MySpace Dark Horse Presents Volume 2 by Various.
Title: MySpace Dark Horse Presents Volume 2.
Author: Zack Whedon, Gerard Way, Ian Edginton, Fábio Moon & Gabriel Bá, Evan Dorkin, Ann Romano, David Malki!, John Arcudi, The Brothers Mattkinson, Gilbert Hernandez, Ilias Kyriazis, Tara McPherson, Arvid Nelson, Jason Graham, Steve Niles, John Arcudi, Nate Piekos of Blambot©, Francisco Ruiz Velasco, Steve Niles, Jim & Ruth Keegan, Joe Casey, Scott Allie, and Tim & Ben Truman.
Artist: Eric Canete, Gabriel Bá, I.N.J. Culbard, Fábio Moon & Gabriel Bá, Evan Dorkin, Paul Lee, David Malki!, Steven Young, Jon Adams, Gilbert Hernandez, Ilias Kyriazis, Tara McPherson, Juan Ferreyra, Jason Graham, Kyle Hotz, Guy Davis, Jeff Wamester, Francisco Ruiz Velasco, Kyle Hotz, Jim & Ruth Keegan, Pop Mhan, Mario Guevara, and Marian Churchland.
Genre: Fiction, graphic novel, anthology, short stories.
Country: U.S.
Language: English.
Publication Date: February, 2009.
Summary: This collection includes 23 graphic short stories, many spin-offs or part of existing canons. In Be Like Me!, a part of the Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog universe, Dr. Hammer expounds on how everyone can prevent evil geniuses by reporting all "geeks" and apprehending them before they can cause any damage. Anywhere but Here, a part of the Umbrella Academy universe, takes the group back to their teenage years 13 years ago, where Monocle gives a lecture to Diego and Vanya (The Kraken and The White Violin), who are in a rock-band together, and insists that Vanya is a bad influence on her brother and should leave the academy, and though Diego is ready to go with her, Vanya is forced to come face-to-face with the fact that the two of them may not belong in the same place anymore. In Retro Rockets Go!, during a space race, Jim Swift faces off with a vampire The Count, but when the Count's shields fail and he gets incinerated by the Sun, and Jim is blamed for it, it looks like there is a much bigger set-up going on. Wonder Twins Activate! is a semi-autobiographical comical sketch about how the twins create their comic books - one having a forte of demonstrating battle scenes so his brother can draw them. In the Fur Suit of Crappiness!, a part of the Milk and Cheese universe, the drunken, anthropomorphic, misanthropic carton of milk and a wedge of cheese stumble into a furry convention and after airing exactly what they think about furries (once they find out what they are), engage in gratuitous violence.Ann Romano: Gossip Whore is a ludicrous story of Britney Spears going shopping and engaging in some inappropriate public behaviour, as commentated by gossip columnist Ann Romano. In Ransom!, a tale from the Wondermark universe, the princess gets captures and held for ransom, but while the kingdom is in upheaval and someone in the royal court plans an assassination and a forced wedding, the princess is more than capable of looking after herself. In a Going Concern, a tale in an alternate bug universe, a bounty hunter collects his bounty already killed, and becomes quite close to him whilst he's the only companion on his way back to the closest town with a sheriff, but he may not know his "companion" as well as he thinks he does. In Hobo Fet, Hobard tries his best to get to a last-time job he promised himself he'd never again do. In Manga, a beautiful girl Manga has devised an ingenious plan to collect the money to help herself get off her island and gain a strong and capable husband in the process, but the best candidate for a win has his own ideas of the worth of the fairer part of his reward. In Jared, two extraterrestrial research teams compete from inside two men's minds for a grant to study human romance on Earth by seeing who can get the girl first. How to Heal a Broken Heart is a short sketch about a young vampire boy trying to help a heart that had lost its protective bubble and fallen to the ground. In Frailty, a part of the Rex Mundi universe, Genevieve rescues Julien from class to have a romantic rendezvous in the snow. The Nothinest tells of a young woman whom Death falls in love with, though when she introduces Death to her dearest friend Ray the owl, things don't go quite as planned. In The Creepy Tree, a part of the Criminal Macabre universe, paranormal detective Cal McDonald gets called by his ranger friend because a tree in the Angeles National Forest seems to be killing hikers and near-growing trees, though when Cal encounters it, he suspects the problems lays much deeper. In Revival, a part of the B.P.R.D. universe, the unit interrupts a worship service in Lebanon, Tennessee, because the little holy girl healer is much more than she seems, and so is her father. In A+, Stanley gets viciously bullied, but when he decides to get back at his bullies with his evil science experiments that consist of abducted and modified neighbourhood pets, he learns a lesson or two about animals' loyalty. In The Legion of Blood: The Messenger, a messenger travels through a war-torn landscape, as war with creatures of the night rages around him, to deliver a devastating message to a scientist who has finally found a compatible vampire brain to implant into an ultimate weapon. In The Trouble with Brains, another story in the Criminal Macabre universe, paranormal detective Cal McDonald has to deal with a community of brain-addled civilians being controlled by a giant brain out of space. Adventures of Two-Gun Bob is an illustration of a short excerpt from one of Robert E. Howard where he discusses his feelings for physically strong and able people. In Sailor Steve Costigan, a pulp fiction character created in the 20s by Robert E. Howard, Steve decides to give up boxing and try his hand at sport writing instead, until a mishap kidnapping and the reactions to his article make him consider his career options again. In The Nightcomers, Solomon Kane, a 17th century Puritan pulp fiction character created by Robert E. Howard, tries to help a town that is stormed each night by brigands, until he realizes that they are manifestations that haunt the same place repeatedly, and they're not the only ones. In Trophy, a part of Conan universe, a character originally created by Robert E. Howard, Conan wanders into a town and tells stories of his recent conquests, and the prizes he won in them, with an ulterior motive.
My rating: 7.5/10.
My Review:
♥ Not all good stories start big. Not everybody fled from his home planet in the middle of an explosion. Sometimes, the only thing you need to start your story - is a detail.
~~Wonder Twins Activate!
♥ "Careful! Mustn't let the watch-bear see me!"
"Careful! Mustn't let the bird know he's being frikkin loud.
...
"You guys hear somethin'?"
"Sounds sort of like the watch-bear tearin' up a bird."
♥ "And after the ransom is paid to my accomplices... I shall run away with her!"
"I'm dying, my lordship."
"As I have been, all these years, gazing on her from afar, dreaming of the day when we could be together!"
"No, I mean like legitimately dying."
"Well, of course. Now you know my plan. You can't be allowed to live."
"In that case... ARRGGHHHKKKKK... remember to pick up your dry-cleaning on Monday."
....
"Do you hear something? Like a - I don't know, this sounds dumb, but like a scream of agony?"
"I hear a mouse scratching around in the wall."
"A mouse. Yeah, it's probably just a mouse.
"It's definitely not Lord Bonehat plotting treason and strangling his houseboy."
"No. That would - that would be ridiculous."
~~Ransom! A Wondermark Tale.
♥ Weird times call for weird measures. Sometimes crazy works. Sometimes it doesn't. That's why I always leave the door open for improvisations.
~~Criminal Macabre: The Creepy Tree.
♥ "I am an important sheik. As you see, I wear many marks of distinction."
"Impressive. I myself have left marks of distinction on many men."
♥ "A nice enough blade...
~~Conan: Trophy.