I don’t think it dawned on me that Bruce Zick was the artist on this Hellboy-universe series. That’s a name I haven’t thought about in quite a while, since he drew Thor for Marvel back in the ’90s. (And that’s on me if I’ve forgotten any work he’s done since then.) Anyway, he does a good job drawing a creepy ethereal realm filled with ruins and monsters in this comic, which is just what I want from a Hellboy-related comic book.
This series has done a very good job duplicating the tone of the TV series, with plenty of humor mixed with what works out to be a genuine Star Trek-style adventure. The earlier issues felt a little more dense, thanks to Ryan North’s inclusion of extra text along the bottom of most pages, and they had the advantage of North’s grasp of working in complex sciences into the plotlines.
But the newer ones are fine, and plenty of fun. The story involves a planet with a missing populace, a Lower Decker feels jealousy over a crewmate’s achievements, and of course plenty of hijinks and goings on. Just by being printed on paper, everything’s less manic, but most everything that made the TV show special is still here in the comic.
Absolute Batman remains The Comic Book That Prints Money, and none more so that this issue, introducing this wild new interpretation of the Joker. Did I order enough for my shop? Probably not. But I expect the forthcoming eight or nine reprints will sell just fine too.
A nice story that shows the moral lessons Superboy has to learn to effectively be a superhero. And it’s not a predicament with which he can punch his way to a solution. I enjoy getting a story like this when too many other superhero comics are involved in High Stakes Super-Fighting Saving the World/Universe/Local Dimension battles. Having a storty where the villain is A Banker Who Sucks is a welcome change.
Writer/usual artist Sophie Campbell (Haining drew this issue) gave a sneak peek of what she had planned for this issue on social media a while back, referencing the Silver Age story where Supergirl parked one of her secret identity Linda Lee robots in a hollowed out tree. The story is about, as Campbell’s cover may imply, What If Supergirl Just Totally Forgot about That Robot?
I won’t spoil anything you can’t already see on the cover, but Supergirl certainly learns a lesson about herself. And that’s what I like about the series…there’s usually some kind of minor (or major!) personal lesson to be had in each issue, whether it’s explicitly laid out there or just something to be inferred. Like the Action this week, it’s good to have a comic that’s more than just “how do I beat up the villain this month?”
I don’t really need to be buying more magazines since I’m way behind on the ones I do have. But, I mean, look at that cover. And I’m always up for a newly-transcribed Len Wein radio from some years back. Added bonus: an article about Jay Scott Pike, the creator of Dolphin.
I have a question fore every LCS owner of the mid-90s.
Because I get different but only for these two books.
It seems as if we can always joke on on TUROK#1. Ny store had that problem, but we also had a fair amount of DEATHMATE (blue or black?) and for the last thirty years I’ve heard that either Turok or Deathmate was the book that was the one where we fell on the sword. Could be they had four covers, but whatever color cover and Turok#1 seemed to arrive and bankrupt us at the same time (I didn’t own the store.)
So out of curiosity, I’ve brought up Turok a few times here, but I’ve have old LCS owners or employees say it was definitely Deathmate.
That was half of my life ago. But I can still those same two answer with no prompts.
Thanks. It isn’t important in any way, either than it is Turok then Deathmate.
You must have seen this:
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=2265176090651086&set=a.113987025770014
Captain Henry and the Graveyard of Time #2 was great. I wasn’t sold on the first issue, as I felt nothing happened. I’m one of those few Hellboy Universe completists left though. This issue was one of the better Hellboy adjacent comics in quite a while. It really had the feel of the older Hellboy-related comics, before the world ended, when Hellboy’s universe felt so mysterious, like anything was out there still left to be revealed.
This issue contains the fictional (or is it?) history of time travel, and it’s just as crazy and fun as you would hope based on that description.
That was the only comic on your list that I bought. I am looking forward to reading the first issue of the new Miss Truesdale series and am now expecting great things based on the intrigue after Captain Henry far exceeded my expectations. I have had high hopes for “The Origin of Man” since it was announced.
I also have the new issue of Assorted Crisis Events waiting but that ending up being amazing goes without saying.
Do you think in seven months, this version of Supergiri will start heavily drinking to match her movie counterpart?
How does the Hellboy stuff sell for you? I remember when BPRD was my favourite series coming out and I couldn’t get enough of it, but I didn’t even finish whatever the final series was (The Devil You Know).
Those Action Comics and Supergirl covers are good.