Review: Abe Sapien #1

The Hellboy Universe is one of the most fascinating universes into which I’ve ever delved. Mike Mignola has been given an incredible amount of free reign to craft the universe as he wishes, while also being given some of the most talented artists the comic world has to offer, at least as far as horror comics are concerned. In crafting this universe, he’s created a slew of complex and interesting characters, not the least of which is Abe Sapien, an amphibious man who served as a top agent for the B.P.R.D. This new ongoing begins quite strongly, as Mignola and Scott Allie have written a very well executed introduction to this new series, and I already can’t wait to read more.

Abe Sapien has been a significant supporting character in the Hellboy Universe for quite some time (he even had a miniseries back in 2008), and his background genuinely has enough depth to support having his own ongoing, rather than the miniseries that other supporting characters have gotten over the years. Most intriguing is the ability explained within this book: he can recover from death. It’s not that death isn’t costly; each regeneration makes him less humanoid in appearance. But the question of who he is, where his powers come from, and what purpose he is to serve are still up in the air. This issue does a great job of introducing the character and the mysteries that surround him to new readers, and you’ll feel at home reading this book whether you’ve read a single Hellboy or B.P.R.D. comic before or not (though if you haven’t…seriously, get on that!).

The story of Abe Sapien #1 can essentially be broken down into two parts. In the first bit, a pair of dark magic users try and fail to summon a demon, providing some foreshadowing that will likely be important later. The rest of the comic provides sets up Abe Sapien as a character by examining his importance through the eyes of his superiors in the BPRD. After slaying a creature, some agents find the truck Abe used to escape, and the search to find him begins anew. I’d say more, but this is really great stuff, and I don’t want to spoil anything. Let’s just say the set-up being presented here ensures this three-part story arc will bring the dark horror edge that we have all come to expect from the Hellboy Universe, as there’s a foreboding feel that things are just about to go horribly wrong for all involved throughout that’s really well done.

Variant Cover Not Indicative of Actual Content. Still Awesome.

Artistically, this book is fantastic. Everything is really well detailed, and the environments presented are all interesting and eye catching. The facial expressions are particularly well done, as you can really get a sense for what the character is feeling beyond the simple “I’m happy” or “I’m sad” that one might expect. There’s a darkness to the shading that really echoes the entire mood of the book, and, no exaggeration, I’d say it’s the best art for which one can hope with a Hellboy comic. Always nice to see a great story get the great art it deserves, and Sebastian Fiumara and Dave Stewart deserve all the credit in the world for their work here.

Of course, the comic isn’t perfect, and there are two things that do deserve to be mentioned. First, the dark sorcerers try to invoke the demon in the form…of Justin Beiber. I’m not even kidding. Part of the spell requires them to give a physical form in which the demon can present itself, and they chose Justin Beiber. That’s…just out of place in a horror comic, and I found it really distracting. I wanted to keep looking at the glorious art, but all I could think was ‘Justin Beiber? Really?’ The only other criticism is the use of a monster as a means to take the reader to where they need to be to find Abe’s truck. It’s not that I’m against the use of the convenience fairy; that part is actually well executed. No, it’s the swiftness with which this monster is beaten. Without giving much away, it’s described as a really dangerous creature capable of causing untold damage to the local populations, but then it’s defeated off panel as if it was no big deal. That just feels weird to me. I know there was a lot of ground to cover, but surely there was a better way to get to the truck than to create this awesome monster and then not use it. I just wish they could have done more with that, but these are minor quibbles to a great book.

Abe Sapien #1 deserves your $3.50 if you’ve paid even the slightest attention to the Hellboy Universe. Hell, it deserves your money even if you haven’t read anything from that universe before. Abe Sapien is an incredibly fascinating character with an interesting mythos and backstory in a creative, dark world. Oh, and the creative team is responsible for the best horror comics probably of all time. Why haven’t you bought three copies of this already? Go read it!

Chase Wassenar, aka MaristPlayBoy, is the Lead Editor and Founder of the Red Shirt Crew. He was kidding when he asked why you hadn’t bought three copies yet, but he honestly wouldn’t blame you if you did. It’s that good. You can read his other articles at ToyTMA, follow him on Twitter at @RedShirtCrew, or email him at theredshirtcrew@gmail.com. 

Review: B.P.R.D. Vampire #1

B.P.R.D.: Vampire #1 is the latest effort from Mike Mignola, Dave Stewart, Fabio Moon and Gabriel Ba (Oxford comma purposefully omitted on account of them actually being twin brothers, which is really quite cool when you think about it). It’s another of the flashback stories that the team has been known to do from time to time, allowing them to explore the history of the Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense without interfering with the ongoing series. The first issue presented here carries all the artistic weight one would expect from this creative team (remind me to tell you all the reasons Casanova is awesome later), but the story cooks at the slowest boil imaginable, for better and for worse.

Full disclosure: While I’ve read quite a bit of Mignola’s Hellboy books and have a firm grasp on what this universe holds, I haven’t actually read any books from the BPRD series, neither the ongoing nor the flashback series. I did some background research into the main character, but the best I could find was a stub page on the Hellboy wiki. That said, like the rest of Mignola’s books, there appears to have been a conscious effort to make the book new reader friendly, so I don’t think it’s an issue as I review this book.

For once, I’d like to start with the artwork of this book. It’s incredible. If you can’t already tell from the image of the cover, this book has some of the most startlingly beautiful dark imagery you’re going to find in comics today. It’s dark and unsettling, placing you in the perfect mood to read a comic like this, but I also found myself fixated on pages long after I would have usually moved on just to take in everything that was happening. Nearly six full pages are dedicated to the vampire imagery before a word of dialogue is uttered, and with good reason. The art is spot on from beginning to end, and it’s probably worth the price of admission alone.

As far as the story goes…well, there’s just not as much to talk about. As you can guess from a series entitled BPRD: Vampire, there are vampires and agents, and the latter aren’t really big fans of the former. Okay, that’s not being entirely fair. A newly formed vampire is welcomed into the vampire brotherhood by some other vampires that just so happen to already be wearing matching outfits and hairdos (not quite sure how she got the outfit coordination message before finding out who made her a vampire, but that’s admittedly a nitpick). The queen of the vampires is Hecate, whose role matches that of her original mythology as a goddess of necromancy and the undead, though she doesn’t make an appearance in this comic. Also, Agent Anders is having nightmares after the events of BPRD 1948, and decides the only way to make things right is to get revenge on as many vampires as he can kill.

Taken from http://www.darkhorse.com

That’s really it. It’s a ton of set-up that will likely pay off, but there’s not much present in this issue alone. Usually, one would expect an introductory issue to have some big moment that sucks you into the story, then take a breather in issue #2 before diving into the chaos for the rest of the series, but this issue is definitely a slow boil. Don’t get me wrong: it’s a slow boil executed quite well, but I did find myself wishing I had something more to sink my teeth into than what’s been presented. When you get right down to it, there really isn’t much to talk about here. When you buy this comic, you’re buying into what it can (and given the creative team, likely will) be.

If this was any other writer, this would be a conditional recommendation, as fantastic art alone is not enough for everybody, but Mike Mignola and company do the slow set-up better than just about anybody. Yes, there could have been more in this issue, but the art and well executed background information is more than enough to justify the $3.50 price tag. Don’t let the slow boil keep you from buying into this book; you’ll get your money’s worth here.

Chase Wassenar is the Lead Editor and Founder of the Red Shirt Crew. He’s read enough Hellboy to know where this is going, and that alone is quite exciting. You can read his other articles at ToyTMA, follow him on Twitter at @RedShirtCrew, or email him at theredshirtcrew@gmail.com.

Review: Sledgehammer 44 #1

Sledgehammer 44 is a two part mini-series written by Mike Mignola that is quite different in tone from his typical works. While Mignola is usually known for his horror comics (see: Baltimore: The Widow and the Tank and the Hellboy Universe), Sledgehammer 44 is being solicited as a Superhero comic. While the definition of superhero is arguable in this case, it very much feels like a departure from his previous heroes. While there are some moments of brilliance, the transition definitely creates some mixed results visible in the main product.

Most of my criticisms of the story stem from the first half, which rely mostly on one of the most cliche tropes in the history of storytelling to introduce to the audience what’s going on. There are many different ways to open a superhero comic, but having one character explicitly told something that he should know at this point feels very cheap. And no, I don’t think pointing it out makes it ok. Dialogue should flow naturally and follow the speaking patterns of those who are present in the scene. It doesn’t have to be pretty, but it should be realistic. I refuse to believe a member of the military engaging in a tense combat mission in which his life is at risk would have tuned out during the briefing. It just strike me as lazy, which is a term I never thought I’d use for Mignola.

I also have mixed feelings on the pacing. It follows a fairly typical pattern of superhero comics, beginning in medias res (or in the middle of the scene, for you non-English majors/Latin scholars), having a big action scene, and ending with character driven intrigue. It’s a solid framework, allowing the reader to jump right into the action with excitement, then slow down so the audience can catch their breath and digest what’s going on, only to rise them back up at the end with the suspense. That said, I think the action scene here is actually too fast for a superhero comic. See, in Mignola’s short stories, introducing and defeating a villain with a couple pages of each other is fine because that’s not what the story is about, and that time is better spent elsewhere. But when I read a superhero comic, I want to see epic battles, and the ones presented here are over before I can sink my teeth into them. It’s almost like Mignola’s constantly in a rush to get the action parts of the comic over with so he can delve into the personalities of his characters. As a result, the first half of this comic is very underwhelming and honestly a little disappointing.

That said, the second act is where Mignola shines, as he is able to return to what he does best: building suspense through dialogue, pacing, and subtle character development. The conversations here are executed brilliantly, as you really get a sense for who these people are. I ended up caring far more about these soldiers by the end of the issue than I would have expected just because of the personality brought forth by the dialogue. And the issue ends on a perfect cliffhanger that left me wanting more despite my previous sentiment towards the book. It’s true what they say: the ending is the last thing that people remember, and the ending of this issue was enough to make me want to come back for more.

Since this is a #1 issue, it’s worth mentioning that the actual superhero of the comic, who doesn’t have an official name but is referred to as “Project Epimetheus” (a reference to Greek mythology, though why he references this character beyond “he has a cool name” is unknown to me at this point), has a pretty interesting design, appearing very much as a robot, but having a human voice. Also, his powers provide the opportunity for some really interesting artwork, invoking a very different color scheme from the rest of the comic that I found to be a welcome change. The character is still almost entirely shadowed in mystery at the moment, but the potential is definitely there.

I should also mention that the art here is really fantastic. Jason Latour and Dave Stewart are a great team, capable of building atmosphere that perfectly matches the scene. The combat scenes are well detailed, and the colors really add a punch while catching the eye. In the more conversational pieces, the characters in the background are purposefully left uncolored, purposefully drawing the eye to certain actions while also creating immersion through this use of perspective. I have nothing but praise to heap on the art here; it’s everything you could want it be, executed perfectly. But honestly, I’d expect nothing less from these guys by now.

Sledgehammer 44 #1 is a very good superhero comic that comes just shy of being great due to a lackluster beginning. That said, if you’re a fan of Mignola’s, or simply want to meet a very different brand of superhero, it’s definitely worth the $3.50 cover price. The cliffhanger presented here is executed perfectly, and I’m excited to see what the team will do with their second issue.

Chase Wassenar, aka MaristPlayBoy, is the Lead Editor and Founder of the Red Shirt Crew. He almost had to question why a robot had lightning powers, but then decided the sheer awesomeness of it all put it above question.  You can follow him on Twitter at @RedShirtCrew or email him at theredshirtcrew@gmail.com.

Baltimore: The Widow and the Tank Review

Baltimore: The Widow and the Tank is a one-shot comic written by Mike Mignola and Christopher Golden that features two stories starring Lord Henry Baltimore, a vampire hunter in a universe different from Hellboy’s but thematically similar. In keeping with typical Mignola tradition, both stories are self-contained and require no prior knowledge of the characters within, though an understanding of Baltimore’s backstory does add an extra layer of emotional depth if you’ve kept up with the series. That said, whether you have read all of Lord Baltimore’s travels or have never heard of the character before in your life, Baltimore: The Widow and the Tank is a must buy this week.

That Cover. Just…beautiful.

The first story, “The Widow”, is a creepy tale exploring the darker side of love and devotion between a woman and her husband, who is rumoured to be less-than-completely dead after an incident in the war. It serves as a microcosm of everything that makes Mignola and Golden such a great creative team. While the story is not terribly hard to predict, the brilliant pacing and poignant writing bring this story to life. Mrs. Yeardsley, the aforementioned widow, is particularly moving, as her witticisms in the opening scene make the reader immediately invested in the character, and that investment intensifies the fearful tone throughout. And the ending is nothing short of genius. I won’t say more at the risk of spoiling one of the most moving short stories I’ve read in months, but I will say the narrative presented here is worth the cover price alone. Trust me on this one.

That’s not the say “The Tank” is not equally enjoyable. In that story, Lord Baltimore learns of a vampire who is said to be hiding in a tank eating innocent children who walk by. However, it soon becomes clear that there may be worse things near that tank than the vampire himself. What makes this story so great is Mignola and Golden’s decision to focus on the humanity of the vampire rather than the beast contained within. Without spoiled anything, it would have been quite easy for the story to turn into a “vampire vs. other fearsome creature” fight, but instead, the team chose to focus on a rather real emotion to which any reader could relate. As such, “The Tank” has a surprising amount of emotional depth for a nine page story, and I was left wishing I could have spent more time with both characters. In this more than the previous story, Lord Baltimore thrives as a character in his own right. Also, the last page is absolutely chilling and will likely appear in my nightmares at some point over the next week.

As far as the art is concerned, the teamwork of Ben Stenbeck and Dave Stewart is as good as its ever been. This whole creative team has worked together on B.P.R.D. and previous Baltimore comics, so the art perfectly matches the tone of the stories. It’s sublime in the most eerie way, capturing the darker essence of these stories in a way few artists can. While “The Widow”‘s final page is made especially poignant by the symbolism and dark beauty contained in the last image, “The Tank” is where the art team is able to shine. The landscapes reflect the bleakness of the situation perfectly and, because it bears repeating, that last page is powerful in ways that can only be understood once you’ve read the comic.

Final Verdict: Baltimore: The Widow and the Tank is a brilliant horror comic more than worth the $3.50 cover price. Its only flaw is that it must come to an end. This creative team shows once again why Mike Mignola and Christopher Golden have been the faces of horror in comics since Hellboy first began. Buy it. Now. You won’t regret it.

Chase Wassenar, aka MaristPlayBoy, is the Lead Editor and Founder of the Red Shirt Crew.  You can read more of his stuff at Toy-TMA, follow him on Twitter at @RedShirtCrew, or email him at theredshirtcrew@gmail.com.