Ahmad Al-Mahir Online

I intended to drop my reviews in the comments section of my previous post, but once I started writing the first one I began to notice how long it was becoming, and imagining 10 more of such comments I decided instead to give each review its own post. I’ll probably bundle a few of them into each subsequent post (just like this one) to even them all out into halfway decent reads. Anyway, I’ll start off with the “Hellboy Vol. 8″ trade paperback and the “Invincible Ultimate Collection Vol. 3″ hard cover. To keep my views a little more organized I’ll break them down into Visuals, Setting/Story and Verdict. Ready? Click on the link below!

Visuals:
Mike Mignola brought in Duncan Fegredo to do the artwork for this run of Hellboy, but his style is so much like Mignola’s that I couldn’t really tell the difference (well I probably could if I compared them side-by-side but I’m not going to). Could it be that Mignola seeks to ensure a consistent look and feel across all his books even when he’s not drawing it? Regardless, I have to say (again) how much I love the use of blacks to obscure some areas and intensify the focus on others, as well as shapes and overall composition to direct the reader’s eyes to what is intended in each panel. The impressive details in the architecture, costumes and forms are displayed in well-placed patterns and textures drawn with a deft hand. Mignola’s art (and by extension Fegredo’s) definitely suits the gothic-Victorian-real-unreal fairy tale setting Hellboy rumbles around in. The art looks deceptively simple to execute, which only adds to its awesomeness.

Ryan Ottley’s art in Invincible by contrast is clearly brighter and makes less use of shadows. In fact it seems to me he barely uses shadows at all in some scenes. The lines are clean and crisp, and the use of details (and the lack of it) and judicious colour choices in the panels (often kept to a minimum) push up the important elements within the scene while preventing it from becoming unnecessarily cluttered and confusing. The lines of action on the characters are clear and suitably dynamic, and there is a nice mix of straight lines and curves in the drawing style that makes it look really cool.

Setting/Story:
“Darkness Calls” looks to be a continuation of Hellboy’s journey from the previous volume but I didn’t feel too left out jumping into this one blind. He seems to conveniently stumble across one bad situation after another after every few pages anyway. The one major thing I love about Hellboy’s adventures is how they touch on mythology, raw fairy tales, old wives’ stories and obscure folk tales (in this volume it’s mainly Russian), dragging them out from under the floorboards and giving them a shake, extrapolating from their essences and mixing them up into a thick compelling brew. I don’t know what exactly Hellboy’s history is with Baba Yaga or all those who seem to want to delay/manipulate/kill him in this collection, but I was instantly drawn into the rich world and intertwining relationships between these characters. I’ve always been a sucker for good mythology tales whether traditionally told or with a contemporary twist and a sprinkle of liberties. It’s clear from reading the introduction that Mignola spends a lot of time doing extensive research in ancient stories from all over the world.
My main gripe about that Hellboy character? He always seem to end up just punching or shooting his way through a fight. Sometimes it lets him escape from the conflict temporarily, often times it conveniently ends it. It’s like no matter what horror he faces, all he needs is to swing his rock fist hard (again and again) and/or aim the barrel of his over-sized pistol point blank at the monster and pull the trigger.

Invincible on the other hand, has a modern-day/near-future setting, with a long-running story arc and intriguing subplots thrown up along the way. While I didn’t share in international shock of the major reveal in that main arc (at the end of Vol. 1 which I sadly have not stumbled across yet) the story still feels like its slowly but surely continuing its build up to that huge climax which I honestly can’t wait to read now. The subplots involving the main character as well as his supporting cast each has its own weight and purpose, and don’t feel tagged on for the sake of variety. The overall pace of the collection is nicely done, with moments of calm and subtle humour between intense bloody battles.

Verdict:
There’s a reason why I reviewed the 2 books together. Both titles have artwork that really appeal to me in various ways. They direct the viewer’s eyes without being too obvious, and don’t bombard scenes with unnecessary distracting visual details. Both have characters living in their own unique universe; each within its own intricate mythology as it were. And both have characters that are well fleshed out. The books make me want to find out more about their characters’ histories and wonder what will happen to them next. Both stories are compelling, and although they may feel familiar in parts, they never feel like badly executed retreads. Inspiring visuals, rich settings and interesting characters overcome too-often convenient resolution of battles (re: Hellboy) and a tad too much teenage angst for my old tastebuds (re: Invincible). Definitely looking forward to borrowing the next available collections!

Boy that was a long one…. What? You made it all the way through? Wow! Thanks. And see you soon!

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