Hellboy In Love, a five-issue mini-series from Dark Horse, starts off with two-parter: Goblin Night.
Mike Mignola’s Hellboy has been assigned to patrol a train route where goblins have been attacking passengers.A young woman named Anastacia is aboard the very train being targeted, and Hellboy jumps into action!
The Christopher Golden story is entertaining enough if a bit straightforward. Unfortunately, the promotional blurb for the issue, repeated again inside the cover of the very issue reveals every plot twist and development, effectively snuffing out any suspense.
The story also is hampered by Golden’s decision to unravel the clues and info-dump the backstory in dialogue while Hellboy and Anastacia are at leisure, again lowering the dramatic tension. And as for ‘love’, well, surely some sparks will begin to fly in future issues??
Matt Smith’s artwork is fun, with good use of lights and darks. The poses and panel compositions are serviceable and safe enough, if not groundbreaking.
Colour is by Chris O’Halloran, lettering by Clem Robins.
Dark Horse, Hellboy In Love (#1 of 5), $3.99 for 22 pages of content
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Brian Isaacs - Executive Editor / Publisher