Tag Archives: Karl Story

Rocketeer Adventures 2 3 (May 2012)

Posted on 13 March 2013 | Leave a comment

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Did IDW run out of people to hire for Rocketeer Adventures? The Kyle Baker story, done a little like a serial episode, is great, but it’s Kyle Baker. He doesn’t just get how to do comic action, he can actually write Betty. And his Shadow cameo is rather fun too.

But besides Baker, this issue’s awful. Chris Sprouse’s art is good on the first story, if a little underwhelming. David Lapham scripts it; it’s a terrible script about Cliff and Betty realizing they don’t want to be a farm family. In short, Sprouse is drawing a lot of farm equipment. Not a good use of him.

Still, anything is better than the last story. Eric Canete’s style seems to be rushed, line heavy and animation influenced. Matt Wagner only writes narration–since it’s a “Jetsons” story–and Canete’s art complements it perfectly. Neither are good.

Baker aside, the issue’s crap.

CREDITS

“Coulda been…”; writer, David Lapham; penciller, Chris Sprouse; inker, Karl Story; colorist, Jordie Bellaire; letterer, Shawn Lee. Butchy Saves Betty; writer, artist, colorist and letterer, Kyle Baker. History Lesson; writer, Matt Wagner; artist, Eric Canete; colorists, Canete and Cassandra Poulson; letterer, Lee. Editor, Scott Dunbier; publisher, IDW Publishing.

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DC Universe: Legacies 10 (April 2011)

Posted on 9 April 2011 | Leave a comment

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The story ends before Infinite Crisis, with an OMAC showing up and attacking the narrator. The narrator’s nurse at the assisted living place ends the issue suggesting he’s full of crap, which ends Legacies on a decidedly negative note. Not because the reader would believe he’s a loon, but because it’s such a mundane thing, being elderly and dismissed. It’s a defeat. What’s the point of getting all excited about the superheroes if the elderly are being dismissed in the DC Universe? What, is Superman going to deal with nuclear proliferation next?

Saiz only handles a handful of pages then Derenick takes over. It must be at that point DC finally stopped pretending they cared about Legacies being a professional job. Derenick’s expressions get hilarious at times.

The backup is an Infinite Crisis prologue with Blue Beetle. Nice Frank art, I guess, but totally useless.

Kind of like the series.

CREDITS

Truth and Consequences!; pencillers, Scott Kolins, Jesus Saiz and Tom Derenick; inkers, Kolins, Karl Story and Robin Riggs; colorists, Mike Atiyeh and Tom Chu. Snapshot: Redemption!; penciller, Gary Frank; inker, Jon Sibal; colorist, Brad Anderson. Writer, Len Wein; letterer, Rob Leigh; editors, Kate Stewart, Chris Conroy and Joey Cavalieri; publisher, DC Comics.

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DC Universe: Legacies 9 (March 2011)

Posted on 9 April 2011 | Leave a comment

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Do the editors do anything here? They’ve got a black Firestorm during the Day of Judgment scenes… about six years too early.

Wein also covers Final Night; the two are connected, but he doesn’t do a very good job of making them flow together. This issue features some of his worst writing in a while. The dialogue just gets terrible and the events he’s showing… he’s just summarizing crossovers. At least the first few issues, they were aping Marvels. Now they’re just wasting paper and ink.

The Jesus Saiz art, tragically, is weak. I like Saiz and I’m not sure if it’s Story’s inks or if he’s just started working less lately… but some of his faces are really lazy.

The Captain Marvel backup—with Sienkiewicz art—is beautiful. It’s also the most convoluted thing I can remember reading. The narration boxes don’t follow any logic, making it a chore.

CREDITS

Knight After Night!; pencillers, Scott Kolins and Jesus Saiz; inkers, Kolins and Karl Story; colorists, Mike Atiyeh, Marta Martinez and Tom Chu. Snapshot: Resurrection; artist, Bill Sienkiewicz; colorist, Daniel Vozzo. Writer, Len Wein; letterer, Rob Leigh; editors, Rachel Gluckstern, Simona Martore, Chris Conroy, Joey Cavalieri and Mike Carlin; publisher, DC Comics.

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Dark Horse Presents 61 (April 1992)

Posted on 20 December 2010 | Leave a comment

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Sin City has gotten useless to the point I’m not even sure I should talk about it. It’s sort of interesting in regards to Miller’s terrible plotting. One might think he’d adapt Chandler or even Hammett, just amping it up, but he doesn’t. He figures out his own “hard boiled” structure and it’s awful. I guess he draws a little bit more this entry than usual. Not much though.

It’s the longest Earth Boys story so far and the extra pages don’t help the writing. But Story’s back inking Johnson, so it definitely looks a lot better.

The Creep is a continued delight. Eaglesham gets in some more street scenes, which look great, and Arcudi has a few surprise developments. It’s just a fantastic series.

Not fantastic is O’Barr’s Frame. He seems to think making his subject as horrendously awful means I should read it. Actual writing doesn’t matter. Boo.

CREDITS

Sin City, Episode Twelve; story, art and lettering by Frank Miller. Earth Boys, Homeward Bound; story by Cliff Biggers and Brett Brooks; pencils by Dave Johnson; inks by Karl Story; lettering by Mike Heisler. The Creep; story by John Arcudi; art by Dale Eaglesham; lettering by Pat Brosseau. Frame 137; story, art and lettering by James O’Barr. Edited by Randy Stradley.

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Dark Horse Presents 60 (March 1992)

Posted on 19 December 2010 | Leave a comment

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Oh, lucky me, Sin City isn’t over yet. Instead, Miller spends most of his pages with one image, a lot of white space and even more terrible narration. I think I hate this entry the most. Not sure if it’s because I’m subjected to more of Miller’s writing or if it’s because I thought I was actually done with Sin City for now.

Geary has two different strips this issue. One’s two pages, the other is one. Neither is particularly good, but the second one is pretty bad, actually. Nice art, weak sentimental nonsense.

The Creep starts its second story arc and Eaglesham is even better than he was on the first. It’s nice to see Arcudi able to write something well, considering he’s always got a decent plotting sensibility.

Earth Boys closes the issue. Johnson’s art (probably the Story inks) is better. Maybe Biggers and Brooks’s writing is too.

CREDITS

Sin City, Episode Eleven; story, art and lettering by Frank Miller. Murder Tour, Beautiful Homes; story, art and lettering by Rick Geary. The Creep; story by John Arcudi; art by Dale Eaglesham; lettering by Pat Brosseau. Earth Boys, Invasion of Privacy; story by Cliff Biggers and Brett Brooks; pencils by Dave Johnson; inks by Karl Story; lettering by Mike Heisler. Edited by Randy Stradley.

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Dark Horse Presents 50 (April 1991)

Posted on 16 December 2010 | Leave a comment

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Heartbreakers is a little better this issue. Bennett and Guinan still don’t have a good sense of what makes a story interesting. This one implies it had potential to be interesting on the second to last page.

Hughes and Story do a few pages, riffing on the idea of pin-up pages. The writing’s far from perfect, but it’s Hughes doing regular comics. It’s technically outstanding, though some of the jokes require a lot of close attention.

Csutoras and Gaudiano continue Harlequin. Some of this installment features Gaudiano’s best art so far. The story continues to be somewhat indescribable and very odd. I love how they get humanity of it when it should be difficult.

Brubaker–in his first work?–has a little childhood reminiscence (art by Christian and Ranjo). It’s short and nice. I miss the cynical, jaded Brubaker.

Hedden and McWeeney do a one page thing. It’s fine.

CREDITS

Heartbreakers, Three Women; story by Anina Bennett and Paul Guinan; art by Guinan; lettering by Willie Schubert. Hip-Deep in the Consciousness Stream; story by Adam Hughes and Karl Story; pencils by Hughes; inks by Story; lettering by Jim Massara. The Black & White Blues; story and art by Rich Hedden and Tom McWeeney. Harlequin, Act III; story by Stephen Csutoras; art by Stefano Gaudiano. Burning Man; story by Ed Brubaker; art by Mike Christian and Jeff Ranjo; lettering by Jack Pollock. Edited by Randy Stradley.

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Dark Horse Presents 36 (February 1990)

Posted on 12 December 2010 | Leave a comment

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The Aliens vs. Predator story is most impressive for Norwood’s illustration… but not of aliens or Predators. The story opens on some alien world and it’s just breathtaking. Once the actual story starts (Stradley’s two conversationalists talking about hunting experiences while Predators hunt aliens), it can’t compete with those visuals. Still, for what amounts to shameless self-promotion, these prologues are very successful.

Davis’s Delia & Celia features a number of young women “playing” the two leads. Davis can’t maintain faces for them to the point he must have been photo-referencing. Each panel, they get a new, distinct face. The writing is nearly interesting this time… but Davis fumbles it.

This installment of Heartbreakers kind of makes the clone thing clear–there’s two groups of clones, one tough, one not as tough. But it’s not clear if they’re clones of the same person (just with different haircuts). It’s inoffensively mediocre.

CREDITS

Aliens vs. Predator; story by Randy Stradley; pencils by Phill Norwood; inks by Karl Story; lettering by Pat Brosseau. Heartbreakers, Ceiling Zero; story by Anina Bennett and Paul Guinan; art by Guinan; lettering by Willie Schubert. Delia & Celia, The Great Marsh; story, art and lettering by Gary Davis. Edited by Randy Stradley.

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Dark Horse Presents 35 (December 1989)

Posted on 12 December 2010 | Leave a comment

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The Predator story opening the comic gets it off to a good start (it’s really just part of the prologue to the first Aliens vs. Predator series). Stradley writes an excellent conversation about social Darwinism between these two pilots, which Norwood then adapts into something featuring Predators fighting for dominance. Well, it was probably the reverse, right? Marvel style?

The first Heartbreakers story is mildly incomprehensible–it’s packed with detail, all about cloning, interoffice politics and the future. I like Guinan’s art, but I can’t tell if the soldiers are all supposed to be identical clones. His visual reference all seems to be Vietnam War, so it’s weird to see it as a future story.

The final story, from Inabinet, is this incredibly dense–there’s almost so much text it could just be prose–fable about the adventures of a Muslim scholar in the Middle Ages. Inabinet does masterful work.

CREDITS

Predator; story by Randy Stradley; pencils by Phill Norwood; inks by Karl Story; lettering by Pat Brosseau. Heartbreakers, Only Angels Have Wings; story by Anina Bennett and Paul Guinan; art by Guinan; lettering by Willie Schubert. A Tough Nut to Crack; story and art by Sam Inabinet; lettering by Karen Casey-Smith. Edited by Randy Stradley.

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Dark Horse Presents 34 (November 1989)

Posted on 12 December 2010 | Leave a comment

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Race of Scorpions gets even more amazing this issue… Duranona tells the reader what happens to the story’s protagonists in a little text paragraph at the end of the story. The actual story was spent on some supporting cast members. It’s sort of amazing how poorly plotted this story gets. Dark Horse really just didn’t care what they printed. Lots of perspective failures here. Just a dreadful read.

Zone is getting more dramatic–this issue the reporter gets hurt near a fire and Zone saves him, so all the threads are coming together. Unfortunately, Kraiger’s art, which was no great shakes to begin with, is weakening. His faces are poor here and there’s a lot of them because of the talking about the fire. But it’s not terrible.

Stradley and Norwood’s Aliens story is just a conversation over Norwood’s awesome artwork. It’s probably shouldn’t be effective, but it works well.

CREDITS

Aliens; story by Randy Stradley; pencils by Phill Norwood; inks by Karl Story; lettering by Pat Brosseau. Zone; story, art and lettering by Michael Kraiger. Race of Scorpions, By Water and Stone; story and art by Leopoldo Durañona; lettering by Laura Davis. Edited by Randy Stradley.

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Aliens vs. Predator 2 (August 1990)

Posted on 20 November 2010 | Leave a comment

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The issue opens with some weak dream exposition. It doesn’t fit the narrator’s voice–Stradley never establishes why he’s using it (I think it’s a callback to the Aliens series where people have nightmares around the aliens)–and it’s a weak opening.

But then Stradley recovers beautifully. Until the end of this issue, Aliens vs. Predator is more a Western than a sci-fi thriller. The sci-fi elements are all well-done, but the narrative tone is straight out of Rio Bravo. He continues strengthening his characters as he introduces the titular elements–lots of aliens and Predator money shots this issue, but it doesn’t feel forced.

Norwood has a lot to do with the art being forceful but not overdone. I won’t say his inability to draw figures is a bonus, however. It’s just how well he composes the panels, how well he implies movement.

It’s good stuff.

CREDITS

Writer, Randy Stradley; penciller, Phill Norwood; inkers, Karl Story, Mark Propst, Brian Stelfreeze, Stine Walsh and Dave Dorman; colorist, Monika Livingston; letterer, Pat Brosseau; editor, Diana Schutz; publisher, Dark Horse Comics.

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Aliens vs. Predator 1 (June 1990)

Posted on 20 November 2010 | Leave a comment

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Norwood’s very design-oriented–he’s a Hollywood storyboard guy–and the art suffers for it. The setting, the designs of the human settlement on an alien planet, is great. The panel composition is stunning. The figures are awkward and bad. Everyone’s proportions are off a little bit. They’re too stout for their height.

Stradley’s writing here is really strong–he has a female narrator, but makes distance part of her character (I’m not sure if she’s Japanese because it’s a comic from 1990 about the future of corporations or if Stradley used it to add even more distance, this time cultural). But his establishing of the setting is great too. There’s no lengthy exposition, he just sets it up, makes sure to give everyone important a name within a page or two of their first appearance.

The aliens fighting Predators antics haven’t started yet; it’s just solid sci-fi here.

CREDITS

Writer, Randy Stradley; penciller, Phill Norwood; inkers, Karl Story, Mark Propst, Brian Stelfreeze and Stine Walsh; colorist, Monika Livingston; letterer, Pat Brosseau; editor, Diana Schutz; publisher, Dark Horse Comics.

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Aliens vs. Predator 0 (July 1990)

Posted on 20 November 2010 | Leave a comment

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Stradley’s issue is two bored cargo spaceship having a conversation while Norwood’s art shows us all about the Predators getting ready for the Aliens vs. Predator series. First it’s showing the alien eggs, then it’s a bunch of fighting for dominance. The off panel dialogue back and forth constantly relates to the dialogue-less action going on.

The issue is reprints of prologue stories from Dark Horse Presents, which explains why it’s always a surprise when the story continues following a climax in the conversation, but it works.

I’m not particularly familiar with Norwood but he does a fine job here. A lot of the art is just the Predators, which aren’t the most exciting topic, but the composition and designs of alien worlds are good. Story’s lines are nice too–I’d forgotten black and white forces the attention to the artwork.

Stradley’s dialogue, Norwood’s art–it’s a neat issue.

CREDITS

Writer, Randy Stradley; penciller, Phill Norwood; inker, Karl Story; letterer, Pat Brosseau; editors, Stradley and Diana Schutz; publisher, Dark Horse Comics.

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Posted in Aliens, Dark Horse, Predator

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