3 out of 5

If you’re going to tackle issues like politics or race, maybe dedicate a storyline to it, or at least an entire issue.  Casually tossing in one or two lines to address something – regardless of how concisely or poignantly stated – almost always comes across as throwaway preaching; if it doesn’t change the outcome of your story, then what are you doing?  This would be a separate consideration from realistically dealing with whichever issue within the context of your story, such as in a situation where your aetting is the 50s, and a black government agent (working for the B.P.R.D.) is ironically treated with ire when the big, red demon standing next to him is not.  But taking two panels to lament that irony only to segueway out of the situation with someone essentially saying “look over there”?  Definitely a throwaway.  Good thing you double down by repeating the same maneuver at story’s end…

This one-shot investigation of a summoning-gone-wrong is the kind of consequenceless writing I’ve unfortunately now set as my expectation from Roberson.  It’s not unentertaining, and settles nicely into the “Hellboy punches something” story structure, with some bright, clean artwork (if a tad stiff) from Mignolaverse newbie Shawn C. Martinbrough, but its also a road we’ve traveled down countless times before.

Works in a pinch, but I’m not getting any sense of world-building from these …and the BPRD books.