Review: Dark Horse Presents #30

Chapter 1’s and one shots abound in this issue of Dark Horse Presents, which can only be for the better in my opinion.  If you’ve read my last two reviews, I’ve not been particularly fond of the latest issues.  Thankfully this one is back in league with what I’ve come to expect from Dark Horse Presents.

Chapter 1 of Saint George: Dragonslayer is the tale of a Roman hero, Draconarius Georgius, fighting to quell an Egyptian uprising.  There is action, secrets, camaraderie and the promise of adventure.  I’ve been loving Fred van Lente‘s Brain Boy and while it’s still early in this story, I have a feeling I’m going to really enjoy this too.

Chapter 1 of Integer City is a new private investigator story in the futuristic Interger City from Jamie S. Rich.  This story is okay.  There are a number of references to how Integer City was planned out to be mathematically perfect, and my mathematician side is intrigued to know more about the setting, but the plot isn’t anything exciting: Jonny Kilmeister is on the case to find an unknown stolen object.  That’s about all we know.  I won’t say this is a bad comic, but I’m not excited yet.

The Adventures of Nilson Groundthumper and Hermy is clearly inspired by such childhood TV cartoons as The Smurfs and the 1960’s George of the Jungle.  But where they are perfectly happy to kill characters.  The villain spells out the plot aloud, to himself, as one would expect of a kids cartoon.  Stan Sakai could have at least given him a familiar to talk to!  It’s cute but definitely aimed at a younger audience.

Chapter 11 of Alabaster: Boxcar Tales follows where Dancy Flammarion was during the events of the previous two chapters, something I was certainly wondering, seeing as she’s the main character.  It’s mostly plot and exposition, but it’s engaging enough to work.  Most every chapter in an issue of Dark Horse Presents is 8 pages, and some that are all background can feel very long, but Caitlin R. Kiernan makes it feel really quick.  Well done.

Chapter 5 of Nexus: Into the Past is better than the last issue, mostly because we now know what Hellpop’s daughters have to do with the plot.  I love mysteries, but I hate not knowing.  And the time traveling chase continues!  I still love this series, and am looking forward to the next chapter as always.

Chapter 1 of Monstrous is the new comic I am most looking froward to seeing more of.  This race of demon/alien/monsters are called the Lacerti and they methodically round up and kill the last remnants of the human race, but one victim, our narrator, found himself trapped in the body of his killer.  Great post apocalyptic setting, I can’t wait to see where this goes, though I have a few suspicions.

Chapter 9 of Crime Does Not Pay is much like the other chapters in this series, in that it’s not really my thing.  Corrupt cops running around with little to no plot.  But I do have a major complaint this time that anyone following this series should know: in my preview copy, the 55th page is replaced by a duplicate of the 49th page (the title page for this story).  If you are following this story in particular check for this before you purchase at your local store!

Chapter 4 of Mr. Monster: Dark Stern is much better than it has been.  I think it’s interesting that I like chapter 1 and chapter 4, but not the two in the middle.  And that I felt the two in the middle were too slow.  Maybe if they were compressed into 8 pages, I’d have liked this series more.  If you liked the series thus far, it’s definitely a well done conclusion.

Chapter 3 of The Strain: The Fall – The Silver Angel is the conclusion of a series that I’ve been kind of if-y about thus far.  We finally see the connection between the flashbacks the Silver Angel has been seeing and his apparent suicide mission.  I think given the conclusion, this isn’t a bad total story, but it doesn’t work well deconstructed like this.

Now & Then is a one shot by Chad Lambert which explores the curious nature of memory.  And I have a weird deja vu sensation, which if Lambert somehow induced that, then my hat off to him.  Regardless, it’s a deeper comic than most found in Dark Horse Presents and that change of pace is nice.

Finally, FINALLY, I’m back to being able to recommend the Dark Horse Presents issue.  It is once again worth the $7.99.  Thank you Dark Horse, I was starting to get a little concerned.

Matthew Bryant, a.k.a. Baker Street Holmes, is a writer and lead editor for the Red Shirt Crew.  He is glad to have some new series, as the old ones were getting stale.  Now, if only they could get something interesting to happen in the City of Roses… You can follow him on Twitter at @BStreetHolmes or email him at HMCrazySS@gmail.com.

Review: Dark Horse Presents #29

So my last review of Dark Horse Presents was less than flattering.  In fact, it was the first issue of Dark Horse Presents that I’ve ever not recommended.  So you can understand my hesitation when this month’s issue came out.  It’s not as bad, but it still only get’s a conditional recommendation.

Chapter 2 of The Strain: The Fall – The Silver Angel is better than last time at least.  Some action, a little bit of story, but the Silver Angel doesn’t seem to have any motivation for what he’s doing, unless it’s a death wish, I guess.  Looking to next month’s conclusion of the miniseries to see if there’s any point behind his actions.

Snip Snip is a bit of a whimsical variant of the Underground series seen in issues 25-27 of Dark Horse Presents.  Themed gang wars.  It’s above ground, and very cartoon-y (the hero looks a little like Steamboat Willie).  I can’t really call it “bad” but it was in the unfortunate position of following close behind a similar story.

Alone with Mag the Hag is another Edgar Allen Poe Work brought to the page by Richard Corben.  In the last issue of Dark Horse Presents I said that this only worked as a one shot.  I realize in retrospect that that is a little ambiguous.  What I meant was that particular story did not need more pages.  I would love a collection of short stories by Edgar Allen Poe from Corben, and with any luck, this piece is an indication that he may be working towards just that.

Chapter 10 of Alabaster: Boxcar Tales is much more interesting than last time.  The big hole in the last chapter was that nothing productive really happened.  This time at least, we get some emotional plot development, even if the characters don’t get anywhere.  I do worry a little that the pace picks up too much and that they wouldn’t lay well next to each other, even though they are clearly intended to.

Chapter 5 of Nexus: Into the Past is different.  Until now it’s been a chase through time and that’s about it.  Entertaining, but straight forward.  Now, we have some intrigue, some surprise, something going on more than just Hellpop’s hunt for Clayborn.  We see a scene for Hellpop’s daughters, no clue how they’re involved in the story yet though, as well as his wife.

Chapter 6 of Trekker: The Train to Avalon Bay is the final chapter of this story and rightfully ends with a great fight scene and some witty banter.  I’ve liked this series, but I think I’m done with Trekker for a while.  Nothing against it, but it took six months to get this story told, so it feels like I’ve been reading it forever.

Chapter 4 of the Nosferatu Wars is… very strange.  Imagine watching Inception and then finding out at the end that the whole time they were in the mind of a werewolf.  It’s that level of twist ending.  It’s just a bad aftertaste for an otherwise excellent series.  The art is still beautiful, I’m just not so sure about the decisions on how to conclude it.

Chapter 3 of Mr. Monster: Dark Stearn is more of the same from last time.  It just seems like a bridge (an unnecessary one) to the finale.  I think this chapter and the last one could have been compressed into one, and we could have gotten to the conclusion a little quicker.  Still, they say the fourth chapter will be the last, so there’s a blessing.  Doc Stearn has been a really boring protagonist since he split from Dark Strean.

Chapter 10 of Blood is confusing to me.  I mentioned in my last review that I hadn’t gotten to read the first 8 chapters and that this left me a little out of the loop on the setting and situation that I found myself in last time and it just gets worse this time.  I’ve never seen someone use hemokenesis to pull blood out of their own body to attack someone (see cover of the issue).  It’s very different from anything I’ve ever read and I was just left lost from the weird place they picked the series back up.

Brainbot Jr. is just a single page this time, even shorter than the one that appeared back in Dark Horse Presents #26.  It’s still cute, and like I said then, it’s well suited to short pieces like this.

I would only recommend this issue to those who are following a series.  Trekker is a good conclusion, Nexus is interesting, at least things happen in Alabaster.  Hell, if you know what’s going on in Blood, maybe that wouldn’t be so bad of a read.  The question come down to if keeping up with your series of choice is worth $7.99 to you.  But I’d be willing to bet that if you aren’t following anything in here currently, it’s not worth that to you.

Matthew Bryant, a.k.a. Baker Street Holmes, is a writer and the lead editor for the Red Shirt Crew.  He is glad to hear there will be a number of new comers next time, and has higher hopes for Dark Horse Presents #30.  If you wish to follow him on Twitter, you can find him at @BStreetHolmes, or email him at HMCrazySS@gmail.com.

Review: The Strain: The Fall #4

It’s official. The entire series is a setup. The final chapter, The Strain: The Fall #4, is just more of the same. I was hoping with all this setting up that the final chapter would be this explosive ending. But it’s all of the same problems, and it doesn’t really end. I get that the story continuing in another series sells more, but I personally would not continue this because the entirety was boring confusing and therefore unpleasant.

I’m going to try and keep this short because I’ve covered a lot of this in prior reviews and try and keep it fresh for the people who actually follow these reviews. This comic brings in all the characters that have been previously introduced, but there seem to be some convoluted connection scheme between them that isn’t entirely clear. It’s too scattered and thinly spread to fully understand for me. This might just be because I’m still a comic novice, but it was impossible for me to keep up who’s whom and why they know them. It overall just appears to lack focus and a key element to every story: A PROTAGONIST. If someone asked me who the story was about, I would probably say something along the lines of about 5 random groups of people who kill these creepy tongue things in New York City for some reason I’m not fully sure of.

What else do you want in an action comic? Violence! There was finally some proper fighting but it seemed fairly aimless. Usually when people fight it’s for a purpose, but this was just fighting. I mean there was some clear intents from a few select characters, but for others there seemed to be little reason; it wasn’t even for shits and giggles or some kill number goal. It wasn’t a big focus even, almost like the author just had to fill his quota for number of panels with blood.

Beyond that there wasn’t much more substance. All that was left was list of cliffhangers for the next series: Angels. I mean, that’s basically it. I wished there was more to ending of this because I was holding out hope that the ends would justify the means, but the finale was just as much a dud as its predecessors. Guillermo Del Torro failed to deliver for me and I wish I could hold The Strain: The Fall in higher regard.

You could probably guess this but I would not recommend this comic (or series) and a cover price of $3.99 is far from worth it. If you want to read Angels, you might have better luck just reading a synopsis; It may even be less confusing because I honestly understand very little of what is going on in this comic.

Brendan is Bigmacd101, a writer for the Red Shirt Crew and tired of being thoroughly confused.  He has not yet decided if he will be following the next series in the strain series.  Hunt him down on Twitter at @bigmacd101 if you wanna hear more of the things he says.

Review: Dark Horse Presents #28

It is with great sadness that I must announce for the first time that I do not recommend an issue of Dark Horse Presents.  If you have read any of my reviews of the Dark Horse Series, you know that I tend to gush about how there’s always far more good than bad in these issues.  Not this time.

Chapter 1 of The Strain: The Fall – The Silver Angel is a little strange for me since I’m only familiar with The Strain setting through Brendan’s reviews.  It’s chapter 1, but I haven’t been given anything to be excited about for the second chapter.  The Silver Angel, seems like a potentially interesting character, but we just don’t get much to go on in this comic.

Chapter 9 of Blood is likewise an odd comic, because it picks up where chapter 8 left off.  A year an a half ago.  And it’s not like a new story, it starts in the middle of the action.  I have NO idea what’s going on.  It doesn’t help that I missed the “to be continued” at the end of the The Strain and Blood didn’t have title page, so I figured the stylistic change was intentional (since it wasn’t major).  This just made me more confused and I had to read the whole thing twice.

The Assignation is an adaptation of Edgar Alan Poe’s story of the same name.  I liked this one, but I think it only works as a single issue.  It’s a great story, and this is a wonderful adaptation, though I am usually a fan of comic book adaptations of literary works.  Credit to Richard Corben, especially because his artwork here is just gorgeous.


Chapter 9 of Alabaster: Boxcar Tales just doesn’t really go anywhere.  The raven/narrator meets up with the ghost seen back in Chapter 4 and they have a little philosophical discussion of the nature of coincidence and fate.  This is never one of my favorite series, but considering the slim pickings this month, I’m pleased to see a little tease at the end that makes this seem like one of the brighter prospects for next month.

Chapters 1 and 2 of Mrs. Plopsworths Kitchen are just plain annoying.  I think these are just evidence of how desperate the editors for the Dark Horse Presents series were for comics this month, because they not only put two chapters of it in (each only half the length of a normal chapter) but split them up, and neither is all that amusing.  Patrick Alexander has always given things that were amusing and cute, but only run for one issue and I’ve typically liked both of those things about his work.  This time was not as enjoyable.

Chapter 5 of Trekker: The Train to Avalon Bay is more action packed than the others we’ve seen thus far, and for that I was immensely thankful.  Also, I may be using a Leechbear or two in my next roleplaying adventure…  Anyways, this chapter is one of the few in this issue that made reading it not quite such a waste of time.  Another bonus, every chapter since the second has helped to allay my concerns that she was a Mary Sue.

Chapter 3 of Nosferatu Wars is the other continuing series that I enjoyed.  This has been a beautiful, poetic series and it’s sad knowing that the next chapter will be the last.  We get a taste of the main character’s backgrounds this time, but also a glimpse at their cunning and brutality.  The best chapter yet!

Chapter 2 of Mr. Monster: Dark Stearn was a surprise, though it shouldn’t have been.  The first chapter I believe addressed the idea of superheroes causing collateral damage and the traditional “be careful what you wish for” lesson wonderfully.  I didn’t realize at the time that this was going to be a continuing series (though “Chapter 1” should have been a clue) and honestly, this chapter does add much, unless it is a bridge to an amazing conclusion, but at this point I don’t have high hopes.

Chapter 3 of Juice Squeezers: Squish is much like the first chapter, in that nothing happens.  Looking back at the three chapter series, I think as a whole comic, it would work just fine, but cutting it into pieces like this does the first and last chapters a major disservice.  All the interesting stuff has happened by now.

Sabertooth Swordsman was also odd. It looks like it could have huge potential, but this issue is basically a discussion between a large viper and the titular Sabertooth over the “every end is a beginning”, “when one door closes, another door opens” cliche philosophy and discussing the “why bother, we’re all going to die eventually” mentality, too.  I make that sounds like I didn’t enjoy this comic, but I think that was just the grumpy mood I was in at this point, and the fact that a Sabertooth Swordsman and a giant serpent could have made a badass fight and there is a lot of talking going on instead.  Still, there is supposedly a graphic novel coming out about the Sabertooth Swordsman, so the concept at least has offered some hope for that, even if this particular story was a bit of a flop.

All in all, if you couldn’t tell, I would not recommend this issue of Dark Horse Presents. A little Poe, some Trekker and the next piece of Nosferatu Wars are worth reading, but not for $7.99.  It’s disappointing that they get so screwed by their bedfellows.

Matthew Bryant, a.k.a. Baker Street Holmes, isn’t sure he’s looking forward to the next issue of Dark Horse Presents for the first time since the Red Shirt Crew began reviewing comics.  This was just sad.  The table of contents even has formatting issues!  *Grumble, Grumble*  You can follow him on Twitter at @BStreetHolmes or email him at HMCrazySS@gmail.com.

Review: The Strain, The Fall #3

I feel like there is just something I don’t understand here. After reading The Strain, The Fall #3, by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan, I think the reason why I didn’t like the first two issues was because they were both setting up for something. Similarly, this comic is setting up for… well something. That’s the thing, it’s very unclear what it is setting up for, which for some leaves the reader in suspense; personally I’m just confused and bored because I find it hard to get excited or suspenseful for something that I don’t really know what it is. I know that there is going to be some showdown to decide the fate of the world, but I’m not sure if I know that from reading the comic or just the summary on the cover.

I’m not going to bore you by rehashing all my other bashing in earlier comics, so I left a link for you if you want to give a quick skim of how twilight is a better vampire story then this comic. I also suspect that the author is reading the blog because there’s about a page of blog bashing, which is not cool by the way. Thankfully, it relieves me of any bad comic reviewing I’ve done for this series.

The main problem is that the voice of the entire comic is far too passive. It’s all about the set-up and the history rather directly addressing the problem at hand. While I don’t agree with the choice of using the “vampires”, it doesn’t change the fact that you have to fight them. That is a very active thing. If I wanted to shoot the breeze and talk about vampire apocalypses and occult and crap, I can do that any time. What I can’t do is freaking fight them. That what I want to read about. Buffy fights them Twilight falls in love with them, all these character do is talk about them.

Not to mention that there is now yet another new character with an unexplained backstory that apparently came in earlier Dark Horse Presents. While it may be a plot to sell more comics (bravo by the way), it sincerely pissed me off. I want to know the current, existing characters! Not to mention after reading this series, I don’t actually want to read anything remotely related to this.

After all the set-up, the last comic better be good. I’m talking shit needs to hit multiple fans from like rebounds and ricochets and crap. I want to see the last comic just so I can know that it’s over. Overall, I would not recommend this, not for $3.99. You’ll probably be fine just reading about the prospective “thrilling conclusion”. If the conclusion is good enough, you might want to go back and read the earlier ones to enhance the experience, otherwise, don’t bother. Lastly, if all blog readers are crazy people like the author says, please be the most awesome crazy people and in the comments section, roll your head on the keyboard and submit that. Over and out.

Brendan is hoping to read something good for his next review, Fingers crossed. Until then can be stalked on the twitter thingy @bigmacd101. Also to do his part for the insanity: ujhhygtfvrvtghyujknhygtfr.

Review: The Strain: The Fall #2

For those of you that read my first review, just know that this one won’t be much better. Needless to say they filled in some plot-holes that came up from the first comic, but it still leaves a lot to be desired. There are certain things I understand cannot be changed at this point plot wise, and credit where it’s due, the authors (Guillermo Del Toro & Chuck Hogan as read on cover) do their best to handle that. The main issue I have at this point is continuity, and style of writing. Otherwise it seems that the second verse is the same as the first in many ways.

As with the first comic, the story looks at many “vampire cliches” without using (what I think are) actual vampires. All this was explained in my previous review, but the plot cliches seen here are a bit different, or at least modified from the ones seen earlier. For example, there’s the age old “elder vampires” punishing those who “lost control” coupled on with the “recruitment of a slayer” to kill for the elders. Put that with the savage tribe in the sewers and the rouge who wants to overcome his affliction and you have your choice of supernatural stories to read before bed. It’s not a bad thing; cliches are used because they work, but not all at the same time.

Another thing I don’t get is why there are still new characters being introduced. I know they got to keep it fresh, but its like they said “lets ignore the 90% of character that didn’t work and throw in some new ones”. The lack of focus on any one character really hurt the first comic for me, but since they didn’t even bother to bring most of them back, I don’t see why I should have cared for any of them, or why I need to care about any of the new ones. Will the bring the original cast back later? or was it just a sentimental anecdote to set the mood for the real story? I have no way of telling. The way that the characters are being over-looked its making it hard to get enthralled in the plot.

The issues I have with this comic are the same as it’s predecessor, and I am unimpressed with the sequel. Similarly, I will give it “would not recommend” because as a series, I don’t see an interest. If you wanted to get into it, you could easily start on this one and ignore the first one, but overall, don’t waste your time, or your $3.99, not until something redeeming comes out.

Bigmacd101 (I’m talking anywhere and everywhere) finally feels like a real red shirt when, for the first time, a comic was reserved for him! Now beware of personal projects (pending approval) coming up, he hopes, soon. Until then, this review has his stamp and he hopes to get some new followers (@bigmacd101… or real life if you know what I look like).

Review: The Strain #1, The Fall

I’m so excited to be reviewing this comic, because unlike my prior reviews, I actually hated The Strain #1, The Fall. Now since this is the first I’ve read of either Guillermo Del Toro or Chuck Hogan, I can’t say that they are by any means bad comic book writers (I mean I could never do what they do), but for entertainment value, this comic can only be described as swing and a miss.

www.darkhorse.com

Let’s start at the beginning. The Comic opens up to this long description of the journey of some sacred occult text that has the feel of a biblical lineage story. It may as well have been written “tablets begot texts, which begot book, which begot fire, which begot murder, which begot…” until we get to the end point of still knowing nothing about this text other than it’s still lost and it is needed to beat this parasite outbreak. In theory the journey would be interesting and worth finding out about if it weren’t in such a passive voice. It is honestly a waste of space that can be summed up in 1 sentence, “The book is important.”

Now that we know the solution to the main problem of the novel, we are introduced to what the actual problem is. Yes, the solution is revealed before the problem. Turns out, the city of manhattan is overrun with vampires. That’s right, another author suckeling from the tit of vampires before it runs dry; on one hand, at least they are staying with trends, and on the other hand, seriously another vampire story?! Well rest assured, you can just cut both hands off. Here’s the definition of a vampire in this comic: a corpse of a human, taken over by a parasite and looks like a zombie, that mindlessly kills with a razor tongue, with no evidence of actually drinking blood, and is only weakness is the sun. No fangs, no consciousness, nothing about the soul, no weakness to the holy. Catering to (and writing for a blog for) a demographic that grew up Buffy, this parasitic bastardization of a vampire is about as bad as Twilight, there I said it.

Moving past that not-actually-a-vampire issue, we reach a city destroyed by riots with rebel group trying to save everyone cause apparently humanity has lost it’s common sense enough to just say “let’s not try to piss off the thing that is killing everyone.” On top of it all, the protagonist has to fight off his late wife who is now infected and his son wants to hug this decaying bloodthirsty corpse of his mother, because nothing says “hug me” like a murderous zombie. So there are these crazy drones that do nothing but kill for no reason and out of nowhere, there is some leader who miraculously held on the his consciousness and has some diabolical plan, but don’t ask me, I honestly have no clue. As far as the rest of characters go, the little developement they’ve been given hasn’t exactly made me like them. They mostly seem belligerent and blindly following some self proclaimed messiah with a sob-story so they can go down in history as being a part of someone who actually did something when everyone else just ran to their deaths.

www.darkhorse.com

But at least the art redeems it some, right? WRONG! Don’t let the cover fool you, the art leaves something to be desired. The simplicity of the art is on such a level that you can’t actually know what someone properly looks like unless their face is the only thing in the frame. This just makes the characters seem all the more generic.

Overall, I would not recommend this comic for $3.99. Even if the series does end up getting better, this piece seems overall unimportant. Not only that, it just wasn’t enjoyable; it lacked some of the key elements to make a comic good: artwork, dynamic characters with development, plot, etc. I hope the next comic redeems this one, until then I would say skip this one and move on to something more worth your time.

Brendan, know in the weberverse as bigmacd101, is so freaking pumped to write his first “would not recommend” review. He’s kinda scared the the authors might read this, so in case you don’t hear from him in a while, it’s probably because he has gone into hiding. He will let you know he’s alive and safe on his twitter (@bigmacd101) so you can sleep easy.