Hellboy: Darkness Calls #3 of 6 - Dark Horse (2007)

This miniseries is halfway done and I can't wait to see what happens next. This issue introduces the main villain and it's all gonna be downhill from here for our big, red protagonist. This is not to say that the first two issues were all boring setup. They were awesome, action-packed setup. But what else would you expect from a Hellboy story?

Mike Mignola is writing the thing and Duncan Fegredo is drawing it. I was several pages into the first issue before I realized that Mignola wasn't doing the art. Fegredo nails the Hellboy style while throwing in a few touches of his own. A Hellboy story drawn in a radically different style would not be as effective. The art tells the story as much as the words do. More so in the case of Hellboy. The final piece of the Hellboy visual puzzle shows up in the form of Dave Stewart's distinctive colors.

So, Hellboy meets up with the minions of Baba Yaga who has agreed to lead a group of witches who really, really hate Hellboy. There are gods and nature spirits and weird mystical landscapes and all the other stuff (minus any other members of the BPRD) which makes a good Hellboy tale. If you like any of Hellboy's other incarnations, check this out. You'll be glad you did.

Speaking of checking things out, look at this page of Fegredo's "I can't believe it's not Mignola" art:

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8: #2 - Dark Horse (2007)

The new Buffy Season 8 comic is a lot like Runaways #25 in that you pretty much know what you're getting into. Except with Buffy it's even moreso:

Snappy, hip dialogue: Check
Monster Fightin': Check
Teen Angst: Triple Check

Joss Whedon has shown that he can write. That's not in question. Despite a few speedbumps along the way, he wrote the hell out of the Buffy TV series. He could have fallen back on all the old notes from the TV show but he is using the comic to add a lot of stuff to the story that would have been hella expensive on screen. For example, about a trillion slayers.

The first issue was solid and this one held my interest. The pacing is spot on and except for a dream sequence which was more confusing than it was intended to be, the story is fun and feels appropriately Buffy-ish. Most of the characters who didn't show up in the first issue are in the second and I'm glad to see that. I'm not sure that this sort of thing would have worked on TV but it doesn't have to. Whedon recognizes the differences between media and is doing a great job in the comics world. Also, his stuff seems to be on time which is, y'know, a bonus.

The art is good and the only complaint I have is that I wasn't able to recognize all of the characters upon first appearance. For example, Giles (see below) looks reasonably Anthony-Stewart-Head-like but only after I stare at the picture for a while. I know that one of the hardest things to do is draw a real person who actually looks like that person so I'll cut Georges Jeanty some slack. He nails the characters most of the time and he's really good with the action which, for this title, might just be more important.

Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser (tp) - Dark Horse

I first ran across the word "Lankhmar" in the old-school Deities and Demigods supplement for D&D. The one with the cool-ass Erol Otus cover. From there, I sought out the novels by Fritz Leiber and all subsequent sword-and-sorcery tales I read paled in comparison.

It turns out Howard Chaykin and Mike Mignola produced a four-issue miniseries based on Leiber's tales. I just found out about this yesterday when I saw the issues collected in a trade paperback. I won't get a chance to read this until next week but Chaykin! Mignola! Leiber! It might as well have been called "Brian, Buy This Now! vol 1"

Enjoy page 4 (click on the image to embiggen it):