3 out of 5

Hellboy in Hell is a Mignola masterpiece.  The mass stable of writers and artists who have gotten brought into the Hellboy world have indelibly enriched that universe, but a solo project (with the perfect complement in colorists, Dave Stewart) like ‘in Hell’ shows that having Mignola’s name on every single book isn’t a lark: this is his baby; it’s his voice that’s been translated through other scribes and minds; his architecture that the artists have worked around.  And that, frankly, he does it best.  This is an unfair statement because the other books are meant to have their own flavors, but Mike’s natural balance between humor, contemplative silences, sudden action, sudden horror, and this developed factor that elevates his book a notch above a regular comic experience (each page a considered tableau) is for certain something that’s been achieved over years of honing the Hellboy flavor, and is, apparently, an incredible fine point on which it all teeters such that no one else has quite matched it.  Artistically, you can allow for the leeway of interpretation, but dialogue-wise, characters have a ‘voice,’ and it’s interestingly comforting to hear our title character’s expected ‘aw shucks’ type declarations when faced with ghosts from his past, or giant worms, of feuding demons.  Much has happened for HB, but this is still the same goof he was way back in issue 1, which informs the overall tone of the story.  ‘In Hell’ is slathered in black and muted colors (seriously, Stewart found every possible tint of deep greens and purples that are just far enough away from black to be seen), and yet there’s this underlying charm to it.  That’s something that’s gotten sucked out of B.P.R.D., though, again, I accept that that’s a different vibe.  My main point is that Mike Mignola has not released Hellboy into the wild just for some dramatic return when he saw fit: all of this feels organic, and gestating.  In Marvel or DC, ‘In Hell’ would be an epic crossover, but for Mignola, it’s simply the next logical step, and thus its penned with the same sensibilities as what came before.  Mike’s comfort in switching between pages of “BOOM’ and ‘THWOOM’ fights and spotlight of exposition have smoothed out, confident as we now are in the mythology, and, as mentioned, his abilities as a draftsman are just stunning: panels surrounded by ‘flavoring’ panels and the extension of his negative space penciling style to even the backgrounds, knowing when to include something to break the image up or when to leave it open, to be filled with just the right shade of grey by Stewart.  No page feels unconsidered.

So why only three stars, despite this praise?

Well, in part, for the same reasons.  ‘In Hell’s first four issues are all prelude.  It reads like an introduction because that’s what I’m supposing it is.  Hellboy is guided through his first few days in Hell – and assisted through some last-bid attempts to get at his hand o’ doom – by Edward Grey, via an amusingly odd and creepy Spirit of Christmas framing element – and told – and we are told – that this is a new chapter in his life.  Then, in classic foreshadowing mode, the narrator looming over the main character and chuckling over what’s to come, we’re insured that being in Hell is not the end, as there are ‘three more things at least’ he’s still ‘bound’ to do.  And I don’t say this in retrospect – it’s pretty apparent from the first issue that this is just Mignola gearing up, getting us comfortable with some new characters, seeding some new plot points.  I suppose there’s a reason this is (seemingly) a series and not a mini-series.

So issues #1 -4 just don’t really stand on their own, and will end up being more rewarding once they’re propped up by what they hint at.  I can praise, as much as I want, how well executed they are, but one reward for Mignola having established himself and his characters so well is that he can afford to let things ride out at their own pace as such.  Interestingly, that makes this read a potential jumping on point: Mike zooms through the ‘what happened to get us here’ in a perfectly compressed couple pages that are good enough for a new reader, and even the reveal of Grey as guide is explained in a way that gives it weight even if you have no clue who the character is.  But either way, this is all just a taste of what’s to come, presented in that same familiar, gloomy but jovial tone that the books have always had.