2 out of 5

The idea is strong, and this team has absolutely earned it: to tell the story of Hellboy’s first outing (-s?) with B.P.R.D.  Thanks to years of puzzle-piece minis and arc, up and down a 70ish year timeline, this doesn’t have to be a reboot or a sales grab: it’s a celebration, and our creators can have fun with it.  Which is very clear in the plotting, which has some old character favorites showing up during a murder investigation that ends up involving zombie monkeys, giant tentacles, and Hellboy going “boom.”  This is meant to feel like an older HB story and it definitely does.  So am I just being just betraying my latter day Mignolaverse roots (since I jumped on this train post-movie) by not really digging this foray?  I want to say no, as I’ve fully enjoyed the pulpy stylings of many of the one-shots and Lobster Johnson over the years, as well as reading and enjoying the HB trades…  So I’m going to go with my gut and blame most of this misfire on artist Alex Maleev, whom I feel was just a horrible match for the series.

But pedaling back momentarily, art aside, 1952 isn’t perfect.  The characterizations of this early B.P.R.D. team aren’t very clear, or don’t seem to be after a fun introduction sequence, making it hard to develop a nice sense of camaraderie that would’ve assisted the poppier tone.  Along these lines, the tone does shift about a little, until the monster happens and its clearer what Mignola and Arcudi are up to – though part of this tonal unevenness may also be the art.  And Arcudi is occasionally a word, exposition-heavy guy, lots of ‘splainin’ to do, which works well in his current B.P.R.D. world he’s established, but causes further pacing and tone hiccups in a fresh title.  And then the art.  I cannot underline how the the issues just mentioned could have been alleviated if paired with a better suited artist.  Mignola’s blocky style has always been a perfect HB match as it’s both flat and deep, simple and complex, colorful and dark, all meaning it’s flexible enough for humor, for action, for drama, or the poetics of HB in Hell.  Maleev, on the other hand, is just shadowy and sketchy.  And static.  His pages are fairly unmoving, and there’s not a sense of humor to them.  The Mignolaverse constructors have been pretty good about matching moodier artists to moodier titles, but it seems like they wanted to work with Maleev on this without considering how his style would fare.  The big action moments in 1952 were unclear, and the dramatic moments… boring.  This also left letterer Clem Robbins confused for tone, trying to match old-school HB timing with Maleev’s darkness.  Everything just felt off.

Thus: 1952 (and the series to presumably follow) is a great idea, and I do look forward to more.  I trust Mignola and Arcudi to smooth out what they’re aiming for, and this uneven monster mash, story-wise, is about average, but I sincerely hope they don’t line up another artist-misfire like Maleev for the next outing.