Post by thwhtguardian on Feb 26, 2017 14:23:22 GMT -5
The Visitor #1
Written by Mike Mignola and Chris Roberson
Art by Paul Grist
Colored by Bill Crabtree
Written by Mike Mignola and Chris Roberson
Art by Paul Grist
Colored by Bill Crabtree
Summary: A strange visitor from another world observes the growth of Hellboy over the years in an attempt to decide whether he should be killed or not to save the universe.
Plot: Picking up from a plot thread from 2001's The Conqueror Worm the Visitor tells the story of where that dying alien came from and how and why he was watching Hellboy. On it's face it's a story I've been wanting for the last 16 years but now that I have the first part in my hands I'm not entirely sure it was needed. It's strange that my enthusiasm could be dulled so easily but the pacing of this book didn't really do itself any favors; instead of introducing the alien to us and giving us a compelling story of how he spent his time after Hellboy's birth we got a greatest hits clip show of Hellboy through the ages with no real new plot points or even new dialogue, it's literally all taken from panels we've already seen only with the alien in his human form lurking in the background and except for a few scenes at the start where the alien quickly communicates with his peers there is no new content. I'm going to give this another issue to see if with this needless introduction the story will pick up but if the second issue doesn't wow me this may be the first Hellboy book I don't read to the end.
Art: My initial reaction was that Grist's flat, cartoony art style didn't do this story any favors in making this a worthwhile read, but at second glance it is serviceable even if he's not my favorite artist so I'm going to chalk my lackluster feeling for his work here up to the fact that instead of actually being boring it's more due to not having anything new to showcase.
Grade: 4/10
Plot: Picking up from a plot thread from 2001's The Conqueror Worm the Visitor tells the story of where that dying alien came from and how and why he was watching Hellboy. On it's face it's a story I've been wanting for the last 16 years but now that I have the first part in my hands I'm not entirely sure it was needed. It's strange that my enthusiasm could be dulled so easily but the pacing of this book didn't really do itself any favors; instead of introducing the alien to us and giving us a compelling story of how he spent his time after Hellboy's birth we got a greatest hits clip show of Hellboy through the ages with no real new plot points or even new dialogue, it's literally all taken from panels we've already seen only with the alien in his human form lurking in the background and except for a few scenes at the start where the alien quickly communicates with his peers there is no new content. I'm going to give this another issue to see if with this needless introduction the story will pick up but if the second issue doesn't wow me this may be the first Hellboy book I don't read to the end.
Art: My initial reaction was that Grist's flat, cartoony art style didn't do this story any favors in making this a worthwhile read, but at second glance it is serviceable even if he's not my favorite artist so I'm going to chalk my lackluster feeling for his work here up to the fact that instead of actually being boring it's more due to not having anything new to showcase.
Grade: 4/10
