4 out of 5

The torch is handed off.

Through the various Hellboy splinter titles – which have been adding up over the years – Mike Mignola has almost always had a co-credit (excepting, I think, some Arcudi-penned B.P.R.D. stories), even though the other writer on any given book will be spoken about as the main man at the helm.  So, without researching the matter, I’ve come to assume that Mike is present for guiding the direction of the world and characters, but once the general arc is defined, the nitty gritty goes to Allie, or Arcudi, or Golden, or etcetera.

‘Baltimore’ exists a step outside of the Mignola-verse, but its rough-and-tumble stoic lead battling ghoulies feels like enough of a parallel that I read it as a Hellboy tie-in.  ‘Lobster Johnson’ has come into his own, but his clouded backstory and guest-star notoriety also make me read his tales through an HB lens.  But although Edward Grey – our Witchfinder dispatched by the Queen – is tied very directly into the main timelines, the fact that the late 1800s setting feels so far removed from our generally WWII-on settings has allowed the books to exist as very distinct titles.  So for the first book in quite some time to go Mignola-less, it’s the smart play.  And apparently Mike got his first choice for author in fantasy / horror author Kim Newman, working here with Maura McHugh, whose bio indicates she’s got a burgeoning thing going in the indie field.

‘Unland’ is a fun, well-paced and well-characterized creepy mystery.  Grey is given a wonderfully snippy personality, and Newman / McHugh delve out details regarding the death of a government lad in a small, marsh-mucked town.  Grey is sent to investigate due to some peculiarities with the death, and though he’s dismissive of the chore as being beneath him, further oddities start piling up which soon convince him that there is, indeed, something sinister afoot.  The environment is brought to wonderfully murky life by Tyler Crook, with as-always amazing colors by Dave Stewart (but who’s well-paired with Crook here, as both allow for just enough details in their contributions to enliven but not overwhelm any given panel) and letterer Clem Robbins gives the lettering a sober sense of pacing that always serves the atmosphere.  There are some goofy red herrings in the plot – that backwards letter in the title, and I don’t think the original death was every really explained, though I’m sure it’s between the lines somewhere that doofuses like me can’t read – but these don’t feel like plot holes or mistakes, as Newman and McHugh never stall the plot or take us down unnecessary lines of inquiry.  Something new and bloody or weird is always happening, and Grey is always moving forward.

So it’s pretty cool to welcome another couple of writers into the fold, and pleasingly, they deliver what feels like the first Witchfinder series that can truly stand on its own, without it leashed by backstory to the HB world.  Of course, that independence comes at, perhaps, a lack of depth overall, but if this team stays on, that can be built up with time.