Hellboy and the BPRD 1957: Family Ties

Hellboy and the BPRD 1957: Family Ties

Dark Horse Comics 2021

Written by Mike Mignola & Chris Roberson

Illustrated by Laurence Campbell

Coloured by Dave Stewart

Lettered by Clem Robins

Before they can track down an errant copy of Gustav Strobl's Witchcraft and Demonology, Hellboy and B.P.R.D. agent Susan Xiang are sidetracked by a beset housewife's pleas for help. Unraveling the mystery of an unwanted house guest may lead the occult investigators right to where they wanted to be, but also right into demonic danger.

Honestly it has been a hot minute since I’ve read a Hellboy book and it’s at times like this I wonder why that is. This really isn’t an out there kind of story and anyone who has family, however you define family, is going to relate to this. To make matters even more relatable to is that you can feel the tension between Hellboy and Susan and this just reinforces the whole family dynamic feel. I know it’s just around the corner, from me anyway, and a number of years ago but I love the setting for this story. Actually the whole premise here is extremely well thought out and executed as we get a paperback novel, the kind the drugstores sell, when you reach the part where the heartaches come, the hero would be me, being the catalyst here.

I am very much enjoying the way that this is being told. The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is presented exceptionally well. The character development that we see through the dialogue, the character interaction as well as how they act and react to the situations and circumstances which they encounter which fleshes them out beautifully. That the personalities shine through is just a bigger added bonus. The pacing is excellent and as it takes us through the pages revealing the story and the world we’re drawn into this exceptionally well.

How we see this being structured and how the layers within the story emerge and grow is magnificently rendered. The layers open up these avenues to be explored and in a one-shot situation it is very streamlined and concise and it really does just make a world of difference. The depth, dimension and complexity that we see is phenomenal. How everything is working together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward is achieved exceptionally well.

I am really enjoying the interiors here. The linework is phenomenal and how we see the varying weights and techniques being utilised to create the detail within the work we see is extraordinary. The backgrounds we see are being utilised to expand and enhance the moments as well as how they work within the composition of the panels to bring out the depth perception, sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope to the story. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a remarkably talented eye for storytelling. The various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work show a great understanding of colour and how it works.

I really found myself enjoying the heck out of this book. There is something about a day in the life style of storytelling that we see here which really appeals to me. More so since we see it happening with a family that isn’t related to the Hellboy family. Sometimes it takes looking at the perspective from someone else's life to really appreciate not only the situation but how less your own life really sucks. The grass isn’t always greener sort of thing ya know.

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With some really creative and interesting writing and some hella dynamic characterisation wrapped in some nearly all-americana style interiors make this one of the more fascinating reads I've had in a while.