The Big Red Guy’s inky return gets the SHOCK review.
With dreams of HELLBOY 3 squashed, re-lit, and subsequently squashed again by rumors of financial woe and a vision too mind blowing for human minds, it might be quite a while until we see the cigar-chomping demon grace the silver screen again. In the meantime, there are plenty adventures awaiting fans in the pages of the Hellboy comic, and with a new series entering the Hellboy mythos, readers have months of entertainment at their disposal. HELLBOY AND THE BPRD: 1953 continues the adventures of young Hellboy that started in HELLBOY AND THE BPRD: 1952, beginning with two spooky adventures as he hops across Europe with his mentor Professor Bruttenholm. With a ghostly cast reminiscent of creators Mike Mignolas early Hellboy stories, this series goes back to its roots, focusing on what made it so popular in the first place: punching ghosts in the face.
“The Phantom Hand” puts our hero smack dab in the middle of a haunted castle, only its not your standard chain-rattling affair, but a floating, severed limb! After menacing the tenants and giving everyone the willy-nillys for three centuries, the BPRD is called in to handle the situation. When Hellboy gets a little excited and punches the specter into the fire, he releases something a little more troublesome than a spooky body part. The shorter of the two, “The Kelpie”, is a bit toned down with Hellboy and his handlers having a picnic by Stonehenge, as some do, where they regale him with a story from their youth involving a ghost hunt and an old friend.
HELLBOY AND THE BPRD: 1953 is a great series for fans who miss the old Hellboy vibe where a reader could pick up any story arc and enjoy a great story without having to catch up on previous series. While the main series is still plugging along with current Hellboy punching his way through Hell, HELLBOY AND THE BPRD keeps our hero top-side and naïve as he explores the world of spiritual happenings. Both the stories are smartly delved into English folklore, adding a touch of regional old world terror to the work. Like many of the Hellboy comics, this one embraces a bit of gothic romance, painting the landscape in hushed hues and whispered corridors, displaying a world where ghosts exist and demons are only one sin away from catching you.
HELLBOY AND THE BPRD: 1953 will be releasing two issues this Fall and three in Spring 2016, making a five issue mini-series of Hellboy madness. Written by Mike Mignola, the series features the art of Ben Stenbeck of Baltimore and Frankenstein Underground fame. Having previously worked with Mignola, its no wonder that he would be selected to draw on the new series. His precise work and heavy shadows plays well the heavy atmosphere without dragging down the parts where Hellboy beats things up and really, isnt that the best part of the comic?
HELLBOY AND THE BPRD: 1953 – “The Phantom Hand and The Kelpie”, out now through Dark Horse comics.
