Anthologies are the oldest forms of comic books, as the earliest examples of them were reprintings of comic strips, originally designed to be premiums, for sales of other products.  Throughout the 1940s, antholgies were the main staple of comics, until popular features were spun off into their own titles.  Detective Comics was filled with detective stories, not just Batman.  Action Comics featured not only Superman, but Zatara the Magician, Congo Bill, and Tex Thompson, aka Mr America, aka The Americommando (Tex had a bit of an identity problem)  Anthologies continued to be a subset of comics, even after they lost ground to series titles.  Still, they were great training grounds for the young talent and a nice place to do something different, for veterans.  As superheroes became more dominant, they were pushed more and more to the side, until they had all but vanished.  By the late 80s, the conventional wisdom was that anthology titles just don't sell well enough to sustain an audience for long.  That is, until Mike Richardson went against conventional wisdom, with his new upstart publishing company.

Mike Richardson was a retailer, with a strong presence in the world of the Amateur Press Association, where he met Randy Stradley.  Richardson gave up a career as a commercial artist to open a shop devoted to pop culture items, including comics.  In hosting signings at his store (then stores, as he expanded), he heard creators carp about issues with publishers, over ownership, royalties and editorial interference.  Richardson thought a publisher should share intellectual property control with the artist and set up Dark Horse Comics, with the idea that the creators would receive 100% of the profits.  Using his contacts within the APA and the industry, he was able to recruit talent to contribute to his first publishing venture:  Dark Horse Presents.




Randy Stradley edits and writes one of the stories, while Chris Warner and Paul Chadwick provide art and writing for their own pieces, while Randy Emberlin illustrates Stradley's story, making it a very "Randy" story, indeed!

Dark Horse Presents #1

1.  Black Cross, by Chris Warner, letters by John Workman.

Our story opens somewhere in the mountains, possibly the Pacific Northwest (given that Dark Horse was founded in Milwaukie, OR), as a group of armed men survey the area, while they wait to move out.  The call themselves "BZ Special Ops," whatever that means and gripe about being low priority.  One of them, named Conrad, seems a bit different.  He stands quietly, staring out at the landscape, remembering details of his past, in some war in Honduras.....





he hears a noise and fires into the bushes, killing what appears to be a soldier, in a camo uniform, armed with a rifle.  The man wears sunglasses and the squad leader orders one of the men to "scan" him.  He uses an electronic device, and says it indicates the man is "Black Cross."  The leader says to take an ear as proof of the kill.  They then move on, with the leader telling Conrad that he will probably get a reward, which seems to anger Conrad and he says to keep it.  He is continually plagued by images of death from his previous war.  They move on and find an old man, cooking food over a campfire, singing "New York, New York," from the musical On The Town.  Conrad says he poses no threat; but the squad leader says they have to follow Standard Operating Procedure.  They surround the man and confront him.  He says he wants no trouble and tries to cooperate.  A search of his gear finds nothing and no weapons.  Conrad argues to leave him and move on, but the leader continues to cite SOP.  They scan him and get a reading for Black Cross.  A soldier points his weapon at him and says he "knows the rules", that he might get run over if he "crosses the street."  Conrad flashes back to someone begging for mercy, trapped in barbed wire and he explodes, killing the rest of the squad in seconds.  he tells the old man to get out of there.  He thanks him and asks his name.....




2. Concrete:  Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous

A large rock-like creature stands in front of a table covered in mail, while works of art cover the walls behind him.  The location appears to be a converted warehouse of some kind, based on the exposed I-beams.  He speaks to an assistant, Larry, saying they should read the mail they have received from his appearance, on The Tonight Show.  The letters are addressed to "Concrete," presumably, the name of the creatures.



The first letter suggest that he become a symbol of passive resistance, aiding the oppressed around the globe.  Concrete is intrigued by the idea and tells Larry to start a file, "Has Possibilities" and include that letter.  Larry moves on, as another letter has a different suggestion, and a provocative photo, which catches Concrete off-guard.  He is puzzled, but no fully dismissive of what it suggests.  The next is from a woman being physically abused by her husband, asking for help.  Concrete doesn't seem to know what he can do, but has Larry reply with a hotline number, to get her help.

The next letter suggest he has a spirit bond with the letter writer's dog, since it watched his appearance with great intent.  Concrete tells Larry to create two more files:  "Benign Nuts" and "Hostile Nuts."

Another letter offers Concrete $1500 to mingle with the crowd, at a party.  The address is in LA, near Beverly Hills and is on nice stationary.  Despite sounding too good to be true, he is intrigued and calls the number.  He speaks to a Mrs Grace and agrees to come and gets directions.  After he hangs up, a woman, named Maureen arrives, to take him off for more tests.

Come Saturday, Concrete climbs into the bed of a pickup truck and Larry drives him to the party.  They arrive at the address, which seems far more humble than the letter suggested.  There is no answer at the door and Concrete goes around to the back where he discovers the party in progress.....a child's birthday party!  It turns out that Mrs Grace has conned him, that she cannot pay the $1500 and hoped that just the appearance there would thrill the kids, regardless of whether Concrete stays or goes.  She convinces him to stay, charming him with a chance to play with the kids and an offer to pay for his gas, while also good naturedly nudging him about taking money for personal appearances.  She remarks that John Ritter was there, the previous year, and had a ball, and she almost got Sylvester Stallone to come, back when he did FIST, and was less famous.  Concrete is pulled in by the un-restrained joy of the kids and plays with them.....




After joining the kids for a polaroid photo, he says his goodbyes and begins to depart, as Mrs Grace says he wasn't too upset by her prank.  He says he will never forget it and adds that she won't, either....




3.  Mindwalk

A man, named "Garrett," is hauled out of a car by a goon, with a metal clamp for a hand.  he locks it around Garrett's wrists and drags him inside a building, to a room that Garrett recognizes as a front.  He meets the boss, named Doyle, who obviously works for the government, rather than a mobster, named Spinelli, with whom Garrett has had dealings.  Doyle tells him that the government needs his services, but a refusal means death.  Garrett offers to shake hands and Doyle's men put guns to his head, letting him know that Doyle is aware of how he works.  He is led to another room, where an old man is hooked up to life support machines and attended by "doctors," who have bulges under their armpits.  Garrett is told to probe, but don't worry about interrogating; they need him to soften up the man.  He reaches inside, after grasping the man's hand and learns that his name is Von Bohlen and he tries to stop Garrett, as he stands before a high, thick wall, topped in barbed wire.  They grapple and then Garrett knocks him aside and begins to examine cracks in the wall and is able to push his way through.  On the other side, he finds Hell....



Von Bohlen was some kind of scientist, working for the Nazis, who tried to defy them.  His family are threatened to entice him to continue his work, but they tell him to stand fast and sacrifice themselves.  Later, the Nazis are defeated and he sits in a cell, as an American officer comes in and says his country needs his discovery to fight the real enemy:  Communism.  They want the virus he created.  He refuses.  He is systematically tortured and interrogated, for years, but does not yield, mentally building this wall of resistance.  Garrett ends the contact and Doyle is impressed with his efforts.  Garrett claims failure and Doyle lets him live, but says he is at his beck and call.  Garrett is allowed to leave and we cut to a shot, inside Von Bohlen's mind, as he sits against the wall and thanks Garrett.

4. Brighter

A woman stands on a hill, looking out over houses and trees.  She thinks about her desire to be an entertainer, but laments that people were afraid of her, because she could generate light.  She could do all kinds of things, including creating lasers, to fight back, when threatened.  She is tired of fighting and wishes she had tried making movies, as she could generate perfect holograms....of anything or anyone she could imagine.




She could have made millions, billions even, and used the money to change the world.  Instead, she wanted a hit song.  She makes a decision to move ahead and try to change the world.

Thoughts:  It is clear, from the start, that Concrete is the standout of the issue and Paul Chadwick the creative standout (especially with half the stories to his credit).  Nothingmuch really happens, except  that a creature that looks like it could give Ben Grimm a run for his money reads and has read to him letters from viewers of a talk show appearance.  We have no idea why he was on the talk show, apart from the obvious, that he is a rock creature, who walks and talks.  There is a hint that there is more to the story, when Maureen shows up to run more tests, which occupy the week, but, we learn nothing about who this creature is and why the tests are being run.  Was he always a rock creature and they want to learn about his origins and nature, or is this the end result of an experiment?  This story doesn't seek to answer that.  Instead, it is a little slice of life (bizarre life, to be sure) as he is conned into appearing at a young boy's birthday party.  He gets a little karma, for seeking to exploit his fame, for money, though Larry says that it has value, like any other commodity; but, he gladly joins the children in play, for the sheer fun of it.  The kids haven't developed the shields of adulthood, have no agendas; they just laugh and play and it is infectious.  Despite knowing he was conned, Concrete has fun with it.  He gives the kds the thrill of a lifetime and himself a return to childhood...assuming he had one.  However, Chadwick understands human nature and doesn't leave it at that and lets Concrete pull a little prank of his own, as payback.  Mrs Grace may think twice about using deception to draw celebrities to her son's birthday party.

It's all gentle, amusing and sublime....wonderfully humane and you can't help be charmed by it.....as well as intrigued by Concrete.  Who is this gentle soul, in a hardened form?  you want to know more, which is the sign of a great story and character.

Chadwick had just come off working for Marvel, in the final issues of Dazzler, though his main job had been working in Hollywood, doing storyboards for films.  As such, comics were a sideline for him and not his main source of income, which gave him a certain freedom.  He had conceived of Concrete while experiencing a dream, that he was a rock form, lying on a mountainside, just seeing and experiencing things, invulnerable to everything.....no fear, just experiencing.  It had a profound effect.  He distilled that into the character Concrete, though despite appearances, Concrete is not Ben Grimm and the series was not a revamped Ben Grimm pitch.  Chadwick never liked comparisons, though he understood why they happened and where they came from.  Ben Grimm is a man transformed into a rock creature, who goes through an arc of embitterment and anger, into acceptance and even joy, at his form (though never fully the latter).  However, he is an adventurer, first and foremost.  Concrete wasn't that, per se, though he does partake of adventures, in subsequent stories; but not exactly heroic adventures.....more life adventures.  The series is grounded in realism....as much as any story with a rock man can be realistic.  They are also gentle tales of human behavior and the environment he inhabits.  They are not two fisted battles across alien landscapes, or against demented madmen.

Chadwick's second feature, "Brighter," is more of what people believed, about Concrete.  As I said, Chadwick had just worked on the final issues of Dazzler, in a last-ditch attempt to rescue the series from cancellation.  Dazzler's time as a singer was well over and she was known to be a mutant.  It is pretty obvious that the woman here is Dazzler, contemplating what to do now.  She thinks of what she could do with her light-generating powers and realizes she could create visual treats that would enthrall millions, bringing them together, rather than driving them apart, or making them react in fear.  With the earnings, she could do even more good.  It is an examination of what someone with super abilities could really do to make the world a better place, if they applied their minds to the problem, creatively, rather than just slug it out with super villains.  it lays bare the limitations of superhero fantasies, as the heroes really just defend the status quo, never really making their world better, for fear of running out of stories to tell.  Superman famously illustrated this in a Look magazine piece, where he ends WW2 by hauling the dictators to answer for their crimes, before the League of Nations.  The idea was that Superman could stop any war, if he chose, bring resources to those in need and really help people, beyond stopping a bank robbery, or Lex Luthor's dreams of conquest.  This was always a problem with Superman's stories.  better writers rationalized it with fears that he could change human history, but didn't feel he had the right and instead let humans make their mistakes, while trying to set the example of how to do better.  It's a cop out, but a noble idea.

In reality, why would people stop fearing Dazzler, because she could generate movies, via hologram, if they feared her when she generated lighting effects, while singing?  If a laser light show didn't "dazzle" them into forgetting their fears and changing their prejudices, why should movies?  Prejudice is born in fear and ignorance and history has shown that changing that is no simple task.  People will cling to their prejudices as a guard against change, what they fear the most.  Why can't things be as they always were?  Because stagnation is death, change is life.  Everything changes or it dies.  Change is inevitable, but people fear the process and try to stop it.....or at least act in ways they think will do it.  They cling to fantasies of "golden ages," where life was a utopia, now being destroyed by the forces of Change.  We see it in politics, we see it in pop culture, as fans don't want series or characters to evolve beyond a certain point.  "I liked it better when it was funny."

Chadwick is a talent to watch, at this point.  as it was, Archie Goodwin had made an offer to publish Concrete, through Epic, allowing Chadwick to retain ownership.  However, Dark Horse offered the freedom to do it "his way." Archie didn't ant him to do superhero stories; but, he did offer suggestions about telling the stories in the "Marvel way."  Chadwick decided he didn't want to do it that way and went with Dark Horse and Concrete made them an indie darling and helped put the publisher on the map....and they had a long association.

You could even say that Dark Horse's foundation was built with Concrete!

You probably shouldn't, though.

"Mindwalk" is hardly an original idea (Dreamscape had been in theaters just a few years before); but it is nicely executed, with a good twist on why the government needed his help to enter Von Bohlen's mind.  He doesn't hold a key to saving the country, but the secret to a terrible weapon, which had already caused untold misery and death.  It's enticing enough to make you wonder about what happened, in Las Vegas, with the mobster Spinelli and it seems like it is being set up to continue.


"Black  Cross," is the one that kind of frustrates.  It is intriguing, if violent, but is so confused that you can't figure out if the story is worth following or whether Warner is in over his head and can't tell a story in a straightforward manner.  I lean more to the latter, as an introduction should give us at least some idea what "Black Cross" meant, and some idea of the "Black Zone."  At best, we can infer that these men are soldiers, despite the lack of uniforms, patrolling this area for people who register as "Black Cross."  The reference to "crossing the street," suggests that this is a forbidden zone, that only certain people are allowed in it.  Does "black cross" then refer to someone who has entered illegally?  Is this a border zone, like the 38th Parallel, in Korea, separating the Communist North from the Democratic South (relatively speaking, if you examine the political history of the Republic of South Korea)?  Is the "black cross" a reference to some trait that the government wants kept out?  Is this some kind of quarantine zone?  It brings up a lot of questions; but, one of them is "Why should I care?"  Warner spends most of his time presenting Conrad as a soldier who has seen and done terrible things and switches sides; but, he isn't necessarily a heroic figure, nor an interesting one.  A lot of it feels like a Vietnam pastiche and Warner had done some work on the tail-end of DC's war comics.  When I first saw Black Cross, in the later one-shot, I was intrigued enough to try it; but, Warner never really seemed to have developed a solid idea and didn't really build much of a story.  It ends up looking like yet another violent "grim and gritty" comic, like every third comic, through the late 80s and early 90s (and too much of the later 90s).  There is a germ of an idea there, but Warner is too engrossed in other things.

At this point, had the reader come in cold, they might be intrigued enough to want to continue the story.


Dark Horse Presents was intended to be like the weekly Japanese manga titles, like Weekly Shonen Magazine and Weekly Shonen Jump, with chapters of individual stories, which continued in the next issue.  This approach was also used in Europe, in anthology magazines like Pilote and Spirou.  US anthologies had rarely done this, except for lead features, until late in the game.  Dark Horse understood that if they always kept one good feature ending and another beginning or in the middle, that readers would continue to follow the magazine, even when a favorite story was concluded.  Thanks largely to Paul Chadwick, this is a hit and we look forward to seeing more of Concrete and maybe learn more about the world of Black Cross.  Even Mindwalk has possibilities for more story.  The question, at this stage, is can they follow it up?

That is a question to be answered next time.