Dark Horse Presents #33

Published by: Dark Horse Comics
Released on: Feb. 19, 2014
Writer: various
Artist: various
Cover: Michael Schlicting
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Dark Horse's long-running anthology series is in its second volume and delivers some great little stories and serials in a mixed genre bag: fantasy, mystery, crime drama, sci-fi, superhero…just anything. A host of talent bringing a myriad of stories is what DH Presents is all about. Michael Schlicting's Sanjulian-esque cover is a winner, as are the Geoff Darrow spot illustrations peppered throughout. This issue contains a number of stories already in progress, a couple of story conclusions, and also some serials just starting out.

• “Cruel Biology Chapter 1” by Christopher Sebela and Brian Churilla. Three active duty military rejects are sitting out their wartime watching for planes out of a tower in a small island village in the Pacific during the second World War. Zimmerman is in charge, but he'd rather be practicing cryptography; O'Brien, the narrator, is a punk with a record; Curtis is a burned out filed surgeon. Their tedium is interrupted by a balloon that spews some sort of poison on the natives, with one in particular spilling blood from every hole in his face.
• “Integer City Chapter 4” by Jamie S. Rich and Brent Schoonover. Jonny Kilmeister takes a job from a thug boss to find his daughter. He finds her in a church with more than a preacher in the pulpit. This place houses a full blown cult and Jonny's plan of bringing Nathalie home is thwarted by said cult goons. Things don't end on a good note for the man.
• “The Deleted Chapter 2” by Brendan McCarthy and Darrin Grimwood. The second part of a VERY colorful story puts the former amnesia suffering group at odds with ghost hunting robots in the sim world they inhabit. The ragtag band of societal misfits are in a virtual reality gaming world that they cannot escape and uh-oh…here comes Weirlock.
• “Mister X: Frozen Assets Chapter 1” by Dean Motter. Honeycutt is a repo man in the future, who takes inventory from businesses that have failed and selling it or trashing it. He decides he wants the money of a dead man named Goldfarb and recruits the help of an ex-doctor and childhood friend Bud. But first they need to thaw out the body of Goldfarb Honeycutt has in storage, but are in for a surprise when they go to do just that.
• “Nexus: Into the Past Chapter 8” by Mike Baron and Steve Rude. Part 8 of 9 in this tale is ultra confusing if a) you missed the seven chapters the preceded this one, b) you are not familiar at all with the Nexus comic books, or c) both a and b. Both Mike Baron and Steve Rude being the veterans they are, you know this has to be quality stuff, but man is it of little sense to this reader jumping in at this point. The artwork is nice though. With Steve Rude's name attached, that shouldn't come as a surprise.
• “Mr. Monster Vs. The Brain Bats of Venus! Chapter 1” by Michael T. Gilbert. Good old Dr. Strongfort Stearn, aka Mister Monster, gets back into action in this new story featuring Basil Wolverton's creation “Brain Bats”. These lovely creatures move from planet to planet and latch themselves onto the heads of the inhabitants, controlling their every move and every word while sucking out brains. That and they can willing themselves unseen, which is a powerful tool as you can imagine. Gilbert's artwork is incredibly appealing, even if it is too cartoonish.
• “Crime Does Not Pay: City of Roses Chapter 12” by Phil Stanford. Argh…part 12 of a 12 parter. When is the collection volume coming on this one? This looks like a good story, with interesting artwork, but it's tough to talk about the end of a movie without seeing the first 80 minutes.
• “Saint George: Dragonslayer Chapter 4” by Fred Van Lente and Reilly Brown. Saint George fights a dragon, saves the princess, and punches her dad in the face. Brown's art is great and has a unique look. This is the fourth chapter and the end of Book One. Missing the first three parts, it was still an enjoyable read.
• “The Many Murders of Miss Cranbourne: The Library in the Body Chapter 2” by Rich Johnson and Simon Rohrmuller. This story feels like a comic episode of Clue, minus the incredible boredom that game brings. Inspector Wrightson and Constable Hunt make some progress in their investigation, leading them, to the lady in the story's title.
• “Kill Me! Chapter 3” by Chad Lambert and Christine Larsen. Jack's quest to kill all the versions of himself made by a loop in time he created by mistake continues, but he has caught a bullet. Is he hallucinating when he encounters a younger version of Alexis? Well just in case, he tells her a couple of things to do, and guess what? He bungs up time again.

Dark Horse Presents is always worth picking up. Anthologies make for some of the best reading material and DHP is no exception. Lots of talented people creating within these pages are deserving of your attention, and if a story doesn't meet your fancy, skip it. There's tons more packed in the book to choose from.