Blood Type #3 Review

 

Writer: Corinna Bechko

Artist: Andrea Sorrentino

Colorist: Dave Stewart

Letterers: Richard Starkings & Tyler Smith

Cover Artists: Miguel Mercado; Andrea Sorrento with Dave Stewart; Albert Monteys; Patricia Martin

Publisher: Oni Press

Price: $4.99

Release Date: August 13, 2025

 

Ada is on a tropical island. She should be enjoying herself. Instead, she is hiding. Max tasted like a bloodsucker. Yet he walked in sunlight. Now, he hunts her. Can Ada elude Max? And why does he seek her? Let's leap into Blood Type #3 and see!

 

Story

When questioning the resort staff, Max expresses concern for Ada's welfare. But the staff don't know where she is. They suggest that one of the workers, Jen, might know. As Ada watches Max, she discovers Jen beside her. The housekeeper sought her out. She knows Max is dangerous and wants to help Ada avoid his grasp.

 

Jen's concern touches Ada. As they hide in the shrubs, watching Max continue his search, Ada remembers her youth. Once, she was a maid like Jen. But that was a long time ago. Ada didn't ask to become a vampire. But as a poor woman working for a prosperous family, she had no choice. True or false, one word to the authorities could ruin her and her family's future.

 

In Blood Type #3, Ada cannot hide forever. And as she remembers her past, Max will force her to confront it. We all must live with the consequences of our actions. Ada has lived for much longer than most people can ever hope to. Whether she likes it or not, Max is the man he is because of the choices that Ada made. In Corinna Bechko's story, he aims to correct Ada's mistakes.

 

Art

A Jack Nicholson-like narrator welcomes us into Ada’s story while lying on the beach. Andrea Sorrentino alternates double-page spreads with panel-packed pages. Palm trees rise above the cabanas clustered around the swimming pool. Max rests his arm in a sling while he questions a woman carrying towels. When Jen rests her hand on Ada's shoulder, the vampire reveals her fangs. Jen covers her neck with her hand as they sink behind the shrubs.

 

Dave Stewart fills the night with blues and greens. Red overtakes the sky when Ada's eyes radiate crimson. Memories that evoke overexposed photographs or reversed shadow portraits glow with pink and lavender. Colored silhouettes move through her memories, and this evening at the resort. When Ada's gray face, tinged with a hint of purple nears, white sweat drips down Max's face.

 

Richard Starkings & Tyler Smith fill the eye-catching art with black uppercase letters in white dialogue balloons. The typed font swells and grows bold for intonation. When one character turns the tables on another, the words shift like reflections in a funhouse mirror. Thanks to Oni Press for providing a review copy.

 

Final Thoughts

Two vampires confront their pasts, and discover their common origins, on an idyllic tropical island. But while one holds great dreams for the future, the other realizes the end may be in sight. Class struggles, familial loyalty, and ethical behavior among vampires come under the spotlight in Blood Type #3.

 

Rating 9/10

 

For more covers see my cover preview of Blood Type #3. 

The Ambassadors Library Edition HC Review

 

Writer: Mark Millar

Artists: Frank Quitely, Karl Kerschl, Travis Charest, Olivier Coipel, Matteo Buffagni & Matteo Scalera

Colorists: Frank Quietly, Vincent MG Deighan, Michele Assarasakorn, Dave Stewart, Giovanna Niro & Lee Loughridge

Letterer: Clem Robins

Cover Artist: Frank Quitely

Publisher: Dark Horse Comics

Price: $49.99

Release Date: December 25, 2024

 

While countries like China and Russia carve up Antarctica, someone builds a technological marvel on Earth’s southernmost continent. Those who stumble across it awaken far away, unable to recall their discovery. What is happening in this city of the future on the continent dedicated to scientific research? And how will advancements made there benefit our world? Let’s pull on our Lycra suits, leap into The Ambassadors Library Edition HC, and find out!

 

Story

Dr Choon-He Chung is serving a life sentence in the Cheongju Women's Correctional Institution. She wants to change that. Aided by Oksana Petrov, the South Korean scientist unlocks the Human condition. While building her Antarctic city, she develops a range of superpowers she can draw on. Now, all she lacks is freedom. That's where her knowledge of artificial intelligence comes in handy.

 

In The Ambassadors Library Edition HC, Choon-He Chung downloads her consciousness into a lookalike android. Then she announces a competition. Choon-He wants to share her discoveries with people around the world. She doesn't insist that they be bastions of morality. What matters most is a desire to help others and a willingness to represent their respective countries. Some work in lowly positions in society. Others profit from hurting others but vow to turn over a new leaf. Each of Dr Chung’s superheroes will enjoy health and long life. While doing good, they can borrow up to three superpowers at a time, relayed from Dr Chung's Antarctic stronghold.

 

Dr Chung’s actions threaten the countries that dominate our world. Her handful of superheroes can take on the armies of the superpowers, end wars, and protect countries from natural disasters. In Mark Millar's story, Choon-He's greatest threat is her ex-husband. Jin-Sung never loved her. Instead, he waited for the opportunity to capitalize on her discoveries by falsifying the evidence that imprisoned her.

 

While Dr Chung builds her superpowered version of Jeff Tracy’s International Rescue Corps, her ex-husband builds a team of billionaires. Jin-Sung’s recipients control the internet and the world media. After amassing fortunes, ruling the workforce, and influencing the masses, Jin-Sung’s billionaires want to further their legacies by living forever in The Ambassadors Library Edition HC.

 

Art

Mark Millar teamed with artists Frank Quitely, Karl Kerschl, Travis Charest, Olivier Coipel, Matteo Buffagni, and Matteo Scalera to capture panoramic shots like a plane flying over a domed city and a ship entering a Junk-filled Chinese harbor. Choon-He hovers above a stage while her assistant hobbles using a cane. Superheroes climb onto pogo stick-like supports to descend into a secret lair before roaring onto the streets in an exotic sportscar. Choon-He marvels as she watches orange and yellow-green fire streak through the evening sky, knowing the man flying like a bird (or a plane) used to need an oxygen tank to breathe.

 

Frank Quietly, Vincent MG Deighan, Michele Assarasakorn, Dave Stewart, Giovanna Niro & Lee Loughridge wield loaded palettes to convey gang wars in Rio De Janeiro, a rescue on a snow-covered mountain, and a man flying above a burning Australian village. They contrast these with scenes painted with limited colors in The Ambassadors Library Edition HC. People watch a red, blue, and yellow superhero on a screen in a grayscale viewing room. An organic gray spiral elevates glowing red letters circling a globe. Gray, beige, and tan fill the Oval Office as the President worries about the threats to the United States multiplying.

 

Clem Robins fills dialogue balloons and narrative boxes with uppercase black lettering that grows bold for inflection and enlarges for volume. Sound effects help us hear soldiers mowing down the opposition, villains making their bones, and an aggrieved ex-husband shattering furniture with a single blow. As superheroes bond over capturing a gang of thieves, we glimpse their takedowns through giant, colored sound effects. Biff! Pow! Smash! Thanks to Dark Horse Comics, Millarworld, and Netflix for providing a copy for review.

 

Final Thoughts

Should people who accomplish much win the most substantial prizes? Or are those who selflessly help others most worthy of power? One of history's prominent influencers claimed that those who doubled their investments (or talents) were most worthy of being entrusted with more. Then, he granted his followers eternal life regardless of their social status, wealth, or business acumen. The Ambassadors Library Edition HC ponders people's worthiness of receiving superpowers, the responsibility to represent their countries, and freedom from the limitations of age and disease.

 

Rating 9.8/10

 

To preview interior art see my review at Comic Book Dispatch.

Universal Monsters: Creature From The Black Lagoon Lives #4 Review

 

Writers: Dan Watters & Ram V

Artist: Matthew Roberts

Colorist: Trish Mulvihill

Letterer: DC Hopkins

Cover Artists: Matthew Roberts & Dave Stewart; Jenny Frison; Dani & Brad Simpson; Maria Wolf & Mike Spicer; Martin Simmonds

Publisher: Image

Price: $4.99

Release Date: July 24, 2024

 

Dr Edwin Thompson hunted the Creature for thirty years, but it eluded him. Kate Marsden traveled to Peru to capture Darwin Collier. She wanted justice after he tried to drown her. When the reality of the situation grew apparent, she made a deal with Dr Thompson. Help me kill Collier, and I'll help you capture your Creature. Kate thought she had the benefit of surprise, but Collier knew she was coming and laid a trap. Now, Dr Thompson's fate is uncertain. He may be deceased. His assistant Christiano, ditto. Kate is in Collier's custody. What will the soldier with a penchant for drowning people do to her? Let's grab our knives and rifles, leap into Universal Monsters: Creature From The Black Lagoon Lives #4, and find out!

 

Story

The Marine Corps taught Darwin Collier how to kill. Watching the life seep out of a victim's eyes changed him. Humans once dwelt in the ocean. Collier began to wonder why we left. So he sought out people with the sea in their eyes to help them return. A business trip to Peru introduced him to the Creature. Dr Thompson’s Missing Link confirmed his beliefs. And it shed bits of itself to help him transform into its likeness.

 

In the United States, all those Collier tried to baptize into their new life died except Kate. She followed him across the world to Peru. Collier welcomes her as a disciple. He hid his transformation from others, but in Universal Monsters: Creature From The Black Lagoon Lives #4, he reveals his changed features to her. Now, she sees through a glass darkly. Collier will use his needles, surgical thread, antiseptics, and the Creature’s shed hide to clothe her in its glory. How can she fail to recognize the gift he has bestowed upon her?

 

But Collier's misdeeds are catching up with him in Dan Watters & Ram V's story. The drug producers he helped train in military combat and surveillance found the remains of his latest victim. They won’t wait while he picks them off one by one. And then there are Christiano and Dr Thompson. The disfigured researcher tends to his wounded assistant. But when he sees the Creature, he grabs his rifle, abandons Christiano, and ventures into Collier’s sacred temple.

 

Art

Matthew Roberts shows figures treading a dirt path to the lake between stony hills in Universal Monsters: Creature From The Black Lagoon Lives #4. A silhouette against a red field shows the man drawing his prize from the water. The narco’s eyes close as he presses the severed head of his colleague against his own. Nearby, Dr Thompson pulls his assistant from the dark water. Christiano’s face now bears similar disfiguring scars. Dr Thompson tears off a shirt sleeve. Then his eyes bulge, and he abandons Christiano. Darkness obscures his face and chest, and his eyes glow yellow as he enters the cave.

 

Trish Mulvihill paints the periphery of the cave in blues and greens. We first glimpse the Creature as a silhouette with blue eyes. Later, we see the Creature in all its green radiance. By contrast, Collier's webbed hands and the scales adorning his body are a dull and faded green. Yet his eyes glitter like gold and glow yellow as he disappears into the humid gray darkness. Red stains the dark water inside the cave, revealing the shadows of men bearing rifles as Collier seeks those who defiled his temple.

 

Uppercase black letters inhabit white dialogue balloons and gray narrative boxes. DC Hopkins' font grows bold for intonation, swells for elevated voices, and rarely shrinks. Sound effects heighten small moments, helping us hear tearing cloth and scratching claws. Yet enlarged colored dialogue joins the chorus of violence and death as Universal Monsters: Creature From The Black Lagoon Lives #4 reaches its crescendo. Thanks to Universal Studios, Skybound, and Image Comics for providing a copy for review.

 

Final Thoughts

Like the disease that once ravaged Christiano, the hunger for revenge refuses to release Kate. As she seeks freedom from her torment, Universal Monsters: Creature From The Black Lagoon Lives #4 ponders the difference between animals, humans, and monsters.

 

Rating 9.8/10

 

To preview interior art see my review at Comic Book Dispatch.

Universal Monsters: Creature From The Black Lagoon Lives #3 Review

 

Writers: Dan Watters & Ram V

Artist: Matthew Roberts

Colorist: Trish Mulvihill

Letterer: DC Hopkins

Cover Artists: Matthew Roberts & Dave Stewart; Julian Totino-Tedesco; Dani & Brad Simpson; Anwita Citriya; David Talaski

Publisher: Image

Price: $4.99

Release Date: June 26, 2024

 

Darwin Collier tried to kill Kate Marsden. Haunted by her brush with death, the journalist pursued the former Marine from her home in the United States to a remote village in Peru. Kate reports on what she can prove. So when fishermen pull drowning victims from the Amazon, Kate dismisses talk of a local legend. Likewise, she ignores the carved wooden images of the Creature in a vendor's stall. But then the Creature saves her from drowning. When Kate ventures into the jungle to apprehend Collier, the Creature saves her again. Or at least, so she remembers. What drives Kate and those involved in her quest? Let's grab our knives and rifles, leap into Universal Monsters: Creature From The Black Lagoon Lives #3, and find out!

 

Story

Collier victimized Kate. He tried to drown her in the Hudson River. She told herself she wanted justice. But the stark reality of life in the jungle leaves its mark on her. Now, she doesn't care about dragging Collier back to the United States and testifying against him in court. She just wants to kill him. The Creature may have helped her. But in Universal Monsters: Creature From The Black Lagoon Lives #3, Kate's through being a victim. She's willing to become a monster to kill another. If the Creature can help her accomplish that, all the better!

 

The Creature victimized Dr Edwin Thompson. One swipe of its claws left Edwin disfigured. For thirty years, he’s endured people’s reactions to his appearance. The severed nerves in Edwin's face impinge on his sleep. So he fled civilization and took up the cause of his friend Dr Carl Maia. But if his mission is to understand how life evolved from the ocean to land, why is he fixated on this Creature?

 

Civilization victimized Christiano’s family. When they fell on the wrong side of the political jungle, his family fled the We’re Right And The Other Party Is Wrong crowd to live with the indigenous people of Peru. Like the fires that rise when loggers cut down trees and burn foliage to create grazing land, malaria burned through Christiano in his youth. He may not have a wooden idol of the Creature in his room at Dr Edwin Thompson's house, but he revels in the mysterious nature of the jungle and reveres the Creature as its guardian spirit.

 

Civilization victimized Darwin Collier. The Marine Corps unleashed an unquenchable thirst for violence. When they threw him out, he couldn’t adjust to civilian life. After Collier fled the United States to share his Marine Corps skills with others, his drug trafficking employers abandoned him when his hunger for death resurfaced. As he hides from civilization and those who wish to kill him, Collier finds a new purpose in Universal Monsters: Creature From The Black Lagoon Lives #3.

 

 

Art

Kate swims in the river near Edwin's home. She doesn't know how much of what she's seen is real or imagined. The ripples in the water evoke the Creature's green, scaly hide. Yet the netting Christiano laid on the ground galvanizes her. She slices off a portion and hurls it onto Edwin’s desk. That evening, as Kate sits on the roof and watches the flames leaping above the trees, Christiano’s gaze drifts to her cigarette and the fire ravaging the packed tobacco. As Kate and Christiano share their near-death experiences, faces dance with skulls in the raging flames.

 

Trish Mulvihill lavishes a loaded palette on Matthew Roberts' relatable characters, drama-fueled encounters, and the explosive finale in Universal Monsters: Creature From The Black Lagoon Lives #3. Light spears the muggy jungle, casting leafy shadows upon Kate’s head and shoulders. The vibrant green forest contrasts with the calming beige and tan in Edwin’s home. Still, he tames the Creature by sketching it in black and white. The yellow and orange fires reflect off rivers and streams while orange and mauve spirits invade the purple skies.

 

DC Hopkins carves uppercase black letters into white dialogue balloons and colored narrative boxes. The font grows bold for intonation, swells for elevated voices, and never shrinks. Sound effects help us hear a knife thrust and a gunshot. Yet an enlarged final sentence may shock readers most in Universal Monsters: Creature From The Black Lagoon Lives #3. Thanks to Universal Studios, Skybound, and Image Comics for providing a copy for review.

 

Final Thoughts

In Universal Monsters: Creature From The Black Lagoon Lives #3, Dan Watters and Ram V pit the people who inhabit nature with those who violate it to enhance their status in civilization. The jungle of Peru becomes a battleground between those who burn for revenge and those who seek to become something more.

 

Rating 9.8/10

 

For more cover art see my review at Comic Book Dispatch.

Universal Monsters: Creature From The Black Lagoon Lives #2 Review

 

Writers: Dan Watters & Ram V

Artist: Matthew Roberts

Colorist: Dave Stewart

Letterer: DC Hopkins

Cover Artists: Matthew Roberts & Dave Stewart; Francis Manapul; Dani & Brad Simpson; Stephanie Pepper; Christian Ward

Publisher: Image

Price: $4.99

Release Date: May 29, 2024

 

Journalist Kate Marsden was on the trail of a hardened killer. Then she saw something she couldn’t comprehend. As Kate fled, she slipped while crossing a river. The current sucked her down. No matter how hard she struggled, she couldn't fight free. Has the Amazon claimed another victim? Let's strap on our masks and flippers, leap into Universal Monsters: Creature From The Black Lagoon Lives #2, and find out!

 

Story

The Marine Corps kicked out Darwin Collier for violent conduct. Police suspect him guilty of seven drownings. He tried to make Kate his eighth victim. Kate tracked his movements to Peru, where he purchased items from a local pharmacy. But then Collier left town, and Kate couldn’t find him.

 

Lately, boaters have pulled bodies from the river. Kate followed a local man who picked up the latest victim and transported it to the river. As Kate watched a boat carry it away, she heard a noise. She thought perhaps it was Collier. Instead, a strange creature met her gaze.

 

In Universal Monsters: Creature From The Black Lagoon Lives #2, Kate awakens in a house with an IV drip in her arm. These days, she fights the urge to sleep. Dreams follow, and they often return to the time Collier tried to drown her. The attempt left Kate feeling violated. She is strung out on amphetamines and can’t bear to let anyone touch her. She also suffers from Anoxic Brain Damage due to brain cell death from lack of oxygen.

 

But Kate isn’t frightened now. She remembers how Christiano found her by the river and that Christiano’s employer, Dr Edwin Thompson, took her in. She goes to Edwin’s laboratory, where she learns the drowning victim had black sand in his lungs. Edwin believes a mythical creature killed the drowning victim. Although Kate doesn’t want to admit it, she glimpsed the monster. But she's a journalist, grounded in accepted truth and facts. So, Kate asks Edwin to take her to the Black Lagoon. She must know she is not slowly losing grip on reality.

 

Kate Marsden claims she wants justice in Universal Monsters: Creature From The Black Lagoon Lives #2. Like any victim, she struggles with anger from Collier's savage attack. But Kate isn't in the United States anymore. The law doesn't work the same way in Peru. Her chances of utilizing the Peruvian legal system or getting Collier extradited to the United States (assuming she could capture the former Marine) are low. Besides, she suffers from Anoxic Brain Damage. Why should anyone trust her judgment when she's unsure she can trust her memories and perceptions?

 

 

Art

Kate Marsden awakens on a cushioned rattan couch. Pulling the IV from her hand, she ignores the tropical potted plants and the jungle outside the wall of windows and heads down a hall toward Edwin's lab. Clad in surgical gear, Edwin speaks into a microphone connected to an 8 Track Tape Recorder. As smoke rises from a pipe near the table, he cuts into the body with a scalpel. Wrinkles navigate his face and neck like rivers on a map. Kate's straggly hair frames her confused expression as her wide eyes behold the dark granules on the bloody blade. Then the wind whips her hair as she sits near Christiano at the back of the boat while Edwin sits upfront, staring grimly at the jungle ahead.

 

Dave Stewart applies a loaded palette to Matthew Roberts’ realistic art in Universal Monsters: Creature From The Black Lagoon Lives #2. Stewart paints Edwin’s lab in pale greens, blues, beiges, and grays, while Edwin’s surgical gear, lab surfaces, and a hanging screen reflect the more vibrant greens glimpsed through the tall windows. The white drowning victim looks lavender in closeups, while dark red shows within rents from whatever also tore off a portion of the man’s ear. The lavender reminds Kate of two amorphous circles shining in the darkness. The twin circles evoke jellyfish, floating wherever the currents take them. But Kate knows they're not.

 

DC Hopkins carves uppercase black letters into white dialogue balloons and colored narrative boxes. The font grows bold for intonation, swells for elevated voices, and rarely shrinks. Spotting the man who nearly killed her sends green words into a yellow balloon. Darker green words emerge from the Burnt Umber lips enclosing a mouth filled with sharpened teeth, while yellow words signal a hail of gunfire in Universal Monsters: Creature From The Black Lagoon Lives #2.

 

Thanks to Universal Studios, Skybound, and Image Comics for providing a copy for review.

 

Final Thoughts

Kate Marsden grapples with local legend, an obsessed scientist, drug traffickers, a serial killer, and the limits of her exhausted body and damaged mind in Universal Monsters: Creature From The Black Lagoon Lives #2.

 

Rating 9.8/10

 

For more cover art see my review at Comic Book Dispatch.

Hellboy And The B.P.R.D.: Fearful Symmetry #1 Review

 

Writers: Mike Mignola & Chris Roberson

Artist: Alison Sampson

Colorist: Lee Loughridge

Letterer: Clem Robins

Cover Artists: Laurence Campbell with Dave Stewart

Publisher: Dark Horse

Price: $3.99

Release Date: June 28, 2023

 

To quote Hellboy, the last time he helped a friend of Professor Bruttenholm’s, "it didn't go so well." Still, when anthropologist Dr. Narendra Jaiswall calls, Hellboy travels to the University of Sagar in Madhya Pradesh, India. Will things go any better this time? Let’s load our four-round revolvers, leap into Hellboy And The B.P.R.D.: Fearful Symmetry #1, and find out!

 

Story

Meet Virginia Payne, a doctoral student intrigued by recent animal attacks. After getting her Bachelor's degree at Harvard, she’s doing a doctoral thesis on the folk beliefs of tribal groups in rural India. The authorities see nothing suspicious in the rash of wild tiger attacks. But according to the villagers she questioned, the attackers walked on two legs, not four.

 

Virginia and Hellboy tracked down a monster seven years ago. She knew him as a boy who read comics. Now she sees him as a man. Hellboy And The B.P.R.D.: Fearful Symmetry #1 isn’t Hellboy In Love, but "Ginny" opens up to her former friend and seems to treat him as an equal. That proves a good thing when a villager ventures outside his hut, only to fall into the embrace of a striped, furry attacker.

 

Virginia and Hellboy make an effective team. They don't waste time arguing or playing games with each other. Instead, they get right down to business and investigate the attacks. When thrown a curve ball, they adjust their strategy and press on. The ending satisfies yet hints that all is not quite as it seems.

 

Art

Virginia's eyes glow with affection and intelligence in Hellboy And The B.P.R.D.: Fearful Symmetry #1. While Hellboy’s demeanor shows his indifference to the mysterious, she seems amazed by all the possibilities life will throw her way. His too-wide mouth, bull neck, and clunky-looking arm make Hellboy look like a human-sized Iron Giant Hells Angel. The way Alison Sampson draws Virginia sideways in a panel takes some getting used to, as does Hellboy’s one-page turntable-style tiger takedown. More fluid transitions between panels and consistently detailed backgrounds would have helped me feel more grounded. Still, the scenes of the two driving through farmland and remote villages transport me to India, and the images accompanying their conversations emphasize the richness of Indian culture.

 

 

Lee Loughridge utilizes a limited color palette in Hellboy And The B.P.R.D.: Fearful Symmetry #1. Interiors draw on reds and pinks, while outsides trend toward greens and browns. Harsh sunlight threatens to turn everything yellow, while lavenders and grays inhabit evenings. Virginia may look bleached in direct sunlight and green in shadow, but Hellboy always burns red. While Sampson and Loughridge’s imagery reminds me of Elizabeth Shaw's dreams in Prometheus, the disconcerting evening scenes suggest Film Noir.

 

Clem Robins helps us hear dialogue with easy-to-read black letters in appealing white balloons and boxes. The tigers' growls confirm Hellboy’s suspicions and sound effects hit you as powerfully as his demon hand.

 

Final Thoughts

Appealing characters, intriguing art, and an involving story make Hellboy And The B.P.R.D.: Fearful Symmetry #1 an oddly satisfying read, regardless of whether you've read earlier Hellboy stories or William Blake's famous poem.

 

Rating 8.4/10

 

To preview interior art see my review at Comic Book Dispatch.

Miss Truesdale and the Fall of Hyperborea #1 Review

 

Writer: Mike Mignola

Artist & Colorist: Jesse Lonergan

Letterer: Clem Robins

Cover Artists: Jesse Lonergan; Mike Mignola with Dave Stewart

Publisher: Dark Horse

Price: $3.99

Release Date: May 17, 2023

 

In 1883, Tefnut Trionus, the Queen of the Heliotropic Brotherhood, asked Miss Truesdale to attend her. She understands that the men of their order—dedicated to preserving the secrets of a long-forgotten age--are making Miss Truesdale's life difficult. But how can Tefnut—the reincarnation of Eugene Remy, who founded the Heliotropic Brotherhood—force Victorian gentlemen to accord her more respect? Let's unsheathe our swords, leap into Miss Truesdale and the Fall of Hyperborea #1, and find out!

 

Story

Tefnut claims to be the reincarnation of Eugene Remy, who founded the Heliotropic Brotherhood. She wishes to relate a dream to Miss Truesdale. In the late 19th Century, Miss Truesdale would have traveled from London to the Heliotropic Brotherhood's headquarters in Paris. While that's a hundred years after Percy Blakeney rescued aristocrats from Madam Guillotine during the French Revolution, the methods of travel likely wouldn't have changed much. Miss Truesdale would have traveled by stagecoach from London to Dover. Assuming the tides favored her, she would have boarded a ship heading across the English Channel. (If not, Miss Truesdale would have spent the night in a local inn). After arriving in France, she would board another coach and travel to Paris. We don't learn why Miss Truesdale traveled there or how long she’s been in Paris. It seems a long way to ride in jolting wooden carriages and across a choppy sea if it's just to hear about someone's dream.

 

Tefnut’s dream concerns two women. Both were slaves. The first—I’m assuming her name is Anum Yassa, as that’s what the Hyperborean spectators chant—fights in the arena, using an axe that belonged to her father. The second—a woman taken from the river people of Gerrona--brings her food and drink after her battles. Neither Anum’s hair nor her figure reminds me of Red Sonja. Still, her origin story is similar, and her outfit seems like a cross between Red Sonja's and that of Gilad Anni-Padda, also known as the Eternal Warrior.

 

The women discuss Tefnut's dream, and then Miss Truesdale returns home. She seems to draw strength from it, but I suspect it also troubles her. Miss Truesdale and the Fall of Hyperborea #1 may be a five-minute read, but I look forward to seeing what comes next. Hopefully, Mike Mignola will give us more to sink our teeth into in issue #2.

 

 

 

 

Art

Jesse Lonergan's carefree, hand-drawn imagery doesn't glamorize his characters, but he does give them personality. Most Hyperboreans look large and roughly shaped in Miss Truesdale and the Fall of Hyperborea #1. They certainly contrast with Tefnut, the prim and proper Miss Truesdale, and the Victorian gentlemen of the brotherhood. Perhaps nature or the divine grew more refined as time went on. I especially enjoyed the London scenes: the cobblestone streets and Miss Truesdale's cultured and well-appointed flat. She seems quiet, respectful, erudite, and reverent.

 

Lonergan employs a limited color palette in Miss Truesdale and the Fall of Hyperborea #1. Yellow, red, brown, and gray are his primary colors. His coloring appears blotchy as if he's dabbing darker tones—or another color—to provide depth and interest. Despite the heavy use of brown and gray, vibrant colors provide strong contrast. His faces remind me of Roman frescoes assembled from tiny clay tiles.

 

Letterer Clem Robins’ uppercase black lettering is easy on the eyes. He uses colored sound effects during the gladiatorial games and fills the air with the crowd's chant. They may not be shouting Thulsa Doom's, but you can imagine how hearing her name, echoing across the arena, would empower Anum to conquer her opponents.

 

Final Thoughts

Miss Truesdale and the Fall of Hyperborea #1 marks a new entry in the ever-expanding Hellboy universe. I look forward to discovering how Tefnut's dream about an undefeated female gladiator influences Miss Truesdale’s future in her close-knit male-dominated society.

 

Rating 7.3/10

 

To preview interior art see my review at Comic Book Dispatch.