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6/8 HELLBOY: WAKE THE DEVIL #1 (Dark Horse Comics) Writing: Mike Mignola Artwork: Mike Mignola (pi) James Sinclair (c) Letters: Pat Brosseau S P O I L E R S It's HELLBOY! He's back! In a large format story! Featuring HELLBOY! Versus Nazis! Versus Vampires! Versus Rasputin! With HELLBOY! And project Ragna Rok! And the BPRD! Did I mention that HELLBOY was in it? Can you tell that I'm excited? I've been waiting for this one all year! And it's not a disappointment. Our plot? A man touched by Rasputin revives the survivors of project Ragna Rok, who set out to finish what they've begun. Apparently they need the help of Vladimir Giurescu, a Romanian vampire who's been around since the days of Napoleon and who is currently rather inconveniently dead. It's up to the BPRD to stop them and guess who the lucky stiff who stumbles across their hideout is. This issue is the all-talk issue, so mostly we're just given an explanation of the plot and a brief re-introduction to all the characters. Not that I mind, that is. Mignola does long pieces of exposition better than anyone I can think of. It's like reading one of those old READER'S DIGEST articles about the supernatural: on one hand strangely awkward yet completely compelling. And there's certainly more than enough plot here for a five-issue series. Sure, everything seems straightforward now, but who knows what twists Mignola has for us in the future? His artwork, as allways, is completely stellar, veiling everything in deep shadow yet at the same time being more dimensional than a snazzy computer-colored Image comic. Mignola's style is completely unique an inimitable, and any book he does is worth buying just for the artwork alone. Plus, as a back-up story we get Gary Gianni's MONSTERMEN. Unfortunately, there's not enough here to form a coherent opinion about, but there's plenty of promise. The only comment I'm willing to make at this junction is that I think Gianni's artwork would probably work much better in black & white. To sum up? A good opening shot for what's bound to be one of the best limited series of the year. Here's hoping tha this series lives up to its full potential. Aw, what the hell do I know anyway? BLAND Reviews are archived at http://www.contrib.andrew.cmu.edu/usr/dw4e/zuni/r.html DAVE WHITE, dw4e+@andrew.cmu.edu, http://www.contrib.andrew.cmu.edu/usr/dw4e "Those who induce these stressors on you, were individually not your friends in the first place, for they wish through these stressors to either brainwash you, transvalue your sex, or even kill you with alphabet soup." --Owen W. Gustafson