I always look forward to a new issue of Dark Horse Presents. Most of the stories are excellent, and even when a story goes wrong here and there, there are enough in each issue that they are greatly outweighed by the successful ones. This is no different: a couple flops, but all in all a pretty solid issue. To get a glimpse of which stories are in this issue, follow the jump!
Chapter 1 of Blackout introduces us to a fascinating character, a thrill seeker with a suit that allows him to create portals to… I don’t really understand where he goes. A phase shifted version of the current setting I guess? It’s like the flash game, Shift, except gravity doesn’t reverse. The main character, Scott, is on the cover to the right. Cool, right?
Chapter 5 of Alabaster: Boxcar Tales is back, after not appearing in last month’s Dark Horse Presents, not that I’d know they were part of the same story from the plot. We left off with a raven telling the story of a half crazy albino girl in the bayou. This story is about the strange events aboard a broken down spaceship. No raven and no bible verse narration this time, so I doubt it’s the same narrator. The same creative team of Caitlin Kiernan and Steve Lieber is about the only consistent element, but they do a good job, and this story is arguably more interesting, so I can’t complain. This one will have to prove itself next time, me thinks.
Chapter 2 of Bloodhound: Plain Sight is in this issue too, and other than Clevenger still being a really dumb name for a character, I’m really starting to enjoy this series. Why? A good balance of superpowers, real science, and “I made up this science so I could have a cool story”. If any of those is too light, the story comes out unintelligible or uninteresting. Also, great pacing! As of this point, clues are starting to reveal themselves: Clev is starting to figure out what’s causing the mysterious string of deaths, but there are still plenty of things left to wrap up in the final chapter.
Chapter 2 of Brain Boy is my favorite from this series, but I’m biased by my love for superheroes. Following the previous chapter’s massacre, Matthew “Brain Boy” Price panics. I loved that Fred Van Lente takes us on the whole range of reactions: first we’re worried because we’re not used to superheroes having panic attacks, then Van Lente changes to an almost playful tone, and then we see his true power! MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! But we also learn that Brain Boy isn’t the only superpowered individual. I can’t wait for the next issue.
Chapter 1 of Trekker: The Train to Avalon Bay is a great story set in the 23rd century about a female bounty hunter, Mercy St. Claire. St. Claire is actually not new to Dark Horse Presents, appearing back in the ’80s in Dark Horse Presents #4. Props to Ron Randall for creating an engaging female lead who is strong and capable, without detracting from her strengths by dressing her in skimpy clothing or giving her ridiculous proportions.
 |
| Taken from http://www.darkhorse.com |
Chapter 2 of King’s Road: The Long Way Home was a bit of a let down, mostly because the first chapter was action packed and really worked at establishing the strange setting. This chapter is less involved; there are about two pages which elaborate the situation, while the rest is spent introducing the reader to the fact that the main characters have kids. I was bored, then intrigued as the situation was explained/expanded in the middle, then bored again.
Chapter 5 of Crime Does Not Pay: City of Roses is really confusing. First of all, I have no idea when the last chapter was, but it hasn’t been in the past four months that I’ve been reading Dark Horse Presents. Not only that, but this chapter is basically 8 pages of the characters running around screaming “We’re corrupt cops!” at the top of their lungs. There doesn’t seem to be any character development or plot, just “La dee da, we like drugs!”
Chapter 2: of Nexus: Into the Past was one of the comics introduced last time for which I was most looking forward to seeing in this issue, other than Brain Boy. Time travelling to visit Sherlock Holmes! If you have a mystery to solve, he would be the one you’d want for help. Holmes seems a little too willing to accept the time travel explanation, which I felt was uncharacteristic, but Holmes seems to notice something about the time traveler’s hands, so maybe his reasoning will be elaborated at the end in true Doyle like style.
Hunter Quaid: Armageddon Outta Here. I’m not sure how I feel about this comic. On the one hand, the art is gorgeous: I love the ancient chanting at the beginning being on parchment instead of speech bubbles and the SHWOOOSH of flowing water being worked into the water itself. I even love the horrible puns, as most writers for this site will attest. But it felt like it shouldn’t be a one shot, that it should at least be Chapter 1 of something larger. It’s like it wanted to be, but Donny Cates and Eliot Rahal couldn’t convince Dark Horse their story was worth more than one part, and that’s a shame.
Chapter 4 of Villain House is another of my favorites, but this week, it was very political, and that lost a lot of my interest. Basically it’s about how America has a tendency to unnecessarily involve ourselves over vague, perceived threats. Blah, blah, blah politics. Not really my cup of tea and it took a cute, silly, and clever comic series and made it serious and preachy. Hopefully the next one will return to the antics I’ve come to really appreciate from these series.
While this was not one of the stronger issues of Dark Horse Presents that I’ve read, if you’re a fan of Superheroes and high tech gear, there’s enough in here to be worth the $7.99. 6 out of 10 stories I liked a lot though, and only two of the others were actually displeasing rather than disappointing. I’ll take that percentage every time.
Matthew Bryant, aka Baker Street Holmes, is an editor for the Red Shirt Crew, though he often forgets it. This article is dedicated to all the orphans out there: remember, you probably have the best chance of becoming superheroes. You can find him on twitter at @BStreetHolmes or email him at HMCrazySS@gmail.com.
The Red Shirt Crew Blog and Podcast Network 