3 out of 5

This actually has a pretty lame last issue that almost made me drop it a notch… but its 3 out of 5 good issues overall, so it seemed sensible to match the rating.  ‘Lake of Fire’ – I get it – is the crucible for Fenix and Liz, two unstable and empowered women who have attempted to find stability when depowered, only to… flounder… somewhat aimlessly.  We find Liz recovering in a hospital, surprisingly upbeat and a snarky source of inspiration for a downtrodden fellow patient.  At the same time we’re tracking Fenix’s journey back home, seeking solace and instead finding more creepos and a band of hippie monster egg worshipers.  We follow this duo in alternating sequences while future storylines are seeded in: New York is completely closed off (to the extent that the B.PR.D. and representative government folk have no idea what’s going on there; Johann and his Russian dome-head buddy discuss a potential Zinco plot.  B.P.R.D. is tasked with sending in troops.  These story elements feel purely functional, not bothered to give them a valid place in the narrative except that the exposition, assumedly, has to get out there before next month’s arc.  The two women’s storylines have their respective character focusing on personal milestones or barriers: Liz’s fear if fire, Fenix’s second sight, as represented by a ghost.  Blending these moments with some random source of inspiration – Liz’s kind doctor, the fulla’ wisdom stranger whom Fenix befriends – works well enough to shuffle things along to a penultimate chapter where each girl emerges back in charge of their life.  And then part 5, which is hasty conclusion central, praying that we buy into a friendship of Liz’s that was only given about 1 panel a couple issues back to develop, and a last minute surprise that really, really makes it clear that this whole series was just filler to get us from point A to B.  But before then, I appreciated the buildup in issues 1 and 2, and despite Arcudi leaving out the exact moment of triumph for Fenix that we might’ve wanted to see, ending an issue with a chick with guns blazing is always a good way to go.

Since Arcudi has been in Mignola land for a while, the character voices have a familiar gabbiness to them, never the slickest of phrasings but encompassing the expansive Hellboy world with ease, allowing a new reader to get it without having to know all the ins and outs.  I’m not quite sold on Tyler Crook’s art, though.  I dig that he’s not the house style, and at several points looks like Guy Davis, but therein lies the problem – Davis has a very stylized look, but its consistent.  At points, Crook’s panels / figures have a fairly austere look to them, then a couple panels later Liz will pull a Davis face… and so the tone just doesn’t get to settle.  Panels that should be heavy aren’t, and panels that are intended as a light-hearted pause fall flat.

The plot manages to cram a Thing / Dr. Moreau evil scientist in there as an adversary, which, combined with the self-discovery storyline, is just too jam-packed.  It’s unfortunate, since that bit could’ve been a lot of fun.  There’s a letter in issue 4 from a faithful reader that mentions that ‘Hell on Earth’ has distilled something undesirably, and I absolutely agree.  As I’ve mentioned elsewhere, it’s the curse of the ongoing.  Hellboy / B.P.R.D. once excelled at high action that casually built in a wonderful trove of characters.  Later, things got darker and we understood more about the creatures in that darkness darkness, so we could focus on more contemplative issue.  But now the world’s gone to Hell, and every issue has to be a blockbuster.  This was a good story about Liz, or a good story about Fenix, or a cool tale of mutatey mutates.  But it’s only an okay story about all of them.