The oldest and freshest anthology series in the comics business serves up another heaping helping of sophistication and diversity. The tales range from the supernatural to the absurd to existential to nitty-gritty crime fiction. The creators have prior credits that span the range of modern comics as well, from Ghost to Harlan Ellison's Dream Corridor to Star Wars: Dark Lords of the Sith. Paul Pope, alternative comics genius, continues "The One Trick Rip-Off," a stylish, comics noirstrip set in a near-future Los Angeles and focusing on a small group of thieves called the One Tricks. In "Cal Hairball," Steve Niles concludes his 4-part serial about Cal MacDonald, a paranormal investigator whose search for a murderer leads him into out onto a busy highway for a climactic confrontation with a werewolf. Scott Musgrove and Darick Chamberlin's "The Pink Tornado" is the world's first stillborn superhero. In this last of 3 parts, he goes up against his arch-nemesis, Dr. Canada, the Provincial Man, a man with eerily detachable body parts. "That's Mr. Painter to You" concludes Stan Shaw's existential tale of a disaffected artiste named Alan Bland -- a coffee addict and tuba aficionado -- who becomes obsessed with an old painting found in his parents' home. Dark Horse Presents is the bastion of postmodern comics, 105 issues strong. Find out why readers around the world keep coming back for more, month after month. Kitsch, comedy, and noir. If you want any more than that, you're just getting greedy.
