One Hell of a Spinoff
I know it may seem hypocritical to my last Hellboy spin-off review, but I very much enjoyed this issue and what it accomplishes. It has everything I want from a non Hellboy starring Hellboy comic. It has intrigue, mystery and clever writing that leaves me wanting more. Maybe it is due to the character being a normal human? Maybe it’s set in a more interesting time? Who knows, but maybe I can figure it out.
The story is of a very young and utterly inexperienced Professor Broom (Hellboy’s surrogate father and normally the head of the BPRD) and his rise to be the foremost intelligence when it comes to all things paranormal. Its set-in World War two, before Hellboy and it begins with the professor recently finished accomplishing studies, and now cracking codes for the allies. This intermingled with the origin of Rasputin and his involvement in the war, makes for an interesting juxtaposition, as Rasputin and the Professor are arguably BOTH Hellboy’s father. The story itself is mainly concerned with Broom journeying to the countryside and trying to uncover a mystery that was alluded to by a coded Nazi message. This all has to be connected to Rasputin’s resurrection but as the comic ended I didn’t have any closure on my theories.
The writing is natural and the main thing that struck me the most was that it didn’t feel forced and if push came to shove I would probably describe it as “natural”. This could be due to the other comparison I currently have is Occult Intelligence and that’s not up to par with what I’ve previously read. So maybe I’m just happy with what I could get but I also feel that this story has a fresh appeal and it’s a pleasure to read. That mixed with the art, which is almost seemingly a homage to Mike Mingnola’s previous while being its own thing making this a delight to read.
This will be a comic I look forward to every month and hopefully it keeps getting pushed forward as this is as of right now, is one of my favourite comics I’m reading (and I’m reading a lot of comics!). I know that #2 will be out this coming Friday and ill endeavour to post my review right away. Here’s hoping my reviews are as exciting to read as this comic was.