Abe Sapien: The Drowning #3
Posted: Saturday, March 29, 2008
By: Marx Pyle
Mike Mignola
Jason Shawn Alexander, Dave Stewart (c)
Dark Horse Comics
Things aren't looking good for ol' Abe Sapien on the island of Saint Sebastien. His team is dead and a great evil is about to be resurrected. Can Abe complete his mission to retrieve the demon slaying Lipu Dagger? Hell, forget about that. Can Abe survive the onslaught of these demonic monstrosities?
I'll be honest. I loved the Hellboy movie, but I haven’t read all of the Hellboy books. And I admit I was a little worried that I might get lost reading this mini-series, but Abe Sapien is one of my favorite characters in the Hellboy universe, partially because of his excellent portrayal in the movie. So, I was eager to read Abe’s first (chronologically) sans Hellboy mission.
The earlier issues did a great job feeding us exposition without it being too tiresome and helped inform readers where this mini-series takes place in the Hellboy timeline. I really appreciated the set-up and didn’t feel lost at all.
The creatures trying to free the warlock Epke Vrooman attack Abe and he has a tough time without his red demonic friend there to help him. All along Abe has this internal dialogue showing us how unconfident and fearful he is. It is seeing this and then seeing how he struggles against those thoughts with his courageous actions that really shows us how heroic Abe can be.
I sometimes find myself confused about what mythologies the creatures are coming from or who some of the characters are, but as long as I understand by the end of the mini-series, I’m okay with that.
The art is darkly entrancing and captures Mignola’s style, but brings something uniquely captivating. I really hope Dark Horse has Jason Shawn Alexander do the artwork for other future Hellboy/B.P.R.D. books.
My only complaint is that the action moves so fast that the book is a speedy read that is over far too quickly. Not only am I now hooked on this mini-series, but I actually feel compelled to catch up on my Hellboy reading too.
Final Word: There’s nothing fishy here… buy it!
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