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Dark Horse Heroes
Dark Horse Heroes Omnibus Volume 1
In the not-too-distant past, the first nuclear weapon test changed the world forever . . . but not in the way we expected. Unleashed upon the planet was a microscopic technological virus of unknown origin that infected millions — some to no effect, some to horrifying agonies and disfigurement, others with the gift of incredible and sometimes terrifying power. But would a world populated by supermen become a battleground for good against bad . . . or bad against worse? Is it true that with great power comes great responsibility . . . or does it truly come with great license?
424 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 23, 2008
16 people are currently reading
80 people want to read
About the author
Mike Richardson
341 books19 followersMike Richardson is an American publisher, writer, and Emmy-winning producer. In 1986, he founded Dark Horse Comics, an award-winning international publishing house located in Milwaukie, Oregon. Richardson is also the founder and President of the Things From Another World retail chain and president of Dark Horse Entertainment, which has developed and produced numerous projects for film and television based on Dark Horse properties or licensed properties.
In addition, he has written numerous graphic novels and comics series, including The Secret, Living with the Dead, and Cut as well as co-authoring two non-fiction books: Comics Between the Panels and Blast Off!.
In addition, he has written numerous graphic novels and comics series, including The Secret, Living with the Dead, and Cut as well as co-authoring two non-fiction books: Comics Between the Panels and Blast Off!.
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
April 17, 2020
Back in 1993, Dark Horse thought it would be a good idea to start their own superhero universe. While a few characters like Ghost, X, and Barb Wire did break out, this didn't survive all that long. Dark Horse tried to revive this again in 2014 with Project: Black Sky. This omnibus collects the crossover that introduced the new universe Comics Greatest World (and comic's dumbest title) and its follow up a year later, Will to Power.
Comics Greatest World followed a format of introducing a new character each issue with one character meeting the next one in the following issue. There's an overarching story of some aliens watching everyone from behind the scenes while searching for the heritic. Some of the character are goofy as hell. Some like Ghost, X, King Tiger were actually very solid.
In between the two crossovers, Dark Horse released a ton of miniseries and one-shots. They get recapped over 10 pages of prose in the collection. Then we get to the Will to Power story. It's not as good but more or less follows the same story format as a Superman wannabe named Titan goes off the deep end. This was done much better years later by Mark Waid in Irredeemable. Titan is really obnoxious. He starts off holier than thou and easily manipulated. Then starts referring to himself in the 3rd person. By that point, I was rooting for his demise.
Comics Greatest World followed a format of introducing a new character each issue with one character meeting the next one in the following issue. There's an overarching story of some aliens watching everyone from behind the scenes while searching for the heritic. Some of the character are goofy as hell. Some like Ghost, X, King Tiger were actually very solid.
In between the two crossovers, Dark Horse released a ton of miniseries and one-shots. They get recapped over 10 pages of prose in the collection. Then we get to the Will to Power story. It's not as good but more or less follows the same story format as a Superman wannabe named Titan goes off the deep end. This was done much better years later by Mark Waid in Irredeemable. Titan is really obnoxious. He starts off holier than thou and easily manipulated. Then starts referring to himself in the 3rd person. By that point, I was rooting for his demise.
July 2, 2014
When most people think about the dark days of 90's superhero comics (for those who think about such things), popular images that come to mind are how the time period affected well-known characters: overblown events like The Death of Superman and Knightfall, testosterone bonanzas like X-Force, or questionable insta-classics such as Spawn. But for me, the epitome of those speculation-obsessed times was the long-forgotten series that combined all of these aspects: Comics' Greatest World.
I still remember riding my bike down into town each week to visit our newly-installed comic shop, right next to the bait-and-tackle. For my teenage needs, CGW books were a shoe-in: only a buck each, with fancy high-gloss cardstock covers, "awesome" art, and a whole new superhero world that didn't have years of backstory. Plus they came out once a week, with new characters every issue! It was a brilliant scheme.
The thing was, of course, that CGW was simply an event that never stopped eventing, and all of their "new characters" were just a mishmash of DC and Marvel clones. Reading these issues now is just painful -- high concept writing that verges into self-parody. An anti-villain called "X" who delivers justice like Batman but kills people like Punisher. A special-forces team called the Pit Bulls, individually named Butch, Duke, Queenie, and Spike. It's the kind of hackneyed crap that would usually come from writers of decades prior -- or from the minds of twelve-year-old boys today.
There's a huge swath of genuine talent here, from Frank Miller and Mike Mignola covers, to interiors by virtually every B-lister who would be drawing DC and Marvel books 5 years later. And depending on your tastes, some individual arcs were better-developed than others -- in particular the sorta-post-apocalyptic, mutant-cyberpunk-grunge crime drama Barb Wire had an interesting set of characters, which is probably why it was spun off into its own series (and then immediately run into the ground by a movie adaptation that was basically softcore porn). Also worth mentioning are the collection's brief forays into the kung fu and kaiju genres via the characters "King Tiger" and "Hero Zero," though neither of these are worth the price of admission (as Barb arguably might be).
But yeah, most of this collection is a cynical cash grab and very, very bad. The original series, in which every character received their own issue, then ran around punching each other, ran for 16 issues before ending in a cliffhanger leading to another miniseries, in which everyone punched each other again in basically the same order, but for totally different reasons (I think).
And this, ten years before DC figured out how to run the formula of the endless event into the ground!
This second series was apparently not even worth the paper it was printed on, as the Omnibus editors simply summarize it here. But lucky for us, the third and final event is collected, demonstrating not only that bigger, meaner characters can punch each other for way more serious reasons, but that all the previous characters were in fact not quite done either, with all the punching.
After that, CGW was put to bed...until last year when it came back, because God hates you.
But, to recap: the 90's were a really bad time for comics, and Comics' Greatest World may have indeed been the cream of the crap. Luckily I have stared into its dark heart (or at least skimmed it really hard), to spare you the pain of its what-the-hellness.
Be ever thankful, chilluns. Now go read you some Spawn.
I still remember riding my bike down into town each week to visit our newly-installed comic shop, right next to the bait-and-tackle. For my teenage needs, CGW books were a shoe-in: only a buck each, with fancy high-gloss cardstock covers, "awesome" art, and a whole new superhero world that didn't have years of backstory. Plus they came out once a week, with new characters every issue! It was a brilliant scheme.
The thing was, of course, that CGW was simply an event that never stopped eventing, and all of their "new characters" were just a mishmash of DC and Marvel clones. Reading these issues now is just painful -- high concept writing that verges into self-parody. An anti-villain called "X" who delivers justice like Batman but kills people like Punisher. A special-forces team called the Pit Bulls, individually named Butch, Duke, Queenie, and Spike. It's the kind of hackneyed crap that would usually come from writers of decades prior -- or from the minds of twelve-year-old boys today.
There's a huge swath of genuine talent here, from Frank Miller and Mike Mignola covers, to interiors by virtually every B-lister who would be drawing DC and Marvel books 5 years later. And depending on your tastes, some individual arcs were better-developed than others -- in particular the sorta-post-apocalyptic, mutant-cyberpunk-grunge crime drama Barb Wire had an interesting set of characters, which is probably why it was spun off into its own series (and then immediately run into the ground by a movie adaptation that was basically softcore porn). Also worth mentioning are the collection's brief forays into the kung fu and kaiju genres via the characters "King Tiger" and "Hero Zero," though neither of these are worth the price of admission (as Barb arguably might be).
But yeah, most of this collection is a cynical cash grab and very, very bad. The original series, in which every character received their own issue, then ran around punching each other, ran for 16 issues before ending in a cliffhanger leading to another miniseries, in which everyone punched each other again in basically the same order, but for totally different reasons (I think).
And this, ten years before DC figured out how to run the formula of the endless event into the ground!
This second series was apparently not even worth the paper it was printed on, as the Omnibus editors simply summarize it here. But lucky for us, the third and final event is collected, demonstrating not only that bigger, meaner characters can punch each other for way more serious reasons, but that all the previous characters were in fact not quite done either, with all the punching.
After that, CGW was put to bed...until last year when it came back, because God hates you.
But, to recap: the 90's were a really bad time for comics, and Comics' Greatest World may have indeed been the cream of the crap. Luckily I have stared into its dark heart (or at least skimmed it really hard), to spare you the pain of its what-the-hellness.
Be ever thankful, chilluns. Now go read you some Spawn.
June 28, 2022
Half way in and not enough Ghost. I don't really like any of the other heroes, except for, maybe, Barb Wire. There is too much going on and not enough going on. The story doesn't go as smooth or connect as well as it should.
January 26, 2020
This was an interesting read. Ever since reading Age of Reptiles, I have been really fond of Dark Horse Comics and eager to read more of their omnibus collections. I was really curious about Dark Horse's superhero universe (despite its eventual failure), and so was thrilled to discover that my local library corporation had access to this book. I didn't grow up in the 90s, so I can't really say how Dark Horse Heroes matches up with other superhero comics of the time. This book collects the two biggest series' in Dark Horse Comics heroes line: Comics' Greatest World #1 to 16 and Will to Power #1 to 12 with a written summary between the two series. The summary describes the events which lead from CGW to WtP. These events were portrayed throughout various spin-off series' to CGW which were not collected in this omnibus. The whole omnibus is really thick with over 450 pages, the largest Dark Horse Omnibus I've read yet.
Comics' Greatest World was the vehicle Dark Horse used to launch its superhero universe. In Comics' Greatest World, there is an overarching plot spanning across all 16 issues. Each issue begins with a one-page prologue revealing the backstory to how superheroes exist in this Dark Horse universe (basically, aliens and a-bombs); introduces a different superhero or team of characters (which, as I stated above, some of whom would receive their own spin-off title not collected in this omnibus); and explores one of four major locations (Arcadia, Golden City, Steel Harbor, and The Vortex) which Dark Horse would set future superhero stories in. Each issue features artwork from a different artist, so the artwork varies across all of the issues.
Will to Power was a sequel series to CGW focussing on the character Titan. The basic story in WtP is that Titan, yet another variation on a theme of Superman, goes psycho and starts attacking everyone in the Dark Horse universe, climaxing in his annihilation in the middle of a stand-in city for Las Vegas. As in CGW, the first page of each issue is a prologue revealing Titan's unfortunate backstory.
Now, for anyone who may be considering reading this comic book in the future, here is my breakdown of the pros and cons:
Pros:
- Some good artwork: With a whole team of artists, the artwork varied in quality across both series'. I particularly liked Mike Mignola's, Frank Miller's, and Dave Johnson's cover illustrations; and Adam Hughes' artwork (mainly the facial expressions and the way he illustrated how X's costume wraps around his face).
- Concept: The ideas Dark Horse played around with in their superhero universe were kind of fun and interesting. I especially like how they used CGW as a launchpad, introducing new information and characters in each issue.
- Characters: Some of the characters were really fun and filled with potential, particularly Grace, Madison, Ghost, X, and Mecha.
Cons:
- First of all, Costumes: The costumes can be very awful at times; some of the costumes have too much glam rock vibes. Hero Zero looks a lot like Iron Man except with an inferior colour scheme. Some of the female characters (namely Ghost and Barb Wire) suffer from sexual objectification. X looks like he's wearing a giant leather diaper/nappy.
- Characters: As I stated in the pros section, some of the characters are good and had potential to become really interesting in the hands of a good writer. But the rest are just iffy, try-hard, or just plain ridiculous. This might be just my opinion though.
- Most of the artwork: Most of the artwork was alright, but nothing really special or outstanding. Some of it was just awful with clashing colours and scratchy drawings.
- Concepts: It might just be me, but I hated Steel Harbor and most of the characters in it. I think Dark Horse's superhero universe may have worked out a lot better if they had just focused on X, Ghost, and Golden City and worked at creating solid stories surrounding them.
As far as the omnibus collection is concerned, in some ways I think it was good that Dark Horse only made an effort to collect CGW and WtP, but in some ways it makes the collection feel incomplete knowing that it omits all of the spin-off titles (such as Catalyst: Agents of Change, Motorhead, Titan, Out of the Vortex, etc.) and the last title of the whole initiative (Agents of Law). Regardless, I found this interesting, and I admire Dark Horse Comics' ambition, adventurousness, and willingness to do something different.
Comics' Greatest World was the vehicle Dark Horse used to launch its superhero universe. In Comics' Greatest World, there is an overarching plot spanning across all 16 issues. Each issue begins with a one-page prologue revealing the backstory to how superheroes exist in this Dark Horse universe (basically, aliens and a-bombs); introduces a different superhero or team of characters (which, as I stated above, some of whom would receive their own spin-off title not collected in this omnibus); and explores one of four major locations (Arcadia, Golden City, Steel Harbor, and The Vortex) which Dark Horse would set future superhero stories in. Each issue features artwork from a different artist, so the artwork varies across all of the issues.
Will to Power was a sequel series to CGW focussing on the character Titan. The basic story in WtP is that Titan, yet another variation on a theme of Superman, goes psycho and starts attacking everyone in the Dark Horse universe, climaxing in his annihilation in the middle of a stand-in city for Las Vegas. As in CGW, the first page of each issue is a prologue revealing Titan's unfortunate backstory.
Now, for anyone who may be considering reading this comic book in the future, here is my breakdown of the pros and cons:
Pros:
- Some good artwork: With a whole team of artists, the artwork varied in quality across both series'. I particularly liked Mike Mignola's, Frank Miller's, and Dave Johnson's cover illustrations; and Adam Hughes' artwork (mainly the facial expressions and the way he illustrated how X's costume wraps around his face).
- Concept: The ideas Dark Horse played around with in their superhero universe were kind of fun and interesting. I especially like how they used CGW as a launchpad, introducing new information and characters in each issue.
- Characters: Some of the characters were really fun and filled with potential, particularly Grace, Madison, Ghost, X, and Mecha.
Cons:
- First of all, Costumes: The costumes can be very awful at times; some of the costumes have too much glam rock vibes. Hero Zero looks a lot like Iron Man except with an inferior colour scheme. Some of the female characters (namely Ghost and Barb Wire) suffer from sexual objectification. X looks like he's wearing a giant leather diaper/nappy.
- Characters: As I stated in the pros section, some of the characters are good and had potential to become really interesting in the hands of a good writer. But the rest are just iffy, try-hard, or just plain ridiculous. This might be just my opinion though.
- Most of the artwork: Most of the artwork was alright, but nothing really special or outstanding. Some of it was just awful with clashing colours and scratchy drawings.
- Concepts: It might just be me, but I hated Steel Harbor and most of the characters in it. I think Dark Horse's superhero universe may have worked out a lot better if they had just focused on X, Ghost, and Golden City and worked at creating solid stories surrounding them.
As far as the omnibus collection is concerned, in some ways I think it was good that Dark Horse only made an effort to collect CGW and WtP, but in some ways it makes the collection feel incomplete knowing that it omits all of the spin-off titles (such as Catalyst: Agents of Change, Motorhead, Titan, Out of the Vortex, etc.) and the last title of the whole initiative (Agents of Law). Regardless, I found this interesting, and I admire Dark Horse Comics' ambition, adventurousness, and willingness to do something different.
September 20, 2020
Starts strong! Ends weak.
Halfway through this incredible adventure the comic books stop and you have the creators telling you the story? Then jumping back into the world to follow the breakdown of one character in particular. This feels more like a lost opportunity to have something truly special. This is lost potential and a gold mine of ideas here.
Halfway through this incredible adventure the comic books stop and you have the creators telling you the story? Then jumping back into the world to follow the breakdown of one character in particular. This feels more like a lost opportunity to have something truly special. This is lost potential and a gold mine of ideas here.
May 3, 2021
Didn't know Dark Horse had their own superhero universe? Well, that's understandable, it didn't last very long and there's not much to write home about.
Produced at the height of the early 90s comic book, Dark Horse Heroes is symptomatic of everything that was going wrong in the industry at the time. It's essentially an overextended crossover that attempts to introduce an entire universe of characters in one go, with the result that few of them are developed beyond their basic concept.
The book's more interested in ridiculously long fight scenes, poorly drawn angst, urban decay and machismo so butch it's basically a self-parody (more than one male character is dressed in what amounts to bondage gear).
There are a few interesting ideas here but they don't get any space, and some of the art is quite striking if uneven. But I really am looking for nice things to say.
Should be of no interest to anyone other than those interested in seeing how overinflated the superhero comic-book market was back in the day.
Produced at the height of the early 90s comic book, Dark Horse Heroes is symptomatic of everything that was going wrong in the industry at the time. It's essentially an overextended crossover that attempts to introduce an entire universe of characters in one go, with the result that few of them are developed beyond their basic concept.
The book's more interested in ridiculously long fight scenes, poorly drawn angst, urban decay and machismo so butch it's basically a self-parody (more than one male character is dressed in what amounts to bondage gear).
There are a few interesting ideas here but they don't get any space, and some of the art is quite striking if uneven. But I really am looking for nice things to say.
Should be of no interest to anyone other than those interested in seeing how overinflated the superhero comic-book market was back in the day.
September 1, 2021
Dark horse comics 1st shared universe
Please note this review is based on the kindle version.How many ways this series is a forerunner of Ultimate marvel Featuring art and writing From many Notable figures in comics So far my only real complaint Is the fact that some of the stories never got a proper ending due to the comics crash of the,1990s.
Please note this review is based on the kindle version.How many ways this series is a forerunner of Ultimate marvel Featuring art and writing From many Notable figures in comics So far my only real complaint Is the fact that some of the stories never got a proper ending due to the comics crash of the,1990s.
November 12, 2018
3.5 Stars
Opinions of this one are all over the place. This may seem a little dated now as comics took a big step up in general quality overall post 2000, but at the time these were released they were better than the norm. Image had almost reduced comics to a series of substandard pin ups with cookie cutter characters and bad writing, and since they were still highly successful many other publishers, notably Marvel, seemed to want to do the same thing. While this is an oversimplification, comics in the 90s weren't known for their overall quality. There were exceptions. In any case, these weren't bad. Dark Horse jumped in the super hero game since everyone else was doing it and that's what was selling. I really think the characters a little underrated, but creating an entire universe of characters all at once probably isn't the best way to approach the process.
You had good art with decent characters, and the storylines may have been a little trite but were still readable. Maybe I'm reviewing this one on a sliding scale but I enjoyed this one. I really think Dark Horse should do a little more with these characters because other than a few (X, Ghost, Barb Wire for example) they really barely scratched the surface on most of them.
Opinions of this one are all over the place. This may seem a little dated now as comics took a big step up in general quality overall post 2000, but at the time these were released they were better than the norm. Image had almost reduced comics to a series of substandard pin ups with cookie cutter characters and bad writing, and since they were still highly successful many other publishers, notably Marvel, seemed to want to do the same thing. While this is an oversimplification, comics in the 90s weren't known for their overall quality. There were exceptions. In any case, these weren't bad. Dark Horse jumped in the super hero game since everyone else was doing it and that's what was selling. I really think the characters a little underrated, but creating an entire universe of characters all at once probably isn't the best way to approach the process.
You had good art with decent characters, and the storylines may have been a little trite but were still readable. Maybe I'm reviewing this one on a sliding scale but I enjoyed this one. I really think Dark Horse should do a little more with these characters because other than a few (X, Ghost, Barb Wire for example) they really barely scratched the surface on most of them.
October 1, 2011
Not bad, not bad. I've never read too much of the Dark Horse superhero comics and now there's a few I might track down. Much of the artwork is wonderful. The stories aren't bad.
July 2, 2019
These two maxi-series and about a dozen other titles made up Dark Horse's 'Comics Greatest World'. It was their entry into the comic market that was being populated by Image and what seemed liked a hundred other independent comic book companies back in the 90s. Unlike many of those others, the CGW universe was populated by a huge cast of interesting characters with an overarching plotline that tied it all together.
The two series "World of Power" and "Will to Power" served as bookends to the plotline, with the individual series and mini-series filling in details of the cast of heroes and villains that populated this universe. Fortunately, Chris Warner (who penciled many of the issues and scripted almost as many) provided an essay between the two that provides everything you need to know about what happened in the middle.
The story is that the dawn of super-powered individuals was caused by an atomic explosion that destroyed a hidden alien lab underneath it. The individual behind it all was considered a villain and was being tracked down by a group calling themselves the Seekers of Septenarius. These aliens were tracking the man across the galaxy over millenia. By the time they get here, the explosion turned their enemy into the Vortex Man.
The three stand-outs of this Dark Horse universe were X, the Ghost, and Barb Wire. X was this world's version of the Shadow, and had as much respect for the lives of criminals as that original pulp hero ever did. He racked up a higher body count by far, however.
The Ghost was a reporter who was killed while chasing down a story, she then spent her after-life finding the answer of who killed her and then continued to pursue criminals. If you need a thumbnail sketch, think Lois Lane with a couple of .45s and the ability to disappear and pass thru walls.
Barb Wire was a bounty hunter as tough as her name who specialized in bringing down the super-powered villains that began infesting her home of Steel Harbor. A couple of years after the original comic came out, there was a movie with Pamela Anderson. Decent film, but had nothing to do with the comic except for the name.
The final conflict in Will to Power results in the death of a huge number of characters, some them holder of their own titles. X, Ghost, and Barb Wire survive the end with quite a few others and continued with their own series for quite a time afterward.
This collection is an incredible look into what comics can do when the creators decide to push every storytelling boundary and come up with a number of tales that are truly adult in nature, but can still be safely read by almost anyone. Highly recommended to comic and non-comic fans alike.
FIND IT! BUY IT! READ IT!
The two series "World of Power" and "Will to Power" served as bookends to the plotline, with the individual series and mini-series filling in details of the cast of heroes and villains that populated this universe. Fortunately, Chris Warner (who penciled many of the issues and scripted almost as many) provided an essay between the two that provides everything you need to know about what happened in the middle.
The story is that the dawn of super-powered individuals was caused by an atomic explosion that destroyed a hidden alien lab underneath it. The individual behind it all was considered a villain and was being tracked down by a group calling themselves the Seekers of Septenarius. These aliens were tracking the man across the galaxy over millenia. By the time they get here, the explosion turned their enemy into the Vortex Man.
The three stand-outs of this Dark Horse universe were X, the Ghost, and Barb Wire. X was this world's version of the Shadow, and had as much respect for the lives of criminals as that original pulp hero ever did. He racked up a higher body count by far, however.
The Ghost was a reporter who was killed while chasing down a story, she then spent her after-life finding the answer of who killed her and then continued to pursue criminals. If you need a thumbnail sketch, think Lois Lane with a couple of .45s and the ability to disappear and pass thru walls.
Barb Wire was a bounty hunter as tough as her name who specialized in bringing down the super-powered villains that began infesting her home of Steel Harbor. A couple of years after the original comic came out, there was a movie with Pamela Anderson. Decent film, but had nothing to do with the comic except for the name.
The final conflict in Will to Power results in the death of a huge number of characters, some them holder of their own titles. X, Ghost, and Barb Wire survive the end with quite a few others and continued with their own series for quite a time afterward.
This collection is an incredible look into what comics can do when the creators decide to push every storytelling boundary and come up with a number of tales that are truly adult in nature, but can still be safely read by almost anyone. Highly recommended to comic and non-comic fans alike.
FIND IT! BUY IT! READ IT!
June 18, 2020
Es un poco maliño, la verdad. 😅
Lo leí porque aquí es donde aparece por primera vez Ghost, que es el cómic que quería leer ahora... y porque ya venía en el mismo pack de humble bundle. La verdad es que me alegro de no haberlo comprado solo para la supuesta introducción del personaje porque sale como en 10 páginas de las casi 500 y me quedé como estaba.
El omnibus recoge dos eventos de Dark Horse en un intento de sacar varios cómics de superhéroes en un universo compartido. Sale mal. Algunos de los personajes sí que se afianzaron, pero la mayoría de personajes son un poco meh. De hecho, el primer evento es una serie de capítulos presentando personajes o equipos uno tras otro y muchos salen solo una o dos veces. Luego hay como diez páginas de solo texto explicando lo que pasó entre los dos eventos (gracias, porque lo iba leyendo y pensando "qué pereza leerlo todo capítulo a capítulo), aunque no todo, así que al empezar la siguiente trama hay algunas cosas que se asume que tenemos que saber pero que no están explicadas. El siguiente evento es aún más aburrido. Tiene una historia más definida, pero para que me importase lo que pasa me tendrían que importar los personajes y eso no pasa.
Tiene portadas de gente como Frank Miller, Mike Mignola o Adam Hughes y algunas cosas graciosas, aunque no intencionadamente, y si lo ves sabiendo que es "un producto de su época" (mediados de los 90) pues no te queda otra que reírte. Pero espero que nadie llegue a este libro esperando encontrar algo más que unas risas entre historias insulsas.
Lo leí porque aquí es donde aparece por primera vez Ghost, que es el cómic que quería leer ahora... y porque ya venía en el mismo pack de humble bundle. La verdad es que me alegro de no haberlo comprado solo para la supuesta introducción del personaje porque sale como en 10 páginas de las casi 500 y me quedé como estaba.
El omnibus recoge dos eventos de Dark Horse en un intento de sacar varios cómics de superhéroes en un universo compartido. Sale mal. Algunos de los personajes sí que se afianzaron, pero la mayoría de personajes son un poco meh. De hecho, el primer evento es una serie de capítulos presentando personajes o equipos uno tras otro y muchos salen solo una o dos veces. Luego hay como diez páginas de solo texto explicando lo que pasó entre los dos eventos (gracias, porque lo iba leyendo y pensando "qué pereza leerlo todo capítulo a capítulo), aunque no todo, así que al empezar la siguiente trama hay algunas cosas que se asume que tenemos que saber pero que no están explicadas. El siguiente evento es aún más aburrido. Tiene una historia más definida, pero para que me importase lo que pasa me tendrían que importar los personajes y eso no pasa.
Tiene portadas de gente como Frank Miller, Mike Mignola o Adam Hughes y algunas cosas graciosas, aunque no intencionadamente, y si lo ves sabiendo que es "un producto de su época" (mediados de los 90) pues no te queda otra que reírte. Pero espero que nadie llegue a este libro esperando encontrar algo más que unas risas entre historias insulsas.
August 10, 2019
I came across this comic while reading an interview with Joe Casey regarding "Catalyst Comix"--which was somewhat of a reboot/retooling of the Comics' Greatest World's concept.
This is basically the worst excesses of 90s comics personified. I'm not sure if it's sincere or self-parody or cynical. But it's an event comic that never ends. It's a long-form story where new characters are introduced every issue--and they're on Image level of testosterone overload. There are high-end covers (Frank Miller, Geoff Darrow, Mike Mignola, Walt Simonson, Jerry Ordway, George Perez, Art Adams, etc). It's ultimately kind of a fun experiment set-up.
But eventually the crossoever that never ended extended into Predator, the Mask, Godzilla. To think of a 90s song, "How Bizarre, How Bizarre". Thankfully those later stories were not collected here.
This is basically the worst excesses of 90s comics personified. I'm not sure if it's sincere or self-parody or cynical. But it's an event comic that never ends. It's a long-form story where new characters are introduced every issue--and they're on Image level of testosterone overload. There are high-end covers (Frank Miller, Geoff Darrow, Mike Mignola, Walt Simonson, Jerry Ordway, George Perez, Art Adams, etc). It's ultimately kind of a fun experiment set-up.
But eventually the crossoever that never ended extended into Predator, the Mask, Godzilla. To think of a 90s song, "How Bizarre, How Bizarre". Thankfully those later stories were not collected here.
July 5, 2020
Origins and background on dark horse comics newest heros.
Good color artwork. Dark horse freebie. A lot of material, explains how so many super powered heros are showing up. The steel harbor stories make sense of Barb Wire universe. In the movie Mastermind there is a hero gone bad named Titan? Maybe it's an unlucky name!
Good color artwork. Dark horse freebie. A lot of material, explains how so many super powered heros are showing up. The steel harbor stories make sense of Barb Wire universe. In the movie Mastermind there is a hero gone bad named Titan? Maybe it's an unlucky name!
June 12, 2022
This is a mixed bag. It's two maxi series like a year apart. I can see why most of these characters didn't have any longevity. Worth a read if you're a 90s kid.
The steel harbour sections were my favourite parts probably because of Barb Wire. The second half of the book features no appearances from Ghost either. Which is the only other character I really liked.
Like I say worth a read.
The steel harbour sections were my favourite parts probably because of Barb Wire. The second half of the book features no appearances from Ghost either. Which is the only other character I really liked.
Like I say worth a read.
December 31, 2023
Didn't hold my interest
An interesting subversion of the superhero genre that shows the highs and lows of superhuman society. It also has an early premise of Superman as a villain. Unfortunately, it felt like it suffered character bloat and a plodding crisis. The idea/setting and individual characters were more interesting than the execution.
An interesting subversion of the superhero genre that shows the highs and lows of superhuman society. It also has an early premise of Superman as a villain. Unfortunately, it felt like it suffered character bloat and a plodding crisis. The idea/setting and individual characters were more interesting than the execution.
January 15, 2018
Several chapters in, I figured out I was missing the point of this. It was apparently meant to kick-start a dozen different series for Dark Horse. But the quality of the individual stories was highly variable (from ugh to meh to hmm). And the framing story was impossible to crack.
June 1, 2018
2.5 stars. I guess it's a good Funnybook. I did not know any of the characters and there was no expository dialog, flashback or other storytelling device (other than for Titan) as to their origin or powers. Plenty of violence and fistfights if that's your thing.
September 22, 2020
Reading this reminds me why I mainly stuck to reading Ghost and X back in the day. The Arcadia and Vortex sections are pretty decent, but the Steel Harbor and Golden City stuff is absolute garbage (especially the latter). Probably closer to 2.5, but overall this was not good.
August 18, 2016
Problems:
(a) ridiculous costumes
(b) inconsistent art (good at times, but other times you can't even tell someone is the same someone--but oh! they're wearing that same ridiculous costume)
(c) the plotline is entirely too episodic. So literally, one hero fights the bad guy for 20 pages and then passes him off to another good guy for 20 pages, then to another, and so on...so that each comic introduces you to a new good guy! Just like watching commercials!
(d) The real problem is that the characters are all just empty. There's nothing inside them. I'm fairly certain that, at the very end (page 500,) there's some probably some shocking character development, but I couldn't make it that far. After reading about these characters for 342 pages, I still didn't really care about any of the heroes or villains, so I gave up.
Basically, this is what comics were like in the '90s. It was the worst of all comic book times.
(a) ridiculous costumes
(b) inconsistent art (good at times, but other times you can't even tell someone is the same someone--but oh! they're wearing that same ridiculous costume)
(c) the plotline is entirely too episodic. So literally, one hero fights the bad guy for 20 pages and then passes him off to another good guy for 20 pages, then to another, and so on...so that each comic introduces you to a new good guy! Just like watching commercials!
(d) The real problem is that the characters are all just empty. There's nothing inside them. I'm fairly certain that, at the very end (page 500,) there's some probably some shocking character development, but I couldn't make it that far. After reading about these characters for 342 pages, I still didn't really care about any of the heroes or villains, so I gave up.
Basically, this is what comics were like in the '90s. It was the worst of all comic book times.
October 12, 2016
Dark Horse's foray into superhero comics was a bit of a mess. There were some interesting ideas here - I love the way that the action is broken up into four different locations, each with their own unique feel - and there were some interesting character designs as well.
However, the collection also suffers from being something of a disorganized mess. Dark Horse tried to supercharge a superhero universe in 16 weeks with as much depth and content as Marvel and DC built over decades. As a result, even after 400 pages the characters feel flat and paper-thin.
However, the collection also suffers from being something of a disorganized mess. Dark Horse tried to supercharge a superhero universe in 16 weeks with as much depth and content as Marvel and DC built over decades. As a result, even after 400 pages the characters feel flat and paper-thin.
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