|
|
Post by andydecker on Apr 4, 2022 10:29:36 GMT
Witchfinder Vol.1: In the Service of Angels - written by Mike Mignola, art by Ben Stenbeck (Dark Horse Comics, 2009, 5 parts)  Sir Edward Grey, the Witchfinder, is an agent of Queen Victoria and investigates the paranormal. Originally not more than a throwaway panel in an early Hellboy story, there are now six mini-series and a few one-offs about the character. Most of the stories are firmly entrenched in the Hellboy universe. These are mostly well-done, some are not so successful, but this is of course a matter of taste. Artists vary, covers are mostly by Mike Mignola, the creator of the Hellboy franchise. (The scans of the first collected editions are from the omnibus collection. Here are two covers - couldn't resist the diver painting - and one page.)
   In this story Sir Edward hunts a murderous creature from Hyperborea which got brought back to earth in 1879. But he clashes with the mysterious Heliopic Brotherhood of Ra who has its own agenda. (Both the creatures and the Brotherhood play important roles in the other Hellboy stories. But the Grey adventures can be read without all of this.) |
|
|
|
Post by cauldronbrewer on Apr 7, 2022 13:42:16 GMT
Witchfinder Vol.1: In the Service of Angels - written by Mike Mignola, art by Ben Stenbeck (Dark Horse Comics, 2009, 5 parts) I recently finished the Hellboy stories (which I took up on your recommendation, as I recall), and I've thought about trying this one. |
|
|
|
Post by andydecker on Apr 7, 2022 16:21:36 GMT
I recently finished the Hellboy stories (which I took up on your recommendation, as I recall), and I've thought about trying this one. On the whole the Witchfinder stories are different. I intend to post the rest of it, but Mignola tried to do different things, which in my opinion sometimes worked better and sometimes not. I guess it is a matter of taste. Not all followed the continuity of the Hellboy universe which could be seen as a good thing - like all comic universes it became sometimes difficult to follow or to remember - but I thought those efforts a bit, well, meh, at the time.
After Hellboy the long-running B.P.R.D. story, which is in itself a continuation of the Hellboy story - even if it became a parallel story after some years - has become a bit overwhelming. I like it a lot, especially after they began the War on Frogs story. But I can imagine that it depends a bit if one likes the art of Guy Davies who did the first half(?) or more before quitting. I came to enjoy Davis' so much that I had a hard time with his successors. It nearly killed my interest, and I still didn't finish the last part of B.P.R.D.
It is a bit of a problem that the franchise has become so big. Hellboy as a story has ended, but in the last years they continue the prequel series which started with B.P.R.D. 1946 (still one of the best of the bunch if you ask me, and not only because it introduces a major character/villain) and still do one-shots covering this gap and that.
|
|
