3 out of 5

It’s interesting reading my Hellboy books with a critical eye.  They’d gotten a pass for so many years until Allie’s ‘Abe Sapien’ broke me… and the world expanded to multiple monthly titles… and so now everything is getting a second look.  ‘Baltimore,’ feeling like part of the HB world but not actually tied to it (uh… as far as I’m aware), might be the first to go under this regime, although it’s really just been the epilogue-ic episodes that have been stalling with me… and confusing me, apparently, as the last arc that I thought was a flashback apparently maybe wasn’t, which maybe makes it even more out-of-character for Balty than I’d felt at the time.  Hmeh.  ‘The Wolf and the Apostle’ is pretty standard Mignola bogeyman fare, all things considered, just tossing a werewolf (now the fate of Duvic) into the mix to replace vampires.  It would seem to be the final curtain for the series – for now – as it rolls the credits on that evil Inquisitor, but really, it does so in the “dies off camera” kind of way that feels rather weak.  And unnecessary – much like trying to follow-up the vamp hunt with this Duvic act in the first place.  But at least Balty feels like his old mean self again, and Mignola and Golden do write an effectively paced hunt, with Stenbeck turning in some devastatingly bloody scenes of horror, so this two issue arc, taken on its own terms, is pretty enjoyable.  As a part of the larger tapestry, though, I feel like it was already completed and these are leftover scraps.