REVIEW: HELLBOY AND THE B.P.R.D.: 1953 – BEYOND THE FENCES #2

Whilst investigating the disappearance of children in small town America, Hellboy and his gang run into a beastie that may be the cause of the problems, or maybe it’s a symptom.

Middle issues are always a tricky tightrope to walk; give too much away and you dilute the need of a third issue and weaken the conclusion, too little and the story loses its pace.

Writers Mike Mignola and Chris Roberson get away with it just.  The pacing kind of meanders along in a small town way even if the main story and Hellboy’s awareness of the potential key to resolving the mess both seem a tad obvious.  Mignola and Roberson merge the action pieces with town interactions which at times does feel a little filler-esque, but the overall issue works well enough.  Dialogue wise, everyone sounds as you would expect which keeps the vibe of the book consistent.

Paolo Rivera provides the art with Joe Rivera on inks.  Between the two, the art is fine.  Just fine.  Don’t get me wrong; the book looks and feels like any other issue of this series, which is the problem.  It’s just to samey, with no real differences from other Mignola-verse books, with the obvious exception of art by Mignola.  Even Dave Stewart excellent work seems a little tame in comparison to his other work.

Normally, I am a big fan of Mignola, the artist and/or the writer.  But there has been something a little off-putting about this series.  Fans will no doubt like the fact that they get to see Hellboy at a younger time in his life and the formation of the B.P.R.D.  I on the other hand would rather see new stories set in the present rather than the past.

[yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]

Author Profile

Johnny "The Machine" Hughes

I am a long time comic book fan, being first introduced to Batman in the mid to late 70's. This led to a appreciation of classic artists like Neal Adams and Jim Aparo. Moving through the decades that followed, I have a working knowledge of a huge raft of characters with a fondness for old school characters like JSA and The Shadow

Currently reading a slew of Bat Books, enjoying a mini Marvel revival, and the host of The Definative Crusade and Outside the Panels whilst also appearing on No-Prize Podcast on the Undercover Capes Podcast Network

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