If you haven't yet sampled Dark Horse's horror line by mean of one of their mini-series or the hardcover Dark Horse Book of Hauntings, Drawing On Your Nightmares provides a pretty cheap way to do so, and just in time for Halloween. The short story format is a demanding one, and none of these creators is really at their absolute best because they're forced to work in such abbreviated space, but each of the three stories is a tempting little taste of current or future Dark Horse projects, including the hilarious sleeper hit The Goon, another title from 30 Days of Night sensations Steve Niles and Ben Templesmith and a teaser of the next Buffy the Vampire Slayer-related project, Tales of the Vampires.
It will come as no surprise to most that The Goon is the strongest feature in this book. Eric Powell's twisted, scattershot sensibilities aren't really hurt by having a small space to work in, and his Goon tales tend to work in sequences of just a few pages at a time anyway. This works as a pretty good sampler of The Goon, introducing the likable deadbeat Spider, the no-nonsense and short-tempered Goon and his psychotic and blase sidekick Frankie, as well as the notion of a city where the crimelords dabble in monsters and magic. The Mud Brothers, the monstrous leg-breakers in this story, are entertaining characters who make me think of nothing so much as members of Spinal Tap turned into mob enforcer trolls, and in the space of just a few pages, Powell works in plenty of gags surrounding all of these characters. As usual, the story is accompanied by Powell's beautiful (and at times deeply disturbing) artwork, and this is definitely the gem of the bunch.
Another character making a return appearance at Dark Horse is Cal McDonald, star of three Niles novels as well as the recent Criminal Macabre mini-series. Niles crafts a fun idea of a story around a familiar (if dead) Las Vegas face, and what the story lacks in consequences, it makes up for it in style. McDonald's working class ruminations on the nature of demonic incantations, and his use of same in the story, is a pretty good indicator of the mix of weirdness and blue collar sensibilities that Niles brings to Cal McDonald stories, and while Templesmith's artwork is sometimes not the clearest to follow, he does great work on mood as well. The shadowy, suggested forms of the ghostly B.S. or the gunsels who want to prevent Cal from walking out of the club is probably more effective than a full-on portrayal, for example.
Closing out the book is a another tale set in Las Vegas, this one a story of a random vampire in the Buffy mythos. It could just as easily be a random vampire tale, as it doesn't connect with the Buffyverse at all, but it's a neat little tale of reversed expectations. Phillips's artwork, always a treat on Sleeper, has a sort of quasi-painted look going here, heavy on the blues with reds that pop out against that dark background, and it's another example of art that sets the mood. Unfortunately, it's also an example of art that doesn't always hit the story points as strongly as it could, as the pivotal turning point of the story isn't at all clear except in hindsight, rendering what could be a neat twist into a bit of a confusing moment instead.
The obvious target audiences for this one are those who haven't tried the Dark Horse horror line or for those who have already bought all the rest and want something new. For the former audience, I'd instead recommend biting the bullet and picking up a collection of The Goon, Criminal Macabre or the Dark Horse Book of Hauntings, as you'll get a much more satisfying story instead of three brief tastes. If you've already got all the other Dark Horse horror stuff, though, Drawing On Your Nightmares makes for a good light snack to tide you over until the next mini-series or graphic novel.
