Sir Edward Grey, Witchfinder: Lost and Gone Forever 1

Regular readers will have gathered that I am now hooked on Mignola’s Hellboy universe. This title is set in the late 19th Century, in which Grey travels to Utah on the trail of someone, for reasons not yet given. He arrives in one of the old West’s lawless towns, and gets in trouble in a bar for asking too many questions. There is something that appears Satanic going on, probably down to the man Grey is pursuing.

It’s a strong start for a horror western, set up with skill and plenty of hints of big things to come, including a cliffhanger ending, but I guess the main point of interest here is the art. John Severin is now 89, which makes him as far as I know the oldest artist still working in comics (though Joe Kubert’s career started earlier) – we may not get to see another series by him after this.

I don’t think Severin has ever been one of the great pencillers – his work lacks dynamism and fluidity, for me – but he’s unquestionably among the most solid craftsmen comics have had: someone who can draw just about anything and make you believe it; he designs his pages and panels with intelligence and care; and he expresses some character in his faces. But if he isn’t in the very highest echelon of pencillers, I think his inking is right up there: gritty, full of texture and mood. This may not be suited to the bright and shiny world most superheroes inhabit (though I loved him over Trimpe on the Hulk), but it could hardly be bettered for a spooky western story.

And he is additionally blessed with perhaps comic’s best current colourist, Dave Stewart, who gives us plenty of sepia and purple, with virtually no primary shades in the entire comic (bar some red sound effects) – a perfectly judged palette, modulated with precise skill throughout.

I can’t say this thrills me as much as my first Hellboy did, nor as much as Guy Davis’s art on my first BPRD, but the story is close to gripping and with potential, and Severin and Stewart give us an art job of high class and superb atmosphere, and overall this is a top quality comic in pretty much every way.