blues Clues. I am generally positive about these brief comics, but I just felt that this one was a waste of my time. Basically the theme is “History majors don’t like math” and “teenagers are suckers for a pretty face”, and there isn’t much left to tell about this story.
Villain House is back and centers around an unnamed young lady who is on a date with a guy she met on the internet. It has the same tongue in cheek tone that the first story had back in Dark Horse Presents 21, making puns on classic heroes like Dr. Gloom, the Bulk and Steel Man. It was fun, amusing, and everything I loved about the last one. Still one of my favorites. I’m glad to see that they kept continuity by mentioning the villain “the squid”, but not making him a main character again.
Lastly, we have Fish Police by Steve Moncuse, a story told entirely by the art. Fish people, a jaunty squid companion, dinosaur-esque creatures, aliens. It’s a little bit of everything. It reminds me of a cartoon short, like those that Pixar has been reviving for years: a complete story with a simple plot, simple characters and a whimsical tone. Much like Villainman, it strikes me as more of a long comic strip than a comic book comic, but it was still all together enjoyable.
Dark Horse Presents #22 doesn’t excite me as much as Dark Horse Presents #21 (though who can really compete with a Neil Gaiman philosophical poem). It has a number of solid works, and a couple duds. For $7.99, I would say to pick it up IF you have read the continuing series and like them, but if you weren’t a fan before, the new pieces just don’t have eight bucks worth of comic-iness.
Matthew Bryant, aka Baker Street Holmes, is a writer and editor for the Red Shirt Crew. He loves turtles, whimsy and magic, though not necessarily in that order. You can follow him on Twitter at @BStreetHolmes or e-mail him at HMCrazySS@gmail.com.
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