4 out of 5

And lo, did I declare: I’m not a big Richard Corben fan.  Despite his lovely stippling details and creaky character models (a style I generally dig), his work – from various eras – tends to blend together to me, and is never framed very compellingly.  Even when he’s been on HB titles, I’ve appreciated his craft, but not been wowed by it.

This established – The Crooked Man looks fantastic.  I was wowed by Corben’s work here, as it felt imbued by so much more personality than I’ve previously sensed, and really gave the backwoods setting – not an unusual one for Corben, admittedly – a real sense of life.  This truly felt like a marriage of writer and artist, instead of someone scripting a tale designed for Corben’s creepies.  Dave Stewart’s colors add another amazing layer, really amping up the gorgeous blues and greens of the surrounding forest and expansive Virginia, sky, and Clem Robbins goes very bold and formal with his lettering, which is a great juxtaposition to Richard’s art.

The story is also one of Mike’s better ones, keeping the lore very focused on witches (when he goes deep with blending too many myths together, I sorta tune out), and he gives Hellboy a great companion to bounce things off of – a local named Tom who seems to know more than Big Red about the various going-ons.  They travel up a mountain to resolve the legacy of some witch dealings that have gone on, leading to a wonderfully frantic church showdown.

While I really think the slow build is integral here – Tom and HB enjoying nature, trekking up the hillside – the middle issue in this trio feels a bit too wandering, just there to give Corben a couple extra scenes.  The climax in the third issue makes it worth it, though, reclaiming the sense of purpose of the initial journey, and the story ends with a wonderfully black humored coda.