Hellboy: The Sleeping and the Dead 1

Strange confession time, before I start this: I have never read a Hellboy comic. I’ve seen and enjoyed both movies, and I’ve always liked Mignola’s art, so I can’t explain this. This two-issue series seemed a good way to sample it. I know we reviewers aren’t supposed to admit this, but reading this just after the disgracefully bad Shazam! 1, I am also desperate for a bit of faith-restoring quality.

And this is doing it for me. This is classy in every way.

The story is a vampire one, set in a country inn in England. I’ve had enough of vampires, but there are enough fresh ideas and variations in this to intrigue, and it plays out beautifully. I am particularly fond of the interaction with the old man who clues Hellboy in to the back story. He is grim and miserable about the horrible history he is imparting, Hellboy is tersely determined, giving every impression of competent professionalism, of feeling above the threat, even being a touch amused. The deft subtlety with which two completely different modes of conversation are made to work together is highly impressive – obviously I knew Mignola had hit on a winner of an idea in Hellboy, but I had no clue how skilled a writer he is. He also gives us some strong twists and an interesting cliffhanger.

I don’t know how we split credit for the visual storytelling here, but that’s masterful too, timing and pacing things with care and effectiveness, paying particular attention to the expository scene, where we are constantly reminded of the two characters talking amongst the flashback scenes. Hampton does an excellent job on other levels too: the atmospherics are superb, the buildings, statues, rocks and weather all making key contributions, all helped immensely by a highly intelligent and nuanced colouring job by the always excellent Dave Stewart, the red of the blood and of Hellboy being the only bright colours, everything else moodily nighttime. Hampton gets our hero dead right too, giving him a stony solidity and sense of mass, hitting expression after expression spot on with strength and humour. The old man’s face is fantastic: bulbous, sagging, lined, deeply sad.

I don’t think I can fault this – I guess if I were feeling really picky I might say that the opening scene’s vampire’s face could have done with more work, but this is trivial. This was an absolute pleasure to read, excellent throughout on a craft level, with an interesting story and superb dialogue with emotion and a restrained wit. I am an instant convert, and I now have god knows how many Hellboy comics to catch up on.