Dark Horse Penguin Picks: July 2023
Above-the-Board Recommendation:
Hellboy and the B.P.R.D.: The Secret of Chesbro House
Does it say something that the best Mignolaverse collection I’ve read in a while is the one that wasn’t released in hardcover? That’d be “Hellboy and the B.P.R.D.: The Return of Effie Kolb” which, coincidentally, was also the first one in some time written solely by the fictional universe’s creator Mike Mignola. He’s not the sole writer here as he’s joined by his “Outerverse” collaborator Christopher Golden on the two-part title story, illustrated by Shawn McManus. Mignola writes solo on subsequent one-shots “Night of the Cyclops” with art from Oliver Vatine, “Old Man Whittier” with Gabriel Hernandez Walta, and “Time is a River” with Mark Laszlow. This collection also includes another short, “The Miser’s Gift,” and the fact that I couldn’t track down its artist makes me suspect/hope that it’s Mignola himself. Given the strength of the stories in “Effie Kolb” I’m expecting this to provide me with another reminder of how weird and entertaining the Mignolaverse can be. As well as another reason to keep buying them (when they’re released in softcover).
Barnstormers #1: The Scott Snyder/ComiXology partnership continues to bear fruit for the publisher; though, I think this is the last of the digital-first comics the writer partnered with the online retailer for to get a print release. It’ll be interesting to see if Snyder brings any new titles to Dark Horse or if he’ll team with another online retailer for a similar deal to what he got with ComiXology, given that this one has since been dismantled by Amazon. As for the comic itself, it’s about a WWI pilot returning home from the war and becoming an aerial daredevil as implied by the title. He then meets another pilot named Helen who shares his passion and the two form a partnership that soon leads to love. Hmmm… aerial daredevils in love? I SURE HOPE NOTHING HAPPENS TO ONE OF THEM. Cynicism aside, this appears to be the first comic I’ve seen from Snyder to not include any supernatural or sci-fi elements to it. Romance isn’t really my genre, but I’m curious to see if the writer can pull off a story set in the real world. Tula Lotay illustrates, assuring everyone interested that this will look good.
Groo in the Wild #1: Done with gods for the moment, the Cheese Dip Wanderer turns his sword towards more grounded concerns. Such as whether or not man and beast will ever be able to live in harmony without one completely devouring the other. It’s been a while since I’ve read a “Groo” comic that I’ve enjoyed without reservation – that’d be “Friends & Foes.” Writer Mark Evanier looks like he’s going back to addressing social issues via the title character’s antics, so let’s hope this is more “Hogs of Hoarder” than “Hell on Earth.” Sergio Aragones illustrates as always, because why wouldn’t he?
Panya: The Mummy’s Curse #1: Given how old she is, you’d think that Panya, the living mummy from B.P.R.D. would have lived an interesting life. We’re getting a glimpse of that here as writer Chris Roberson (and Mike Mignola providing whatever he does to these spinoff miniseries) and artist Christopher Mitten go all the way back to her childhood in Egypt. There she witnessed the fall of a dynasty and was gifted/cursed with visions of what the future held for the world. It’s not clear whether this is a one-shot or the start of a miniseries. Whatever it is, I’ll look forward to reading it eventually. Either in paperback form or digitally.
Clear: Scott Snyder and Francis Manapul’s miniseries about being able to see the world any way you want it gets a collected edition. Thanks to the advent of neurological filters, you no longer have to see the world as it really is. You can see it as if it was a 40’s film noir mystery, or a zombie apocalypse, or even ANIME! I can’t help but think there’s a message here… but the story itself is about one of the few who choose to live without a filter trying to find out who killed his ex-girlfriend. Even if the story doesn’t deliver on the premise, my guess is that Manapul will likely dazzle with all of the genres he’s going to be able to render here.
Mob Psycho 100 vol. 12: You’ll read my thoughts on vol. 10 soon. I just wanted to mention that I’ve heard the story which was started there will be wrapped up in this volume. That is all.
Monster-Sized Hellboy HC: You know, if all of the hardcover collections of the Mignolaverse were as ambitious as this one, I wouldn’t complain about them so much. This reprints all of the stories originally published in all four “Hellboy Omnibus” volumes. Which means you’re getting the character’s entire arc in one complete volume. (Never mind his appearance in “The Devil You Know.” “Hellboy in Hell” vol. 2 is the real climax of his story.) So you’re getting over 1,500 pages of comics, in an oversized format, for $150. That’s actually comparable to the oversized omnibi that Marvel puts out on a regular basis. While I already own everything here, anyone looking to get the full “Hellboy” experience in one go should seriously consider picking this up.
Project Monarch: The title comes from a real C.I.A. operation; however, I have a feeling that writer Michael Avon Oeming and artist Victor Santos may have taken some liberties with how it came off here. It’s about a filmmaker named Stanley Bowman who has been working for the Illuminati. Doing what? Just making some movies that serve to validate or perpetuate conspiracy theories such as the one about the moon landing being faked. Now the Illuminati want Stanley to create his (or rather, their) masterpiece: A film so influential that whoever sees it will fall under their control. Stanley’s only hope? His adopted child-star assassins. Truth may be stranger than fiction, but this take on “Project Monarch” still sounds pretty crazy. I’m interested.
Where Monsters Lie: Writer Kyle Starks and artist Piotr Kowalski’s miniseries about what horror movie monsters get up to between massacres gets collected. The short answer is that they kick back in a gated community in the middle of nowhere until they get the chance to go out and kill again. At Wilmhurst, their greatest enemy is… boredom. At least it was until one of their survivors finds out where this place is located and prepares to get some revenge on every-one-and-thing living there. It’s a question of who’s hunting who that I hope Starks milks for all of its dark, comedic, and darkly comedic potential.
White Savior: Creator Eric Nguyen brings us the story of a drunken, violent idiot who gets confused for a, well… you know. Now it’s up to a Japanese-American teacher to make sure that the village he’s protecting survives the experience. The solicitation promises us laughs, which is good since the whole “White Savior” concept could do with some (actually funny) skewering. I’m less sold on the promise of “time travel” as you have to wonder why it’d be necessary for a story like this.