Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews

Hellboy: House of the Living Dead HC
Dark Horse Comics
Mignola & Corben

Following up on a previous one-shot where Hellboy befriends and then watches a Lucha Libre die at the hands of a demon while Hellboy appears to be on a bender in Mexico back in the 1950s. This story is a step in another direction as a man approaches Hellboy and says he is needed to fight a demon or an innocent girl dies. This launches Hellboy into a battle that includes the likes of Frankenstein and other monsters. It's a fun story but I question why it's pushed across as a graphic novel in hardcover format. Overall it's a good Hellboy one-shot to checkout.

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Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews

Fear Agent #32
Dark Horse Comics
Remender, Hawthorne, Moore, Lucas & Loughridge

Fear Agent wraps up with an excellent story. As the recap page states, "If you haven't read the book up to this point, you shouldn't read this issue" and its true. Not just because the plot won't make a whole lot of sense but the magic of the issue is that Remender ties up the entire run by bringing the reader back to some of the scenes that started the Fear Agent on his journey. The narrative is probably the most powerful one yet from Samuul Clemens, whom is quoted by Heath throughout the series. It's an amazing book and a perfect ending for it.

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Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews

Abe Sabien: The Devil Does Not Jest #1 of 2
Dark Horse Comics
Mignola, Arcudi, Harren & Stewart

Sometimes the best comic books are the ones that don't try too hard to be clever or innovative. The best ones just tell logical stories in the way that the creators know they can excel. This is the case with the Hellboy universe and I'm reminded of this every time a spin-off, mini-series, such as Abe Sabien comes out. The Devil Does Not Jest is only two issues and the first issue spends a little bit of time setting everything up and then launches into the action. It's an excellent read that uses elements of mystery, suspense and horror very well. If you haven't read anything from Hellboy or BPRD then I recommend trying this out.

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Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews

Hellboy: The Fury #3 of 3
Dark Horse Comics
Mignola & Fegredo

The end of the long running saga in Hellboy hits with the finale to the mini-series called The Fury. This issue truly is an ending in more ways than one. I'm not sure I can write this review without spoiling some of the issue's contents so the high level, spoiler free review is that the book has terrific art, a great fight but a bit of a disappointing ending. Overall the book seems to leave more questions than answers. It will probably get more readers to come back when the series resumes in 2012 but for a mini-series that has been advertised as the ending it falls short of explaining a lot of what has been going on in the book these last few years.

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Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews

Star Wars: Dark Times – Out of the Wilderness #1 of 5
Dark Horse Comics
Harrison (Stradley), Wheatley & Jackson

The next arc of Dark Times launches as the previous have in that Hellboy mini-series style. This mini-series contains multiple threads as the primary character, Dass Jennir, takes a bit of a secondary role in this opening issue. Instead, the issue focuses on those that are pursuing him which makes the story fairly accessible to new readers. The art helps to give the story the classic Star Wars look to it. Overall, I found this issue to be a very good opener to one of my favorite Star Wars series.

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Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews

Star Wars Jedi: The Dark Side #2
Dark Horse Comics
Allie, Asrar & Mounts

The second issue of Jedi: The Dark Side is a tension filled issue as master and learner, father and son and culture to culture all seem to come to some level of a boil. The issue is a good set up to further along the plot on multiple levels and it even serves up a bit of action to keep the issue moving along. The focus of the issue does seem to shift further away from Qui-Gon, which may not be a bad thing as I am underwhelmed with his characterization so far. Overall this is a good issue and gives me enough to keep me interested in this series.

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Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews

Hellboy: The Fury #1 of 3
Dark Horse Comics
Mignola & Fegredo

As the final story arc in this King Arthur storyline begins we have the setup to Hellboy's battle with Nimue as well as a new player for the crown of England. This issue is great because it pretty much lays out the story in as straightforward a manner as any Hellboy story has in the past. Usually the Hellboy stories are heavy on the occult and layered with subtle hints, but this issue pretty much spells everything out for the reader and it works because the drama still builds by the end and the action keeps the issue flowing nicely.

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Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews

Star Wars: Jedi – The Dark Side #1
Dark Horse Comics
Allie, Asrar & Mounts

Dark Horse unveils its new Star Wars series entitled, "Jedi", with an arc dealing with Qui-Gon Jinn and his apprentice prior to Obi-Wan. Set some fifty years prior to the Battle of Yavin (approximately twenty years prior to the Phantom Menace) this story doesn't hide the overall plot with its title, "The Dark Side". The first issue establishes a solid cast of characters paired with Qui-Gon and provides a glimpse of what future issues entail. It's a good first issue but it does present a few stumbling blocks that the rest of the arc will hopefully work through. I'm glad to see Dark Horse publishing comics during this era, particularly about this character so I view this issue as an overall win.

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