Lately around the Multiversity Offices, I’ve been a rather big proponent of Dark Horse Presents, insisting that there are some absolutely quality hidden gems contained within the pages of this oft overlooked title. While it boasts a rather heavy price tag on the cover in comparison to other monthlies, it more than makes up for it with quality content, ranging from fantastic little one-off stories to serialized tales spread out through several issues.
With Resident Alien getting its own ongoing and The Massive prologue currently garnering widespread critical acclaim, I figured it was my civic duty to use this space to look over all the content to grace the pages of the latest volume of DHP and pick out the best ones. Certainly there is something to be said for personal taste when looking at the things I chose not to mention, but even so — if at least one of these comics don’t interest you in some way, then you must not like comics very much in general.
Check after the cut for sixteen reasons to buy Dark Horse Presents monthly.
Marked Man (began in #1, ended in #8)
I’m a big fan of Howard Chaykin’s work, and have been for some time now. Marked Man is basically everything you could ever love about Chaykin’s work all rolled up into a ball and put out on display for the world; it’s a crime story about a hitman who attempts to balance his home life with his work, but obviously it spills over due to a sloppy job gone wrong, resulting in the main character going on a rampage that leads him on a rather strange journey into the heart of darkness in a race against time versus the feds and other contract killers.
It’s very classic to Chaykin’s sense of storytelling, with no holds barred in any of the avenues leading to quite a dark odyssey. While it doesn’t measure up to some of Chaykin’s more notorious work, such as Black Kiss, it’s a sure hit for anyone who has ever enjoyed Chakyin’s dark humor and art style.
Finder: Third World (began in #1, ended in #7)
I’d never had the opportunity to read Finder before, but now that I’ve read the DHP shorts, I have to ask myself why. Finder is an endlessly exciting story, told in standalone shorts and starring a protagonist who can essentially take up any role he chooses. Coming into the story as a former mafia clean-up man and winding up a delivery boy, Carla Speed McNeil tells the story of a man in a world anything from ordinary who manages to take the simple job of delivering packages and letters and turns it into a high flying adventure of it’s own right. Every story is something else, and with McNeil writing and illustrating the stories, bending perspective and sneaking in wonderful easter eggs and homages, Finder is one of the most fun entries into this anthology series.
Murky World (began in #1, ended in #3)
Murky World finds Richard Corben doing what he does best: taking horror, mixing it up with black comedy, and delivering it in a greasy black and white story that will have you laugh, cringe and question Corben’s sanity at times. It’s hard to discuss what Murky World is versus what it isn’t, but it certainly isn’t dull.
The Wraith (one-off in #2)
In The Wraith, a little character who looks a little bit like Batman runs around causing mischief and ruckus.
There’s nothing really more that needs to be said about that, I don’t think.
Rotten Apple (began in #2, ended in #5)
Rotten Apple is, I think, what you’d get if you brought Gerard Way back to comics and told him to go nuts (even more nuts than Umbrella Academy already is/was). Featuring zombies, ninjas and a crazy mix of punk aesthetic with post-apocalyptic vibes, Rotten Apple is one of those stories you wish would spill out into its own series already so the adventures could continue beyond the confines of the anthology.
Treatment (one-off in #3)
In this story written and illustrated by legendary artist Dave Gibbons, police action is a network television, and you get the front row seat to one cop’s last day on the force. It’s short, but it’s a great show of force from Gibbons, and very moving despite its length.
Beasts of Burden (three stories, found in #4, #6, and #8)
Anyone who has read The Beasts of Burden before hardly needs additional justification to want to read about them further, but just in case: its Evan Dorkin and Jill Thompson telling the assorted tales of a group of dogs (and cat) who protect their neighborhood — and, to certain extents the world — from paranormal threats and oddities that humans are too blind to see. It’s funny, it’s at times adorable, and it’s even quite scary at points as Dorkin and Thompson spin the best of tales combining comedy, horror and your own love for your pets into a series that everyone should read.
The Adventures of Dog Mendonca and Pizza Boy (began in #4, ended in #7)
Dog Mendonca and Pizza Boy is a Portuguese comic created by Filipe Melo and Juan Cavia that has had a life far outside of DHP, yet is not a series well known by American audiences. It follows Dog Mendonca, a private detective, and his sidekick Pizza Boy as they battle all sorts of monsters and nasty ghouls in the classic tradition of things like Supernatural or Buffy.
With that in mind, the series serialized in DHP tells the origin of Dog Mendonca, from his early days and is essentially the perfect primer of backstory for anyone looking to branch out into an already established series. It’s a title full of self-referential humor and classic creature feature/horror sensibilities. It is pretty much the perfect comic for Dark Horse, let alone DHP.
Resident Alien (began in #4, ended in #6)
Arguably my favorite entry into DHP that is soon moving into its own ongoing series (which I really can’t wait for), Resident Evil finds an alien attempting to hide out in a nondescript town in USA after crash landing here three years ago being called upon to serve as the towns new doctor after the murder of the previous one (due to his ownership of a forged identity as a doctor). Using this opportunity to both solve a mystery and study humanity, he accepts the job opportunity and moves into town. Featuring fantastic writing and art from Pete Hogan and Steve Parkhouse, this series has some of the most promise I’ve seen in a title in some time, and I’m beyond excited that people will get a further opportunity to read the series when it the DHP stories are collected in a #0 issue.
If you haven’t read this series before, you shouldn’t dare miss it in April.
Age of Reptiles (one-off in #4)
Age of Reptiles was a title I’d heard of before yet never read, and upon reading the short in DHP I must ask myself “why?” Full of lush and beautiful illustration wrapped up in a silent but poignant story of survival, this comic — in so many ways — appeals to every element of my brain. The older and more sophisticated reader in me adores a story that can be told from its art alone, and he loves poring over the pages and discovering the nuances hidden in the details. Meanwhile, the child in me is stoked because dinosaurs! It is about as big of a winning combination as you could possibly hope to get.
Continued belowIf the inherent goal of DHP is to trick me into spending more money on a series elsewhere, Age of Reptiles is certainly proof positive that it works.
Isolation (one-off in #5)
Eric Powell is certainly well known for the Goon, but the reason he is well known for it is a combination of various things: biting satire, emotional depth and rather dark humor. It’s these three ever present qualities in the Goon that keep that title so fresh, but it is also these three things that Powell does well anywhere he takes his talent, including this one-off story in DHP. Starring a robot designed to go into outer space to find planets for humanity to colonize, the story is true to form for Powell in its comments on the nature of humanity and the selfish nature motivations our actions.
I’m completely biased. I love stories about robots, astronauts and space. However, even if you aren’t a fan of those three things, its hard not to love a short satire like this, if only to remind yourself you’re probably not as nice as you like to think.
Skeleton Key (three stories, found in #5 through #7)
The Skeleton Key is an old comic that used to be published by Slave Labor Graphics, with three stories randomly thrown into DHP as some sort of low key series revival. Following two girls (one of which is actually a spirit) as they travel through various places through use of a skeleton key, it’s an incredibly fun little read, moving all over the page as if it were alive and exploring its confines. While it has only had three little entries into the book, all have been enjoyable self-contained tales of youth, magic and the dangers of asking skeletons to dance for your music video.
Change (one-off in #6)
Whenever it comes to the work of Gabriel Ba or Fabio Moon, I feel it is better to show and not just tell. Change is a perfect example. While there are certainly plenty of reasons to buy DHP #6, this is a prime one — and I will go no further than that. You should just know.
Hellboy vs the Aztec Mummy (one-off in #7)
I feel like, starting with the previous story and moving forward through the end, my comments will basically all amount to “you should just already know.” It’s not that I actively want to sound pretentious, but really, you should just know. New Hellboy, written and illustrated by Mike Mignola, involving his time whilst drunk in Mexico? That is money in the bank, friends.
Speaker (one-off in #7)
When it comes to Brandon Graham, I feel there is never any justification to be made. Graham’s imagination is limitless, his art always rich. With Graham you have an artist unafraid to not just approach the page in new ways, but attack it, blending a manga-esque style with Western ideals and producing a comic that is always clever, full of sharp puns and wonderful ideas. Speaker is certainly no exception to this role, following the “life” of a man’s voice after the man no longer needs it.
BPRD: An Unmarked Grave (one-off in #8)
Now I definitely am just repeating myself — new BPRD, written by Mignola and Arcudi, tying together the death of Hellboy with the current events of BPRD Hell on Earth? Money in the bank, friends. Money in the bank.
(The next issue features a Lobster Johnson story. Guess what I’m going to say about that.)
The Massive (began in #8)
This is the story that has garnered a lot of attention to DHP lately, and for good reason. It’s the prelude to Brian Wood’s new creator-owned series with Kristian Donaldson, and it’s an incredibly enormous feat. Meticulously researched by Wood and rendered with beautiful detail by Donaldson, the story follows a group of soldiers who travel out to an oil rig on a mission during the middle of a terrible storm. This is the beginning of something great, and you can see it in every corner. For those who have never read a book by Wood or Donaldson before, now is the perfect time to see why you should’ve been with them since at least 2006 (when they collaborated on Supermarket for IDW).
