While there are several fun stories in Dark Horse Presents issue #32, available January 15, the story that caught my eye, the one I fell in love with, is Fred Van Lente and Reilly Brown’s “Saint George Dragonslayer: Part Three.”
The art in those eight pages is worth the price of the whole book.
I did enjoy Mike Mignola’s part two of “Hellboy Gets Married.” Mick McMahon’s art is simple yet extremely eye-catching, and the story itself packs a lot of fun in a few short pages.
Chad Lambert continues his eerie story of a broken timeline in “Kill Me: Part Two.” I’m enjoying Christine Larsen’s artwork, it’s got an almost child-like feel to it somehow, like something you could see in a really well-drawn picture book. If that picture book was about murdering past incarnations of yourself.
But I’m just trying to be fair to all the other great talent in the book, when what I really want to talk about is Reilly Brown’s artwork, which is gorgeous.
Writer Fred Van Lente is doing a fantastic job retelling the legend of Saint George. This is not the Saint George seen on a faded tapestry, or in a very dry book of history. This is a soldier of the Roman Empire, separated from his Legion and up against very real, very deadly monsters. Think less medieval times knight, and more action-movie badass.
The story is equal parts history and adventure; it’s well-researched and in places completely hysterical. While in the middle of battle George needs the princess to give him something to distract the dragon.
“Give me your girdle!”
“…are you coming on to me?!”
“NOT REALLY, NO!”
But the art, Reilly Brown’s art, is just amazing. Many readers will be familiar with his work from Cable and Deadpool, and his work in this issue is a shining example of his talent. The faces are striking and hysterically expressive, and the action scenes show lots of fluid motion. Reilly pays attention to the smallest detail of costume and landscape, without ever making it look confusing or cluttered.
Jeremy Colwell’s beautiful colors go from a bright warm pallet outside, to cool jewel tones in the dragon’s cave. Speaking of the dragon, I’d like to have the page with the first appearance of the dragon as a poster, it’s such a great image, right down to the skulls that frame the corner.
The preview for Dark Horse Presents #32 doesn’t include any pages from the Saint George story, and I’m not allowed to post pictures from my preview pdf. And I want to, I really do. So I’ll just link to a few pages that Reilly Brown posted to tumblr, from parts one and two, and the cover image from Dark Horse Presents #30. And I’ll tell you again: find a copy of Dark Horse Presents #32 and buy it. The art in this story made me an instant fan.
