Dark Horse Presents #3

You'd think the Dark Horse Presents series would be a tough sale, since the cover price is a gulp-inducing $7.99.

But it's actually well worth the price for a couple of reasons.

First of all, it's a heck of a bargain - you get 104 pages of comic - about equal to four regular comics - at a cheaper price than three normal issues.

Second of all, each issue features some of the industry's top talent. This issue alone includes Dave Gibbons, Paul Chadwick, Steranko, Neal Adams, Howard Chaykin and Rich Corben.

And while each story is relatively short, they're an outstanding mix of action, humor, science fiction, fantasy, horror - in other words, a little bit of everything.

The Steranko feature is a chapter from his remastered graphic novel Red Tide, which features the private eye named Chandler. The author claims it was the first-ever graphic novel, and he makes a persuasive argument for it (feel free to discuss amongst yourselves).

There's also a rambling (and somewhat rare) interview with Steranko included. I'm not sure if the Red Tide story is being serialized here or if this is just a "sneak peek." (It is labeled Chapter One.)

Other favorite stories include: a new Concrete adventure in which the stone activist goes into crime fighting (sorta); Gibbons' look at a futuristic cross between a cop show and reality TV; Chaykin's analysis of a hit man; and the strange character known as Number 13.

I should add that, in addition to stories by hall-of-famers, there are several stories by some impressive up-and-coming talent, too.

I really like this series, and as long as they can maintain this caliber of talent, I'll be there.

Grade: A-

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