Hellboy creator Mike Mignola teams with Dark Horse veteran Scott Allie to bring fans a world on the verge of collapse after a demon invasion. Let’s find out if it’s any good.
Dark Horse synopsis
Before they were vanquished by the BPRD, Lovecraftian monsters created a Hell on Earth. Now Liz Sherman leads a crew through monster-infested ruins on the most important rescue mission of her life. As society tries to rebuild, strange cults vie for influence, and a demon emerges to lead the way…
What’s the skinny?
The world we know is gone and in its place a Lovecraftian nightmare remains. Cities across the country and around the world are in ruins, monsters roam, demons seek innocents to corrupt and what remains of humanity is slowly staggering back from near annihilation. If that wasn’t enough to deal with, a startling new occurrence has begun affecting people across the country, in the place where near everyone can count on for finding peace: their dreams.
In the midst of all this Liz Sherman, the famous pyromancer heroine from the Hellboy comics and films, leads a squad of B.P.R.D. operatives on a rescue mission into monster infested territory. Her squad is a group of rough soldiers sporting flamethrowers, machine guns and what appears to be some kind of lightsaber. Last but certainly not least is a man with a sword and an enjoyment of sticking it in monsters.
What’s the catch?
There are a lot of moving pieces here and you’ll find yourself asking a lot of questions without finding any answers. Granted, it’s the first issue–you can’t expect too much from a set up in the way of answers. That being said you’ll find yourself in a bit of a storyline highway with all sorts of things speeding by–monsters, two known villains, an almost definite third, an incomplete cryptic government memo and two separate squads of B.P.R.D operatives. Did you get all that?
Is it good?
It didn’t take more than a single page to reach the decision that I love Laurence Campbell’s work. The immersion here is fantastic. Within just a few pages the yellow diseased sky, the old rusted and rotted buildings and cars and the use of minimalism in the environments drop you into a world that feels bleak, broken and hopeless. Shifting gears from a broken, destroyed city to a dark, spooky house is no problem for Campbell. His use of shadows was absolutely awesome and easily set a terrifying tone for an exorcism scene.
I’m a very curious person and when I’m reading a comic I enjoy going over each and every panel multiple times, searching for as many clues as I can find. One of the things I’ve always loved about comics is finding the stories that make me want to take the time to look for the little details. That’s exactly what Mignola and Allie’s story makes me want to do. They hooked me on the perfect piece of bait where I’m asking a lot of questions but I don’t find myself frustrated–in fact, I’m happy to let them reel me in. I’m truly excited to find out how deep into their world this book will take me.
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