[Zacharie]

Title: Hellboy - Makoma (Click to go to the release post)
Writer(s): Mike Mignola (Click to see other books from this writer released on this site)
Review source: Al Kratina (Don't click it, read the review here... )

Review: Hellboy: Makoma #1 - #2

I love Hellboy. But I love Hellboy for the same reasons that I love my old Venom LPs, because they're so very familiar. I know every note and every word, and even if I didn’t, I could probably make a fairly good guess as to what’s coming next. With Venom, one can pretty much expect a punky four-chord Motorhead riff and a bunch of growling about either battleaxes or Satan. With Dark Horse Comics’ signature character Hellboy, it’s safe to assume every story will involve H.P. Lovecraft references, Eastern Europe, and a giant monster getting punched to death. The twist in recent stories relocates the action to Africa, but much of the punching remains intact, so I’m not too shaken up by it. Still, it would be nice if things changed every once in a while, just to keep from getting stale.

And, thankfully, they do. The latest Hellboy story, the two issue mini-series Makoma, has the distinction not only of being set in Africa, but of being the first Hellboy story not to be illustrated solely by Mike Mignola. Instead, much of the art duties are handled by Richard Corben, a fine artist who has the distinctive talent of making every character look like Puck from Alpha Flight. But despite his predilection for squat, muscular characters, Corben is right at home in the Hellboy mythos, adapting his own style to Mignola’s world of predominant pitch blacks and angular lines. While it’s odd to see Hellboy not look like Hellboy, it just makes everything in the book seem all the stranger, a welcome addition to any supernatural comic.

As for the story, while it doesn’t let readers in on what’s been happening to Hellboy since his recent disappearance in Africa, it does contribute something to the overarching mythos. Set in 1993, the majority of the comic is a story narrated to Hellboy by a mummy in the New York City Explorers' Club. The New York portion of the comic, essentially a bookend, is drawn by Mignola, but in order to differentiate fantasy from reality the mummy’s tale itself is illustrated by Corben. The story the mummy tells is the ancient African folktale of Makoma, a powerful boy with a hammer and sack who spends much of his life beating giants to death. So, it's pretty much perfect for the comic, and the character of Hellboy is fittingly substituted for Makoma. The story sticks fairly closely to the original oral narrative, though there’s a few more killer ant-men than I remember from my university folklore classes. While this miniseries, being essentially a flashback, doesn’t move things forward in the grand scheme of things, the ending of the tale, which features a confrontation between Hellboy/Makoma and a many-headed dragon, has clear parallels with Hellboy’s past, and apparently his future. Written in Mignola’s well-practiced minimalist and lightly humorous style, the comic departs just enough from the Hellboy formula to make the story arc familiar without, thankfully, breeding contempt.

More info:

Writer: Mike Mignola
Artist: Mike Mignola, Richard Corben
Colorist: Dave Stewart
Genre: Action/Adventure, Horror, Humor

[Zacharie]

Title: Hellboy - The Island (Click to go to the release post)
Writer(s): Mike Mignola (Click to see other books from this writer released on this site)
Review source: Maurice Broaddus (Don't click it, read the review here... )

Review:

"Hellboy ... where are you going?"

With that line, Hellboy: The Island begins. Honestly, I don' t know why I pick up Hellboy. That' s nothing against the book, I' ve just simply never been able to explain why I' m drawn to this comic. There' s nothing that I can quite put my finger on. I' m not a fan of the gothic art style of the book, but it certainly adds to the atmosphere. Sure, there' s the great characterization and a compelling, yet tragic, central figure. It's filled with mood and a macabre humor, mixed with a light touch of Poe and Lovecraft. Mike Mignola has created a detailed, rich, and moody world.

"Once on the island, Hellboy has a couple drinks and learns a whole lot of stuff he never wanted to know ...about himself," commented writer/artist Mike Mignola. "In this miniseries I decided to tell a lot of stuff I never thought I was going to tell."

Award winning Hellboy creator Mignola finally returns to the title that spawned a franchise. It' s not like he' s capitalizing on the heat generated by the Hellboy movie. The Island picks up, two years later, after the events from the last Hellboy mini-series, Third Wish. That would be four years ago in our time, and over a year after the release of the movie.

Hellboy spent the last two years at the bottom of the ocean then finds himself on a mysterious island. I guess after spending a couple of years alone with fish, it wouldn' t take much to adapt to the situation and start drinking with a bunch of dead sailors. Hellboy is in no mood to chat with his ancient enemy (Baba Yaga), even if she does bring vague hints about things to come.

Even with the economy of words, the near stream-of-consciousness writing style that he' s chosen, Mike Mignola paints a creepy portrait of a man/demon lost and alone. Again, his work is well-researched and his meticulous attention to detail (he did the production design for Atlantis: The Lost Empire) shows (down to having the sailors sing 'The Mermaid', an old sailor' s song). For those who crave action over atmosphere, he still manages to include the obligatory 'Hellboy smash'-styled big monster fight sequence. However, it is characterization that makes this book great, and he has a great character in Hellboy. Part of the dark wit of the book lies with Hellboy being in full everyman mode, a regular blue-collar demon. This time around, there is a pervading sense of loneliness in the book. It may not always be clear what' s going on, but that only adds to the vague sense of unease about the book.

Steeped in religious symbols and tradition, the true horror of the book lies in the (often supernatural) battle between good and evil, the reality of Christ and the devil. But another spiritual connection lies in the continual theme of Hellboy challenging his destiny. He' s lost and at a crossroads in his life. He knows who he is and what he was created to be, the inverse of the situation we find ourselves in. Knowing his true self, his true identity, he rejects it and decides that being human sounds like a better purpose in life. Trying to save the world as a mission sounded a lot better than leading the Apocalypse.

Rooted in folk tales and myths, this series promises to reveal a secret or two about Hellboy. The important thing though is that Hellboy: The Island is an engaging story, full of mystery - with a generous helping of horror - that challenges and entertains the reader. It is one of the finest horror works out there.

More info:

Creators: Mike Mignola
Editor: Scott Allie
Cover Artist: Mike Mignola
Genre: Horror, Action/Adventure

[Zacharie]

Title: Hellboy - Darkness calls (Click to go to the release post)
Writer(s): Mike Mignola (Click to see other books from this writer released on this site)
Review source: Benjamin Birdie (Don't click it, read the review here... )

Review:

I go through these phases where every couple of months I’ll pick up a Hellboy trade of my ol’ library shelf and flip through it and I’ll catch the holy ghost, so to speak. Some random panel by Mignola will strike me, or a bit of strange Hellboy storytelling will jump out and I’ll suddenly become obsessed with everything related to the property (of which there is plenty to go around). I’ll go back to the novels I have yet to finish, or pick up a B.P.R.D. trade I missed out on, or maybe even just read “Conquerer Worm” again for the twentieth time. It’s a strange universe to dip into, and, for me at least, it’s not something that you can just dip into on a regular basis. It’s the kind of world that just inhales you every couple of months and, for a while, you can’t read anything else.

And so, just recently, I came across “Darkness Calls” on the “Almost New Release” wall of my local comic shop and flipped through it. In the opening sequence, there’s a scene in which a human (male) witch imprisons the spirit of the god Hecate. It’s kind of a long story, but during the proceedings, between the back and forth storytelling of their conversation, Fegredo (presumably at the behest of writer Mignola, because it’s the sort of thing he’s done countless times in the Hellboy stories he drew himself) “cuts” to a shot of two haunted animals drinking from a large pool of Dave Stewart Red (I think we can make that an official color at this point) blood. It’s wordless, and just leaps out at you in both its incongruity and its simplicity. It’s a classically Hellboy moment.

And now I’m reading Hellboy novels on the train again.

“Darkness Calls” continues the story of Hellboy’s post-B.P.R.D. adventures. Long gone are the stories of charmingly pulp Nazi machinations and strange Lovecraftian monsters. Much like Dave Sim’s “Cerebus”, Mignola has taken “Hellboy” and slowly turned it into a meditation on his specific interests, in his case: Folklore. Some might miss the gorillas and bombs (I’m pretty sure there were gorillas and bombs at one point, either way, “Hellboy” was once a bit of a different kind of comic than it is today), and I might too if it weren’t for the one thing that never changes: Hellboy’s irascible charm.

Whether it’s Nazi Ghosts then or the spirit of old Koshchei The Deathless trapped in servitude to Baba Yaga (I told you. Heavy folklore.) now, Hellboy is still unflappable in his constant dejected sense of mild frustration. It’s a bit of an unquantifiable personality trait, but it’s the invisible thing that makes Hellboy so unique. Mignola and Fegredo provide captivating tableaus of Gothic unease, looking just a few bits of lettering and color shy of an authentic piece of inkwork from a book of Russian Folklore, and yet Hellboy’s bright red figure stands wonderfully incongruous in every one.

He’s still haunted by the future everyone says he inevitably has: King Of Hell, master of its evil armies. But it’s hard to imagine someone with such a homespun sense of right and wrong and such a limited tolerance for any inconvenience suddenly waking up and, to be pat, getting upset enough about anything to really lead an army anywhere. And that, of course, is the great strength of Hellboy’s ongoing narrative. As all these monumental shifts in supernatural power swirl around him, their very center, he stands as just a regular guy, generally ticked off at having to deal with more crap.

“Darkness Calls” marks the debut of Duncan Fegredo as a kind of “regular art team” to Hellboy stories. And while his work is naturally similar to Mignola’s (who does provide a few pages of epilogue at the end of this collection), he brings enough of his own style and approach to leave his own stamp on the artwork. It’s a great choice, especially for this story, where the conflicts call for just a slightly more dynamic touch than Mignola’s work might be comfortable rendering. Most importantly, as noted at the beginning of this review, at all times this book never stops feeling like a Hellboy story.

So, while many things about Hellboy have changed since its inception, Mignola still takes great pains to ensure that the most important things never do. This is still a great and wild adventure, with lots of gigantic things for Hellboy to wallop, and lots of striking vistas in which to do it; with plenty of insets of haunting architecture, sculpture, and landscape that are inevitably about to be destroyed or, at the very least, engulfed in hellfire.

More info:

Story by Mike Mignola
Art by Duncan Fegredo, Mike Mignola
Colors by Dave Stewart
Letters by Clem Robins
Cover by Mike Mignola
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Genre: Horror, Action/Adventure

[Zacharie]

Title: Solider Zero (Click to go to the release post)
Writer(s): Stan Lee (Click to see other books from this writer released on this site)
Review source: Mike Clarke (Don't click it, read the review here... )

Review: SOLDIER ZERO #1 - #2

I admit to being a little apprehensive after receiving the news that Stan Lee was going to be involved in some new super-hero comics with Boom Studios. I recall the last experiment, the series of “Just Imagine Stan Lee” one-shots for DC where he re-invented several DC characters including Batman, Flash, etc. They were interesting in concept but the stories were a chore to get through, mostly boring. As much as I love Stan Lee, his “Just Imagine . ..” stories and dialogue were from 2-3 decades or more ago and needed a serious update. However, after hearing Mark Waid explain at Baltimore Comic-Con in August 2010 that these were collaborations between Stan Lee and various writers I felt a little warmer towards the new books. And, when Waid detailed how much energy, enthusiasm and creative ideas that Stan brought to his team-up with him (The Traveler) I knew I wanted to investigate the early issues of all the titles.

Soldier Zero is the first of them; and I’m not disappointed at all. I like this book. The origin story is going to seem a little familiar with long-term comics readers (especially of Green Lantern, Iron Man, and the intial version of Nova, plus a little dash of X-O Manowar for seasoning) but Lee and Cornell put a different spin on things. The main character is Stewart Trautmann, a returning war hero who in the final days of his time in Afghanistan was crippled by an explosion that left him partially paralyzed and confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life. Trautmann is an immediately sympathetic and likeable character. He’s bitter after his experience and his attitude toward the military and war has changed as a result. Yet, he’s got a certain nobility and a gentlemanly manner that compliments him well and also disguises his disllusionment.
Cornell is a good writer and reveals a lot about his characters in concise, short scenes. The supporting cast include’s Stuart’s younger brother who encourages him to overcome his limitations, and Lily a beautiful student he is attracted to. Their first unofficial “date” together is very well done, as both he and Lily awkwardly try to learn more about each other without mentioning the obvious things. It inmpressed and left me with the same warm feeling as the first encounter between a young Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson did in the first Ultimate Spider-Man written by Bendis.
Stuart has a job as an astronomy lecturer at Calder University. While he and Lily watch a meteor shower from a rooftop, an explosion rocks the building as a UFO crashes into it. While trapped underneath the rubble, the dying alien transfers some energy into Stuart, who suddenly finds himself inside the humanoid’s body armor.
He’s got some new powers he doesn’t quite understand, and doesn’t know how to control. He also finds himself under the control of another presence inside the suit and is often powerless to prevent the actions it causes him to perform.
After several struggles to establish control, Stuart and the presence declare a truce, and he learns about the galactic war between two races the alien soldier was involved in, a war now brought to the surface of Earth. The Soldier Zero suit was formerly occupied by two energy sources – - a host and a parasite. It’s the parasite that Stuart has been talking to, and he has now become the new host. Now that Stuart has regained the ability to walk and can assume his normal human state (when the parasite allows it) he’s reluctant to be free of the alien presence and becomes a willing partner in the upcoming efforts to expose the other protaganists in the new war.
Artist Pina has a appealing and basic style, very fluid and fun to follow from panel to panel.
Solider Zero is a good book, and worthy of your investigation.

More info:

created by Stan Lee (listed here as “grand poobah”)
written by Paul Cornell
art by Javier Pina

[Zacharie]

Title: Hellboy - Savage dragon (Click to go to the release post)
Writer(s): Mike Mignola and Erik Larsen (Click to see other books from this writer released on this site)
Review source: Biggerboat (Don't click it, read the review here... )

Review:

In my question to own any and all comic appearances of Hellboy, I finally picked up a copy of Savage Dragon/Hellboy, which collects two issues of Erik Larsen’s Savage Dragon comic featuring a guest appearance by the wielder of the Right Hand of Doom.

Quick history lesson: In 1992, when the post-Batman comic book boom was at its peak, a number of Marvel Comics’ most popular artists left to start a new company called Image Comics. While Image’s fortunes have waxed and waned over the years (they currently publish the bestselling Walking Dead), two original Image titles have continued ever since those early days: Todd McFarlane’s Spawn and Erik Larsen’s Savage Dragon.

The Dragon is a green-skinned, super-strong fellow with a big green fin on his head and an (until recently) unknown origin. He appeared in a blaze of fire with no memory of his past and was recruited to fight (supervillainous) crime by the US government.

Hellboy is a red-skinned, super-strong fellow with filed-down horns on his head and an (until recently) unknown origin. He appeared in a blaze of fire with no knowledge of his past and was recruited to fight (supernatural) crime by the US government.

It was perhaps inevitable that these two indie comic juggernauts meet. It happened in the pages of Savage Dragon #34-35, a relatively self-contained story in which the Dragon and Hellboy confront Brainiape (yes, Brainiape), yet another superintelligent gorilla in comics’ long love affair with smart simians. However, Brainiape’s enhanced intellect is the result of his having Hitler’s brain, which was swiped from his decapitated head after Hellboy blew up Hitler’s mechanized suit in 1952.

Every single issue of Savage Dragon has been written and drawn by Larsen, a rare feat in the industry and one matched only by Dave Sim’s Cerebus. These two issues were collected into a trade paperback to capitalize on Hellboy’s popularity. Larsen’s art style in these issues is obviously intended to mimic Hellboy creator Mike Mignola’s distinctly minimalist style (especially the first two or three pages).

The story, on the other hand, is bizarre. I’ve recently started reading Savage Dragon in order, starting with the miniseries, and so far I don’t quite know what to think of it. It’s not as teenager-oriented as mainstream Marvel, not as self-absorbed and borderline pretentious as DC/Vertigo, and not as well written as either. It has a Silver Age kind of feel, only with much more violence, cursing and sex. (At least so far–I’ve only read the first ten issues and this miniseries.)

The story here basically serves as an excuse for Savage Dragon and Hellboy to pound one another while under Brainiape’s mind control. I liked that Larsen didn’t try to cheat with th characters–the Dragon is much stronger than Hellboy, and that plays out in the story (Dragon: “I don’t know about you, but I can rip a school bus in half without breaking a sweat–are you going to be able to hold on for a few rounds?”) The best line, though, is when the two officially meet: one says to the other, “Do you have trouble buying hats? Because I can’t seem to find one that fits.”

This crossover took place in 1996, when Mignola was still treating Hellboy more like a superhero franchise than a moody, supernatural-themed series. Hellboy’s appearance here (and in other crossovers like Batman/Hellboy/Starman) feels a little weird when you’re reading it more than ten years later. It’s hard to explain, but Hellboy isn’t your typical comic book superhero, and crossovers like these don’t quite fit the character. (On the other hand, his recent crossover with The Goon worked well.)

There’s also some sort of Godzilla-like monster and a subplot about a dying supervillain. Ultimately, there’s not really enough character interaction between the Dragon and Hellboy to make the story interesting; you could substitute any bruiser in there and the story would basically be the same. But Larsen does add a few of Hellboy’s signature traits (his use of the truncated “son of a–”, his terrible aiming, and Hellboy’s appearance on the cover of Life magazine), and the art is fantastic. Larsen, like Mignola, is one of the best artistic acolytes of Jack Kirby, and that really shines in Savage Dragon/Hellboy.

More info:

By: Erik Larsen and Mike Mignola
Type: Comics
Genres: Action-Adventure, Fantasy, Horror
Publisher: Image Comics
Pub. Date: December 20, 2006

[Zacharie]

Title: Hellboy - The third wish (Click to go to the release post)
Writer(s): Mike Mignola (Click to see other books from this writer released on this site)
Review source: Paul Dale Roberts (Review #1) and Ray Tate (Review #2) (Don't click it, read the review here... )

Review:

The Third Wish #1 - The 3 sisters in the beginning were spooky, I was thinking to myself. Then as I moved on with the story, that's nothing. Let's discuss Mohlomi of Africa, who was asking about Hellboy and Hellboy is now in his presence. It's interesting how Mohlomi prophesized that Hellboy would come to Africa.

The whole story gets creepy as I learn that Mohlomi has gained this knowledge from a talking bat and a talking spider. Hellboy must come to the crossroads of his life. Hellboy in this story seems so helpless. Hellboy has problems dealing with the evil ghost Kinyamkela and only by luck he gets out of this mess. Otherwise he would have had garbage and rocks thrown at him for the rest of eternity. I bet Hellboy will stay away from the haunted banana tree. With Hellboy having a nail in his skull and chained by cursed bones, anything can happen to Hellboy.

Here is the enemy I don't like, the huge talking fish and the way he deceitfully granted 3 wishes to the sisters and destroys them with trickery. All 3 sisters get terrible wishes and wind up dead. Yes, this story is definitely creepy. I can just imagine what the Hellboy movie will be like. Yikes!

The Third Wish #2 - Hellboy usually perplexes me. I mean why is it that this mix of Lovecraft, fairy tales and an odd, really odd super-hero appeal to me all the time. It has to be more than the artwork and just the quality of writing. Something about this character clicks with me, and this issue clearly and succinctly explains why.

"Screw that."

If ever there was a phrase that best described Hellboy it is that phrase. Even his name rails against convention. Things from hell traditionally are evil, and Hellboy doesn't even care to be called Hellman. Clearly he's old enough, but Hellboy isn't merely a sobriquet. It's his name, and it has meaning to him.

Hellboy's destiny according to every villain he has met and vanquished has already been written. He doesn't believe this to be true. He is the ultimate anarchist. He rebels against time. He accepts no fate. Not for he. Not for any.

Third Wish in many ways does what every Hellboy story succeeds in doing. It builds on Hellboy's utter contempt for the so-called preordained. The story makes the point to say if you're tough enough you can beat anything. It subtly relates these tenets in Mr. Mignola's artwork: dark and brooding yet with a spark of bright red optimism.

More info:

Creators: Mike Mignola
Letterer: Clem Robins
Colorist: Dave Stewart
Editor: Scott Allie
Designer: Mike Mignola & Cary Grazzini
Cover Artist: Mike Mignola
Genre: Horror, Action/Adventure

[Zacharie]

Title: Hellboy - Conqueror Worm (Click to go to the release post)
Writer(s): Mike Mignola (Click to see other books from this writer released on this site)
Review source: David Kozlowski (Don't click it, read the review here... )

Review:

Plot: During the final hours of WWII a team of Nazi scientists launch a manned rocket into space. They hope to capture an ethereal, alien presence trapped for eons in the stratosphere then use it to thwart the Allied forces. But the capsule and its Astronaut (Nazinaut?) are lost, and the Nazi’s are soon defeated. Fifty years later, the capsule suddenly returns to earth, crashing deep in the Austrian Alps. BPRD agents Hellboy and Roger the Homunculus are sent to investigate. Significant mayhem ensues.

Comments: Mike Mignola has grown as a storyteller. His early Hellboy stories were largely adaptations of fairy tales and regional folklore -- with a bit of Nazi-angst weaved in. His Jack Kirby-inspired visuals were, and still are, breathtaking. Mignola conveys an energy and complexity through his art that belies its apparent simplicity. Over the last few years he has simplified his style. Rendering has been minimized, replaced by heavy blacks and solid colors. His imagery is consequently stronger and more readable. But it is as a writer that Mike Mignola has truly evolved.

Conqueror Worm is more a character study than an epic battle between good and evil – though there is still quite a bit of the latter. Hellboy is shown to be a character of much greater depth than ever before. He is forced to carry with him the knowledge that at a critical moment he will have to choose between the life of one friend and the lives of millions of strangers. The burden tests his faith and threatens his “humanity." Despite the fact that he is a surly, hell-sent demon, Hellboy elicits tremendous sympathy. Mignola invests so many meaningful characteristics in Hellboy that he seems more human than most earth-born characters in other comics.

Conqueror Worm employs a smaller cast than previous Hellboy adventures. Fortunately, each player is a great, big freak. Roger the Homunculus with a heart of gold is back. He joins Hellboy on his quest to locate the missing space capsule. Along the way they encounter Lobster Johnson, a pulp-hero from WWII who was thought to have perished during a final assault on an Axis stronghold. The Nazis have returned, although their previous legions have dwindled to just a few conspirators. Herman Von Klempt, the disembodied-Nazi-head-in-a-bottle leads them, accompanied by his Kriegaffe – an artificial, talking gorilla with a thirst for violence. Finally, long-time nemesis Rasputin lurks in the shadows, compelled to acknowledge that his lifelong pursuit to control Hellboy might be a failed enterprise.

The art in Conqueror Worm is remarkable. Figure models and backgrounds are simplified in order to place more emphasis on design and atmosphere. The result is much clearer storytelling. Every panel and page has been carefully arranged to lead the eye and convey only the information necessary to further the story. Mignola’s trademark use of static panels of period architecture, animals and skeletons are prevalent throughout the story. He uses these as a technique to control the pace of the narrative and it works wonderfully. It allows Mignola to minimize background detail in the story panels while reinforcing location and mood in the static shots. I wish that more artists would exploit this concept.

Yet the colors in Conqueror Worm might just be the strongest artistic element. Colorist Dave Stewart employs a simple, uniform palette, emphasizing lots of secondary colors and muted tones that counterbalance the heavy black inks. Action scenes are painted in bright yellow hues while establishing shots and story elements are shown in shaded blues and muted greens. When evil characters or a dark mood take the stage Stewart’s colors shift to a sick, muddy yellow-green. I can’t express how much the colors positively impact the storytelling –- Hellboy wouldn’t be the same in black & white.

Final Word: Hellboy: Conqueror Worm does not tell a superior or terribly memorable story, but it is far from a simple action yarn. True, the central villains aren’t as menacing as in previous arcs. But the true strength of this tale is the emphasis on Hellboy himself. Mignola subtly portrays the BPRD as the true antagonist who forces Hellboy to compromise his integrity to the organization over his loyalty to a friend. We learn more about what makes Hellboy tick then ever before, and that more than makes up for any lack of depth to the plot. You could infer that Mignola is getting a bit soft, toning down the gothic horror in lieu of portraiture. But I think that he is just becoming a better and more complete storyteller.

More info:

Creators: Mike Mignola
Letterer: Pat Brosseua
Colorist: Dave Stewart
Editor: Scott Allie
Designer: Mike Mignola & Cary Grazzini
Cover Artist: Mike Mignola
Genre: Horror, Action/Adventure

[Zacharie]

Title: Hellboy: The Chained Coffin and Others (Click to go to the release post)
Writer(s): Mike Mignola (Click to see other books from this writer released on this site)
Review source: Nick Brownlow (Don't click it, read the review here... )

Review:

Sometimes, it's the simplest ideas that are the best. Take Mike Mignola's HELLBOY - an obvious and uncomplicated fusion of styles, transplanting a classic superhero archetype into the world of WEIRD TALES and old pulp serials. Essentially, Jack Kirby meets HP Lovecraft.

Arguably once the 'runt' of Dark Horse's creator-owned Legend imprint (next to Frank Miller's SIN CITY and John Byrne's THE NEXT MEN), Mignola's classic premise has since been proven to have staying power. July of this year saw the debut of HELLBOY's sixth solo series, and the concept has been successfully translated into novels, a role-playing game, and - soon - a Hollywood movie by CRONOS and BLADE II director Guillermo Del Toro.

Whoever said there was no money in doing creator-owned work?

Summoned up from Hell in the dying days of World War 2, the infant Hellboy was raised as a human (and as an American), his demonic nature tamed and repressed. Growing up to become the world's foremost paranormal investigator, Hellboy is also the top field agent with the US Government's Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defence - travelling the world and combating the otherworldly forces of darkness wherever they're found.

Although his story begins in the 1993 mini-series SEED OF DESTRUCTION (also available in collected form), that series is generally considered to be the weakest HELLBOY story - and as such probably isn't the best jumping on point for new readers.

THE CHAINED COFFIN AND OTHERS offers an alternative route into the series. A collection of various HELLBOY shorts and one-shots that have appeared over the years, most of the stories in THE CHAINED COFFIN serve as background to the main series - filling in the details of Hellboy's early career with the Bureau and introducing several ongoing characters. Most of Hellboy's supporting cast - including amphibious humanoid Abe Sapien, angsty pyrokinetic Liz Sherman and the stalwart Dr Kate Corrigan - put in an appearance here, and as such it serves as an excellent introduction to the character and his world.

As P Craig Russell remarks in his introduction to the collection, however, there's another good reason to read THE CHAINED COFFIN - namely that it not only contains some of Mignola's finest writing on the series, but some of the most accomplished and assured genre pieces in the medium as well.

The stand out story in the collection is, to my mind, 'The Corpse'. The setting is rural Ireland in the 1950s, and Hellboy is summoned to a lonely farmhouse where a young couple suspect that their baby has been replaced with a changeling. After ascertaining that they are in fact correct, Hellboy sets off to meet with the fey folk and barter for the child's return.

An amalgamation of old Irish folk-tales, 'The Corpse' originally ran in two page instalments as part of Capital City's ADVANCE COMICS catalogue; as such something new and visually interesting had to occur every two pages, and the result is a busy, fun packed story that revels in its subject matter.

'The Corpse' is followed by two short-shorts - 'The Iron Shoes' - essentially just a fight between Hellboy and a rather odd Irish goblin with unusual footwear - and the previously unpublished 'The Baba-Yaga', which details Hellboy's first meeting with the old hag of Russian folklore - previously referred to in HELLBOY: WAKE THE DEVIL. These are really 'incidents' rather than stories, but Mignola still manages to pull off some fun stylistic tricks in them.

'A Christmas Underground' and 'The Chained Coffin' have a bit more meat to them, and again, both rely on an old folk-tale for their 'hooks'. These are actually the two least effective stories in the collection, however - probably because Mignola doesn't quite manage to reconcile the source material with the structure of the typical HELLBOY story. In the former case, the story comes across as a little exposition-light, and in the latter, a little exposition-heavy. 'The Chained Coffin', incidentally, serves as another piece in the puzzle of Hellboy's origin, and so it's perhaps more interesting in light of later stories.

The collection is rounded off by two longer pieces, 'The Wolves of Saint August' and 'Almost Colossus'. 'The Wolves of Saint August' originally ran in DARK HORSE PRESENTS, and was actually the first HELLBOY story after SEED OF DESTRCUTION (making it also Mignola's first attempt at scripting HELLBOY himself). It's a werewolf story, and basically revolves around a fight scene between Hellboy and a really big werewolf. Mignola tacks on another folk-tale, however - this time with satisfying results. This story also includes perhaps the most disturbing and effective imagery in the collection.

The final story - 'Almost Colossus' - was originally published as a two issue mini series. As such it's the longest piece, and also the one that leans most heavily on existing HELLBOY continuity; mainly because it serves as an epilogue to the HELLBOY epic WAKE THE DEVIL and introduces the recurring character of Roger the homunculus.

Clearly a Frankenstein homage, but inspired also by a Clark Ashton Smith story (there's that WEIRD TALES influence again), 'Almost Colossus' sees Hellboy hunting an alchemical abomination through modern-day Transylvania in order to save his friend Liz Sherman's life. It's an energetic, action-packed pulp adventure caper through a landscape of crumbling gothic castles, derelict secret laboratories and medieval crypts - HELLBOY by numbers, really.

The short story has always been the ideal format for the weird tale, and Mignola ably lends weight to that hypothesis here - brilliantly crafting seven slices of concise and elegant high strangeness. Mignola writes with easy wit, demonstrating a clever yet dark sense of humour that's perfectly suited the subject matter (which, whilst often grim or disturbing, is always handled with a sense of pulpish playfulness). It's this sense of fun that Mignola manages to convey that drives the occasionally 'plotless' stories along none the worse for their lack of narrative weight.

Of course, it's impossible to separate Mignola's writing from his art. Despite wearing his influences on his sleeve (Kirby, Frazetta, Wrightson), Mignola has one of the most individual and easily recognisable art styles in comics. His clean, angular lines and masterful use of blacks and shadows is strikingly dynamic, and yet also wonderfully evocative in terms of atmosphere and mood.

More importantly, Mignola has a fantastic sense of visual awareness - evident in everything from his page design to his pacing. The result is a very smooth and assured read, in which the story and art feel wonderfully integrated and complimentary. Special mention also needs to be made of the colours provided by James Sinclair, Matt Hollingsworth and Dave Stewart, which do a magnificent job of accentuating Mignola's art.

Uncomplicated and accessible, yet also intelligent, witty and stylish, HELLBOY is undoubtedly a rare combination in modern mainstream comics. THE CHAINED COFFIN AND OTHERS is the perfect introduction to HELLBOY, so if you're not already reading the adventures of Mignola's hell-spawned hero, now would be an excellent time to start.

More info:

Writer/Artist: Mike Mignola
Colourists: James Sinclair, Matt Hollingsworth, Dave Stewart
Letterist: Pat Brosseau
Collecting stories from HELLBOY: THE CORPSE AND THE IRON SHOES, HELLBOY CHRISTMAS SPECIAL, HELLBOY: ALMOST COLOSSUS #1-2, and DARK HORSE PRESENTS #88-91 and #100-102.
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
ISBN: 1-56971-349-9

[Zacharie]

Title: Hellboy - The Right Hand of Doom (Click to go to the release post)
Writer(s): Mike Mignola (Click to see other books from this writer released on this site)
Review source: Graeme (Don't click it, read the review here... )

Review:

After a slightly dodgy start my ‘Hellboy’ reading is up and running at a fair old pace; fast enough in fact that you’ll probably be seeing my review for volume five early next week. Hellboy’s world has so far been shown to be a very dark one where the efforts of a few enlightened individuals are all that stand between humanity’s continued peaceful existence and its use as a plaything by dark gods and their servants. It’s also a world though where a demonic envoy, summoned before its time, can find acceptance and peace to the extent that it wants to protect the fragile peace that the world enjoys. Mignola has found that dividing line and straddles it superbly, making the series one that I will return to as well as looking out for new entries.

Now I haven’t read a lot of comics but my impression of comics in general has always been that each individual issue forms part of an ongoing series (generalising I know but, like I said, I haven’t really read a lot of comics until the last couple of years). It was a little bit odd then to see a volume of Hellboy ‘one shots’ and ‘two parters’ followed by another volume with exactly the same format and approach. I mean, we’re talking about one of the most iconic (if not the most iconic) characters to come out of Dark Horse and it turns out that a large part of his success is based upon very short stories that appeared in collections (‘Dark Horse Presents’ etc). That has to say plenty about both the concept and execution of this character and if you take a look at volume four you’ll see that all the positive stuff being said is more than well founded.

‘The Right Hand of Doom’ is divided into three sections with the accompanying short stories all detailing events over the course of Hellboy’s life to date. Not every story hit the mark with me but there was more than enough here to keep me happy and reading. Mignola’s art continues to work wonders on the page and I’m firmly of the opinion that he can’t put a foot wrong as far as the artwork goes. Can you tell I’m a fully fledged fan? Well I am but I’m still looking for a little more from certain of the stories...

In one sense, I can’t really blame these stories as such because I’m only partway through the series and don’t know how these tales pan out in future volumes. Will there be closure or will things be deliberately left open ended? That’s still for me to find out.

Despite that though, the first time reader is going to encounter stories that are either open ended or feel like they are open ended. I can make allowances for this but was still left thinking, ‘is that it?’ I’m specifically thinking of ‘The Nature of the Beast’ and ‘King Vold’ in this instant and I could probably add ‘Goodbye Mr Tod’ to this very short list. ‘The Nature of the Beast’ hints at a wider story to follow but you don’t really get an idea of why this wider tale should be so important and you can’t help but wonder what the big deal is. The other two tales do work effectively at showing us how things can ‘just happen’ in Hellboy’s world but, almost paradoxically, feel like they could really benefit from a bit of ‘fleshing out. Maybe it’s just me but while I like an element of mystery in supernatural affairs I also like to feel like there’s something plausible underpinning them. The story ‘Heads’ sidestepped this issue with the brief nod to a Japanese folktale before it really got going; there was at least a hint to why things were happening here and I enjoyed the story all the more for it. And it had flying heads too, you can’t knock that even if you wanted to )

The rest of the book more than made up for what is admittedly a very minor failing in three of its stories. ‘Pancakes’ was a great way to open the volume with a tongue in cheek look at just why Hellboy is the demon he is today. It kind of reminded me of myself as a boy, only without the dirty great horns...

I also enjoyed ‘The Varcolac’, a story that takes you deep into what turns out not to be the main story after all; I loved the change in pace near the end that (all of a sudden) lets you know where you should be and is perhaps the only example I’ve coming across where being jarred out of the narrative flow is actually a good thing.

‘The Right Hand of Doom’ is a tricky one to stay with as it’s basically recounting a story that we’re already well familiar with. Stick with it though as you get to learn a lot more about Hellboy, what he was made for and why he doesn’t want any of it. I just loved the use of black and white background contrasting with his red skin right at the very end.

‘Box Full of Evil’ proves to be the real meat of the book and is well worthy of having the volume named after it. A haunted house, devil worshippers and an opportunistic demon looking to take advantage, this tale has it all and it’s as cool as ever to see Hellboy take it in his stride and just keep doing what he does best.

Despite a couple of niggles,‘The Right Hand of Doom’ firmly kept my ‘Hellboy’ reading firmly on an upward trajectory and I’m looking forward to devoting a chunk of my weekend to carrying this on. If you haven’t picked up ‘Hellboy’ already then take a not so subtle hint from me and get started.

More info:

Creators: Mike Mignola
Letterer: Pat Brousseau
Colorist: Dave Stewart
Editor: Scott Allie
Designer: Mike Mignola & Cary Grazzini
Cover Artist: Mike Mignola
Genre: Horror, Action/Adventure

[Zacharie]

Title: Hellboy - Wake the Devil (Click to go to the release post)
Writer(s): Mike Mignola (Click to see other books from this writer released on this site)
Review source: mervih (Don't click it, read the review here... )

Review:

The second Hellboy trade is dedicated to Dracula which is appropriate considering that one of the main baddies in this trade is a vampire. Here Mignola continues his mythic tale of Hellboy and adds Norse and Russian myths to the mix. Most of the story is set in Romania in a quite Draculan setting.

Roderico Zinco, a very rich entrepreneur, offers sanctuary to the three Nazis whom we saw emerging from their life preservation bods at the end of the previous story. Their mysterious master had appeared to Zinco and recruited him.

One year later, the trio is in New York and Ilsa kills the curator of a wax museum. Later, the BPRD investigates and finds out that the seemingly simple murder gives a clue to a far larger conspiracy; the owner used to hold the body of Vladimir Giurescu. According to the Romanian folk tales, Giurescu could never die; that the moonlight would revive him when he was in a specific room in his castle. The Nazis made an effort to recruit him but after meeting Giurescu, Hilter ordered him and his family (six women) to be killed and burned. However, it’s possible that one of the Nazis preserved Giurescu’s body and brought it to the US. In fact, the murdered curator turns out to be German.

The BPRD sends three teams to Romania to investigate. Hellboy has the honor to check out Giurescu’s castle all by himself. Meanwhile, Ilsa has brought the crate where Giurescu’s corpse is supposed to be, back to the castle. When Hellboy shows up she makes a cyborg Nazi fight him.

Later, the Nazi trio’s Master from the previous trade appears as a ghost-like being and Ilsa follows him without question. The Master (I’m trying very hard not to spoiler here) is again the main villain of the story. We learn his history and connections to a famous Russian fairy tale character. Also, Hellboy finds out why he’s on Earth and to fight against his inner demonic being.

The art is again very distinctive. It borrows from the ancient mythologies and the more modern vampire mythology. I also liked the close-ups where we could see just how many of the equipment that the BPRD uses are made by the Zinco Corporation. The enemy was nearer than the BPRD agents ever knew.

The story continues from Seed of Destruction and I recommend starting with that trade. The main villain is the same and story of Hellboy’s origin continues here.

Some of the characters get more flesh in their bones. Ironically, they are mostly the villains, the Master and Ilsa, whom we’ll hopefully see in the future. I also enjoyed the return of the old Greek goddess and the way that the people in the village near Giurescu’s castle reacted to his return. Dracula came strongly to mind with the latter.

I found it quite remarkable how well Mignola was able to mix the different myths. Hecate, Baba Yaga, Lovecraftian monsters, the seven-in-one, and vampires can co-exist in the same world without it feeling forced. Not to mention all of the other characters from their respective myths. Impressive.

However, the ending was somewhat disappointing especially if the three people stay dead. Giurescu didn’t really get a chance to do anything; the Master and the Nazis got to do pretty much everything.

More info:

Writer: Mike Mignola
Artist: Mike Mignola
Letterer: Pat Brosseau
Colorist: James Sinclair
Editor: Scott Allie
Designer: Mike Mignola & Cary Grazzini
Cover Artist: Mike Mignola
Genre: Horror, Action/Adventure

[Zacharie]

Title: Hellboy - Christmas Special (Click to go to the release post)
Writer(s): Mike Mignola (Click to see other books from this writer released on this site)
Review source: Elton Gahr (Don't click it, read the review here... )

Review:

There is really no doubt in my mind that A Christmas Carol is the greatest of Christmas fiction and perhaps it is completely on the shoulders of that story that ghosts have become associated with Christmas but when I picked up the Hellboy Christmas Special I had little doubt that there would be ghosts in it. How could it be any different, and while the ghosts which appeared were not the type that I had expected that is more because Mike Mignola, and while there are a number of other stories in this it is the Hellboy story that most interested me.

The story takes place in 1989, on Christmas eve. Hellboy has traveled to England where an elderly woman is on her death bed. She asks him to take a small box and give it to her daughter, and while there is no real explanation that I saw for why he knows this is dangerous it clearly is.

Hellboy travels to an underground lair where the daughter lives with all her family except for her mother, and she says she expects her soon, clearly implying that she is going to go there when she dies, but Hellboy then gives her her mothers gift, which turns out to be a cross. This is enough to drive away all of the dead, as well as the world the live in seeming to be ghosts.

This story was interesting and had a lot of mood, but the truth is that it was a bit hard for me to follow at points and I simply went along with it because I trust the story not so much because I was interested and even at the end I am not entirely certain I got the whole point of the story.

The two other major stories in this book had characters I didn't really know and they didn't really make me care about them all that much and so while they were fine there simply wasn't much no them.

There is a lot of good art in this book and yet none of it really overwhelmed me in any way. The hellboy art is very similar to all of the work in those books, which is good, but not awe inspiring. Of the rest there were a couple pages which were effectively pin ups which were the best.

There is certainly a Christmas theme to this book, but much of that feels tacked on as if they got the idea for a Christmas special and simply added that on top of the stories and while they are still good they would probably have been better without the christmas theme.

More info:

Creators: Mike Mignola & Gary Gianni & Geof Darrow & Steve Purcell
Letterer: Lois Buhalis & Sean Konot
Colorist: James Sinclair & Dave Stewart
Editor: Scott Allie
Designer: Mike Mignola & Cary Grazzini
Cover Artist: Gary Gianni
Genre: Horror, Action/Adventure

[Zacharie]

Title: Hellboy - Weird Tales (Click to go to the release post)
Writer(s): Various Writers
Review source: Keith Dallas (Review #1) and Paul Dale Roberts (Review 2) (Don't click it, read the review here... )

Review 1: Weird Tales #1

Because of Mike Mignola’s involvement with the Hellboy movie throughout 2003, the last time we had a chance to buy a full-length Hellboy comic book that was fully written and drawn by Mike Mignola was in August 2002. Since then, Hellboy fans have had to digest “B.P.R.D.” one-shots and the Hellboy bi-monthly anthology “Weird Tales,” written and drawn by various comic book professionals (John Cassaday, Joe Casey, Fabian Nicieza, among others).

Guided by regular Hellboy editor, Scott Allie (but not Mike Mignola himself), “Hellboy: Weird Tales: Volume One” collects the first four issues of the eight issue “Weird Tales” mini-series, presenting13 stories in all plus various pin-ups. The value of these stories vary because, deliberately, Allie keeps these writers and artists on a very loose leash. They are allowed to present Hellboy any way they see fit without having to be concerned about fitting their stories into existing Hellboy continuity. In this regard, Mignola has very generously lent his “toy” to other professionals to play with. At the same time, however, many of these “Weird Tales” stories inevitably become inconsequential. When the guest contributors don’t have to concern themselves with making sure their stories “fit,” they create stories that just don’t fit. Many of these stories present what we recognize as Hellboy and company, but they reproduce none of the tone, the themes or the energy that has made the Hellboy comic so unique and enjoyable. “Weird Tales” probably should have been titled “Hellboy: Apocrypha” (although granted, that title would have been a tough sell to Dark Horse’s marketing department).

Clearly, not all the guest contributors have a complete grasp of Hellboy. As a result, the manner in which Hellboy interacts with fellow B.P.R.D. members isn’t consistent, and his characteristics become exaggerated. I found the “Weird Tales” that tried to present Hellboy in a cartoonish, humorous way a bit indistinguishable. They all present Hellboy as a loud-mouthed, ill-tempered boor and use these characteristics to catalyst the punchline.

Other stories, thankfully, are so faithful to the spirit of Mignola’s creation that they could be placed without objection or hesitation into the Hellboy canon. These stories present Hellboy in a different but accurate perspective, and some even provide fascinating insight to characters we have seen before but haven’t gotten to know intimately. The best example of this is Jason Pearson’s “The Dread Within” story which focuses on Liz Sherman. Along with Abe Sapien, Liz Sherman has been one of Hellboy’s constant companions. She first appeared in the first Hellboy mini-series “Seed of Destruction,” in 1994. Despite this, and unlike Abe, Liz’s character hasn’t been complexly formed or explored over the last 10 years. We know she is a pyrokinetic, that she isn’t always in control of her own powers, that she killed her parents with her own powers as a young girl, and that she prefers Goth fashion. We haven’t had though much access to the way she thinks and feels… until now. Pearson, as both writer and artist, provides a story from Liz’s point of view, and initially it is a quite dreary point of view, but what else would you expect from a woman who has to spend the rest of her life blaming herself for the death of her parents? Beginning with Liz ruminations over the 20th anniversary of the death of her parents, the story shifts to a haunted house in Portland, Oregon the B.P.R.D. sends Liz to investigate in order to keep her distracted from the anniversary. The story then becomes part homage to “The Exorcist” and part focused character study, and the objectives of both parts are merged flawlessly. Pearson marvelously executed the story. The panel perspectives and the narrative flow from panel to panel were so perfect, I felt like I was watching a movie. It was that clean and dynamic. Just as impressive, after reading this story, I fully understood for the first time why Liz acts the way she does in the issues *Mignola* has written and drawn. That’s how well this story fits into the world of Hellboy.

The only part of the bi-monthly “Weird Tales” issues that doesn’t appear in this trade paperback are John Cassaday’s Sunday-newspaper-pulp-serial-like “Lobster Johnson Action Detective Adventure” chapters. These chapters are a treasure as Cassaday mimics the artwork, dialogue and coloring of Golden Age storytelling. By Chapter Three of this serial, Cassaday cleverly infuses this innocuous Golden Age tale with double entendres and a Postmodern kinkiness. But rather than publish half of the story in this Volume One, Dark Horse will release the entire eight part Lobster Johnson serial in the “Hellboy: Weird Tales: Volume Two” trade paperback.

All in all, “Hellboy: Weird Tales: Volume One” is a book for the converted. I can’t imagine someone who isn’t devoted to Hellboy getting any kind of enjoyment from this, and I would also suspect that anyone using this series to introduce oneself to Hellboy would be unlikely to pick up the Mignola books after reading these stories. If you *are* one of the converted though, this book offers several “appetizers” of Hellboy enjoyment to satisfy you until Mignola returns from his Hollywood sabbatical to the drawing board.

More info:

Writers: Fabian Nicieza, John Cassady, Jason Pearson, Andi Watson, Joe Casey, et al.
Artists: Mike Mignola (cover only), John Cassady, Jason Pearson, Eric Wight, Alex Maleev, et al.
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics

Review 2: Weird Tales #8

What a way to start off this comic book with Hellboy fighting off some giant rat creatures! Like always I love Hellboys' humor as he debates using a gun or holy water, then comes up with the idea of a holy water gun! Hellboy is a riot and just like the movie, I enjoyed the heck out of the action, special effects and Hellboy humor. Del Toro really kept Hellboy true to form when he produced this movie! You can tell Del Toro is a true blue fan of Mike Mignola's Hellboy! I told my executive assistant Kendra Larry who has never heard of Hellboy to make sure to take her son to see this movie. She was concerned if there might be some sex scenes or scenes in which there was cussing. I told her that there was nothing to worry about. Kendra and her son highly enjoyed this movie and now her son is buying the Hellboy comics, with approval by his mother. I think this movie is going to open up a wide range of fans for Hellboy.

The second story in which Sasaki-San reunites with Hellboy was splendid too! Hellboy deals with all kinds of paranormal activities, but this one was unusual, because he has to deal with restless children ghosts. Hellboy cracked me up, when he seems somewhat reluctant and mentions that he has to deal with immature apparations. Imamature apparations that take on the form of Sailor Moon, Transformers and Godzilla! I never saw that one coming! Then I like the homage to the movie "Poltergeist" as Hellboy says...'they're here!" I am doing a Hellboy Special with my newsletter the Peoples' Comic Book Newsletter and I will mail Dark Horse Comics a copy. I think you will love some of the artwork in this issue! It's our way to pay homage to the great big red one! Also, thank Hellboy for making me a reserve member of the Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense! The story "Toy Soldier" in which chidren ghosts are after toys, was a fascinating read!!

More info:

Creative Force: Multiple creators
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics

[Zacharie]

Title: Executive Assistant Iris (Click to go to the release post)
Writer(s): David Wohl (Click to see other books from this writer released on this site)
Review source: DS Arsenault (Review 1) InfiniteSpeech (Review 2) (Don't click it, read the review here... )

Review:

Executive Assistant: Iris #0 (Review 1)
“The Story: Diane Coverdale clearly needs some protection. She goes looking for some.

A Message Before the Review: I’ve never read an EA Iris story before, but have been intrigued with the concept since I attended the Aspen panel at a comic convention in Toronto in 2009. I’m finally getting to Iris now.

The Review: It’s going to be a bit tougher to review this comic, because it is only 12 pages long (with sketches and a bit of behind-the-scenes narrative to complete it). Wohl effectively fit a complete story in this small space, but I don’t want to lose sight of what an issue #0 is supposed to do. It does not launch the story. That is the job of issue #1. It does not bore us with exposition. Info dumps should stay on the cutting room floor. An issue #0 has to engage the reader with a very brief and not-very-challenging conflict for the hero whose resolution puts all the principal characters in place for the launch of issue #1. Given those goal posts, Wohl executed (no pun intended) this story perfectly. There was so much movement and action that I doubt any exposition would have fit anyway.

Who are the principal characters? Iris and Acteia (both highly trained ninja-like assassins euphemistically called Executive Assistants) and Diane Coverdale, a very wealthy woman who needs a special kind of bodyguard. We learned all about Diane in this short story, and we learned enough about Acteia to like her and see the potential she will have to drive some major physical action and character growth. And, we see the cool, mysterious Iris, but only from a distance.

What was primed? Well, a world of assassins for one thing. It exists in secrecy and it has it’s own schools and economies. Wohl has also primed Coverdale as the target. This time, she survived. Whoever goes after her next will try harder. And Wohl has primed Acteia and Iris. They are very dangerous and didn’t even break a sweat this issue. Now the dramatic tension comes from the reader wanting to see them in action, for real, in danger of not winning.

Artwise, I left the issue undecided. Francisco certainly establishes mood commandingly with forceful art, thick lines, and some heavy shadows. He also effectively communicates emotion through expression. The faces of Coverdale and her first set of bodyguards communicate a whole lot of emotion while they’re getting bullets thrown at them. The same goes for evocative expressions for Acteia and Iris. Where the ambiguity infected me was in the roughness of the art. It is very gritty and dark, and that’s probably a style that fits for the book, but it isn’t the style of art I’m normally attracted to right out of the gates. That being said, the art was clear, dynamic, and propelled the story through a quick series of pages, with some creative layouts that on one page traced an assassin’s movements with his target’s in complementing columns. Effective, but I really fall in love with the art that prizes more realistic styles of draftsmanship.

Conclusion: Wohl and company succeeded in the prologue to Executive Assistant Iris. I’m intrigued and will likely be back for issue #1, on the strength of this prologue.

Executive Assistant: Iris #4 (Review 2)
“Lies, Lies, Lies”: After successfully taking out the targets that had attempted to assassinate her boss, Iris has one more to go, and after the events of last issue she’s going to receive a little help for this one. This mission has her going to take out the head of The Academy, the man responsible for making her and so many other young girls into these deadly Executive Assistants.

Iris has asked Lilly to assist her on this mission and to assemble a team, which seems to be made up of former students that are more than happy to dish out a little payback to dear old “dad.” Lilly also has information on the new Academy, which has been moved to a state facility so it’s protected by military guards on the outside and assassins on the inside. So the ladies stage a little distraction, and then the killing begins as short work is made of the guards, and Iris slips into the compound. However, it seems as if her mission is a bit more personal here, and through several flashbacks we are shown what happened to the girls that did not excel in their classes. Iris is there to make sure that this new group of young girls do not suffer the same fate as herself and her friends. The only thing that stands in the way now is the other Executive Assistants that Lilly and her team run into, along with the two that are protecting Iris’s target.

David Wohl finishes up this arc nicely, and everything I worried about this series becoming was put to rest. The build up to this issue was a well crafted intro, and the pay off was worth it. The story was one you may have read before (or at least parts of it), but Wohl put the character of Iris before all of the action, sex, and mystery, and that will always make for a better story. There’s a lot of potential with the cast of characters we have already met, as well as the untold number of assassins that have graduated from The Academy, and the other crime bosses that may or may not employ them. I’m hoping that Wohl continues to expand on that and a lot of what’s already been revealed about Iris and her past that keeps this series a step above the rest.

I’ll also say that there hasn’t been one issue that has not been a feast for the eyes, and that’s thanks to Eduardo Francisco and those great colors of John Starr. I like the fact that we get to see the story develop in the panels during the heavy fight scenes instead of splash page after splash page. Sometimes I did think that there was some over crowding with the panels, but when everything looks this good, it’s a minor complaint. The scenes with Lilly and the former members of The Academy ripping through the guards was just intense and very bloody. This issue sports five covers, with four by Joe Benitez and Peter Steigerwald, and the last one by Eduardo Francisco and Steigerwald. Each and every one is damn good, but the Rose and Lilly ones are my faves.

This is one of the newer books that is probably being slept on by too many people, and that’s a shame, though it didn’t help that the fourth issue took forever to come out. I’d suggest that if you can’t find the first five issues (I’m counting issue #0), then hope for Aspen to put them in a TPB (trade paper back); but jump in on issue #5, as it seems as if Iris’s problems aren’t over, and that sits well with me.

I’m still amazed this is an actual practice that Wohl got the idea from when he read an article in the paper where young girls are enrolled in schools that teach actual executive assistant skills, along with combat techniques to act as body guards for high level businessmen. So the next time you find yourself staring at the pretty assistant, you might want to be careful not to do or say anything stupid.

More info:

Created by David Wohl, Brad Foxhoven & Michael Turner
Written by David Wohl
Art by Eduardo Francisco
Colors by John Starr
Cover by Joe Benitez

[Zacharie]

Title: BATMAN: The Ankh (Click to go to the release post)
Writer(s): Chuck Dixon (Click to see other books from this writer released on this site)
Review source: Tony Whit (Don't click it, read the review here... )

Review: BATMAN: THE ANKH #1

In the days of Ancient Egypt, a pharoah's son is killed by a fever, and the pharoah's vizier is charged with bringing the boy back to life. The vizier's daughter, Khatera, helps him to create a formula to do so, but when they visit the young boy's tomb, they are accidentally sealed in. Hoping that they will eventually be rescued, the vizier forces his daughter to drink the serum to keep her alive when the air runs out. As her father and his servants die around her, Khatera waits in the darkness for her release. It's a release that will not come for several centuries...

And that's just the beginning. This year has been a good one for BATMAN one-offsone only has to look at Darwyn Cooke's BATMAN: EGO to see how good it's beenand Chuck Dixon's addition to the pile is no exception. Dixon's script truly rises to the occasion, making the most out of the Egyptian material and infusing the entire story with a mythic quality, even when the action inevitably moves forward to modern times. Reading the first part of this one may remind you of the Hammer Films version of THE MUMMY with Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, and that long but beautifully filmed flashback sequence in which we learn the origins of Kharis. Dixon tells Khatera's story with the same sort of gravity and quiet reverence, and he never hits a wrong note. By the time the Batman finally appears, you may well have forgotten this was a Batman bookand that alone should tell you how captivating the storyline is. Luckily, Batman's appearance (and even Robin's) are not the intrusive elements one would think they'd be, and Dixon seamlessly brings the two plot threads together. What would have looked like a simple "immortal Egyptian woman turns super-criminal" story in the hands of anyone else becomes something special here.

What makes this book even more special is John Van Fleet's incredible artwork. The cover, depicting a mumified Batman, is simply not enough to go byyou'll have to open this one up and take a look at the miraculous combinations of watercolors and photo collage that Van Fleet uses. This is artwork to be lingered over and savored, and one can only hope that the second issue will provide the same amount of visual delight as the first.

I have one other big fear about the second issue: that it's going to degenerate quickly into that "immortal Egyptian woman turns super-criminal" story that Dixon has so far managed to avoid. The fact that she's teamed up with Killer Croc is a bit worrisome on that score, though even he looks pretty amazing. All fears aside, I'm looking forward to seeing where Dixon and Van Fleet take this storyand once you've read this issue, I'm sure you will too.

More info:

Chuck Dixon (plot, script)
John Van Fleet (art)
John Workman (letters)
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Title: The Scourge (Click to go to the release post)
Writer(s): Scott Lobdell (Click to see other books from this writer released on this site)
Review source: Ryan Matsunaga (Review 1 & 2) and Troy Mayes (Review 3) (Don't click it, read the review here... )

Review:

The Scrouge #1 (Review 1)
The premier issue of The Scourge, written by Scott Lobdell, seems to define both the best and the worst of action tropes. From an extensive "voice-over" introduction, to cardboard character archetypes, to hackneyed (yet admittedly funny) attempts at humor, The Scourge screams B-movie.

The series follows NYPD SWAT officer John Griffin, who finds himself in the middle of a monstrous epidemic. One inadvertently (and conveniently) started by his best friend who he was traveling with. The virus infects people through cuts, and then quickly takes over their bodies turning them into monstrous demon things.

One can only assufme that it's up to John Griffin to save New York, and he's going to have to kick a lot of ass to do so. I say assume, however, because there's surprisingly little action going on in this issue. I read the "#0" preview issue, and while it actually takes place sometime after Issue 1, it features a hell of a lot more gratuitous violence. This really wouldn't be an issue if The Scourge had much else going for it. Unfortunately, it really doesn't.

As I mentioned before, the series so far seems to revel in b-movie camp, playing on the best and the worst tropes of the genre. Without some awesome action, there really wasn't anything holding my attention. Even for a 21-page comic, the story takes far too long to set up the world, and when it finally does, the issue ends before Griffin is allowed to show off why we should like him as a character.

The issue also falls prey to the dreaded "telling, not showing" syndrome. It tells me that Griffin is a total badass. It tells me that his family issues are bothering him. Yet, I never really got a good sense of either during the issue, outside of what the comic outright told me of course.

Otherwise, the story really isn't too bad. It's got me interested to see how it progresses, and while I'm not totally into any of the characters, the virus is definitely a change of pace from your typical "infection"-themed comics. It might not have blown me away, but it's not a terrible debut; there were certainly one or two moments in the comic I really dug. The artwork in the issue is also fine, if nothing special. It's a good look for the comic, but it's definitely not anything we haven't seen before.

Overall, The Scourge is a solid comic, but for US$2.99, you could probably find something much more worthwhile. I'd recommend holding out for a few months to see where the series goes, and if buzz starts building, then maybe think about throwing down a few bucks for a collected volume.

The Scourge #2 (Review 2)
As I noted before in my review of the first issue of The Scourge, a comic from Scott Lobdell, the series is for better or for worse, pure action fantasy. Devoid of any real characters, even hero John Griffin is little more than a gruff-speaking cardboard cutout, or any semblance of drama. The Scourge is guns, demons, and not much else.

The issue opens exactly where the last left off, with Griffin face-to-face with his friend turned demonic monster. He runs, he jumps, he shoots a lot, and that's pretty much the entire issue. We don't really learn anything about the monsters other than what was already clear, if you get infected you become one of them, and that they're really tough to kill (although how tough seems a little to convenient moment by moment). That's not to say that the issue isn't entertaining; just don't expect it to be something it's not.

The Scourge tries to add a layer of motivation to Griffin's actions, other than survival that is, with his son. Griffin must now not only survive the demonic attack, but also make it to his son in time to pick him up from a field trip and get him to safety, wherever that is. It's not an especially important addition to the story, nor does it add very much in terms of enjoyment or character development. Besides being incredibly cliché, the scenes with Griffin's son feel irrelevant and formulaic. In fact, Griffin's character as a whole still feels derivative of too much other material. As a result, being a protagonist centric narrative, The Scourge overall feels all too familiar, despite its unique trappings.

Still, before I come off sounding like I despised the issue; there was plenty of fun to be had. The b-movie camp is still there in full force, but unlike the first issue, Griffin has plenty of time to shine. Dramatic gunplay, amusing one-liners, and some great sequences with a motorcycle: The Scourge shows its strength through its action.

Unfortunately, it still feels like it wants to be a character-centric story; and there's not much too be found in that area. While I'm still interested in where it's going, I feel like I'm going to get very tired of all the shooting if the The Scourge doesn't bring something fresh to the table. Overall, it's an improvement on the debut issue, but it still hasn't come into its own. It's not a terrible buy, but I would still recommend holding off to see where the series is going.

The Scourge #4 (Review 3)
The Scourge is almost what I’d call a guilty pleasure comic. Everything about it is very similar to any B-movie disaster or action flick you’ve seen with characters that aren’t very deep and well developed and a storyline you could probably predict the whole way through after only reading the first few pages. Now while all that sounds like it should work against The Scourge it doesn’t. There’s something to its simplicity and mindless action that makes it an enjoyable and quick read.

The virus that turns ordinary people into mindless monsters hell-bent on killing others is spreading through Manhattan like wildfire. While danger is everywhere the one thing on NYPD cop Jon Griffin’s mind is finding his son and getting the hell out of dodge. Jon tracks his son down to the theatre where he is with the rest of his class, but the creatures tormenting Manhattan are everywhere so Jon needs to find his son fast.

Reading The Scourge #3 you’ll recognize a lot of the beats in the story. Completely spoiling the story would be wrong, but when you read it you’ll understand. That ability to pre-empt the story is also some of the fun. It feels so familiar yet until it happens you’re never quite sure and could always be surprised by the unexpected.

Jon is joined is his struggle by his son’s teacher and to be honest she can be a little annoying. She’s that character who never seems to listen when told something yet her inability to listen is somehow helpful as she ends up tagging along for the ride. Jon is also joined by a maniac cab driver, so like most action and disaster flicks we have a nice little group dynamic going on. It was also kind of cool listening to Jon explain that if he wasn’t stuck in Manhattan he would have no qualms with it being blown up, he’s a realist who understands the seriousness of the situation but screw it all if it means he’s going to die in the process.

The Scourge is never short on action and issue 3 is very much the same. Jon never misses an opportunity to showcase how much of a badass he is, disposing of infected with ease and in true action film style there are a few explosions and car chases as well that are all drawn and colored very well.

A lot of The Scourge #3 depends on your love of popcorn action flicks that are low on characterization and story, but high on guns and explosions. The story is familiar, almost predictable but that means it’s an easy almost fun read that offers pure action bliss without masses of confusing dialogue and plot points. A guilty pleasure that’s worth a pick-up for some explosive fun.

More info:

Publisher: Aspen Comics
Pencils: Eric Battle
Colors: George Fares