Lobster Johnson: The Burning Hand #5

Written by Mike Mignola and John Arcudi
Art by Tonci Zonjic

I wasn't all that invested in this series when it began, but by the end, I was really pretty happy with it.  I think the first issue started off a little too slowly for my liking and was too mired in the standard trappings of a pulp vigilante to really catch my interest.  What kept me coming back was the strength of Tonci Zonjic's art (no surprise there - the guy's stuff is gorgeous), although I slowly developed more of an interest in the story.

The biggest problem with this series is that I don't care about Lobster Johnson at all.  The guy is a cipher - we know nothing about his motivations, or why he has such a dedicated network of helpers.  He doesn't seem like the type that anyone would go out on a limb for.  I think that future stories featuring him will really need to work at fleshing him out - it's not like when he first appeared in the Hellboy comics and fit in a supporting role - if he's going to star in his own book, there has to be a reason to care for him.

Still, I did enjoy this series in the long-run, but mostly because of the incredible set pieces that Mignola and Arcudi set up for Zonjic to draw.  Previous issues had some very cool scenes featuring the Black Flame, and this issue has an amazing image of the Lobster and a basement full of cannibals (although I don't understand how they are distinct from zombies).

Dark Horse Presents #9

Written by Mike Mignola, Brian Wood, Paul Pope, Tony Puryear, Erika Alexander, Robert Alexander, Edgar Allen Poe, Richard Corben, Rich Johnston, Alan Gordon, Steve Horton, Caitlin R. Kiernan, and MJ Butler
Art by Joe Querio, Kristian Donaldson, Paul Pope, Tony Puryear, Richard Corben, Simon Rohrmüller, Thomas Yeates, Steve Horton, Steve Lieber, and Mark Wheatley

Dark Horse, as a comics company, has been on fire lately.  Where two years ago, I was only buying one or two titles from this company, and now I think I'm getting somewhere around nine a month.  Like they did back in the day, with the first run of Dark Horse Presents, they are wisely using this monthly anthology title as a proving ground or launch pad for new series and ideas.

This month has some pretty impressive comics.  There's a Paul Pope story, which was a nice surprise.  Basically, Pope shows us what happened when the Apollo 12 lunar module landed on the moon.  It feels pretty authentic, and is perhaps a bit of a strange choice for Pope, but it's also a wonderfully drawn piece of history.

The book opens with a Lobster Johnson story by Mike Mignola and artist Joe Querio, which follows the usual trajectory of a Mignola short story.  These are always good reads, but I am beginning to get a little bored of them.

The second chapter of Brian Wood and Kristian Donaldson's The Massive introduces another new character; this time it's a Tamil boy who tried to kill fishermen who were poisoning the ocean where his family fished.  I'm much more interested in what Wood is doing with this story this month than I was last.  This is beginning to feel like it could be as great a story as DMZ.

Tony Puryear's Concrete Park continues to interest me.  Puryear has said that this his story is going to be moving to its own title soon; I'll definitely be on board for that.  Richard Corben adapts an Edger Allen Poe poem, which is creepy and interesting.  Rich Johnston's 'Many Murders of Miss Cranbourne' continues to be amusing, and it's nice to see how the old lady is manipulating half the town she lives in to aid her in her murderous work.

Of less interest were the Tarzan and Skultar stories.  Two new features, Amala's Blade and Alabaster: Wolves were not all that impressive, but thankfully, there was no new chapter in Neal Adams's horrible Blood story.

The Hellboy Project: Lobster Johnson Vol. 1: The Iron Prometheus

Written by Mike Mignola
Art by Jason Armstrong

Lobster Johnson, the pulp hero character that has been haunting the Hellboy and BPRD series almost since their beginnings, was finally given his own book a few years ago. 

The Lobster has been a mysterious character throughout his time in the Mignola-verse, and this five-issue series does very little to shed any light on his background or motivations.  This story, set in 1937, has as it's 'big bad' the guy who has been haunting Liz Sherman's dreams in the BPRD trades I've been reading lately (which is why I'm glad I'm reading all of these in order).  This character, referred to here as the Devil, is looking to acquire the Vril Energy Suit - an Iron Man like device which harnesses Vril power, which is some sort of godly Hyperborean thing.

Lobster Johnson gets involved in helping out, and there are ghosts, Nazis, and big snakes (in other words, the usual Mignola stuff).  Little is done with the Lobster's character, although Jim Sacks, the man wearing the VES suit, does get developed quite well.  It is obvious that the Lobster is being kept as somewhat of a cipher on purpose, and hopefully this is something that will be explained as the larger story progresses.

Jason Armstrong was a wise choice of artist for this title.  His art looks a little like a marriage of Mignola and Davis's sensibilities, although with a much looser, relaxed approach.  This was a good book, and I really enjoyed the joke text-pieces included outlining the pop culture career of Lobster Johnson in comics, pulps, and movies.