Witchfinder loses the plot

And so yet another mini series from Mike Mignola comes to an end. But definitely not the end I anticipated from a prolific writer such as Mignola. Read on ...

THE ART: Ben Stenbeck and colors by Dave Stewart. A very high quality standard of work from these two for the issue. The art flows well and is horribly gory, though not in the enormous splashes of blood everywhere kind of way. Everything's more disgusting and has that wince factor; the death throes of the monster and the mental patients bursting their heads open from banging against the cell bars - ewww, it's so icky. Awesome. Dave Stewarts colors, as usual, enhance Ben's lines to great effect, conveying the moods perfectly (namely the nice sepia sequence at the comic's end). Although the art doesn't go into my mark for the comic as a whole, it is still exquisitely done. Mignola's cover just looks fragging beautiful (I've recently seen his Hellboy work, and I now support those who complain of him not drawing Hellboy anymore). Very good use of light and shadowing. But unfortunately ...

THE STORY: Unfortunately, this is where Mignola lets himself down. The story flows well in itself and there are some good fight scenes - not to mention a nice, simple kill of the monster - but the end seems very truncated which makes me wonder if Mignola could have done with another issue to really tie up this series. I was told by Ben Stenbeck at NZ Armageddon that another Witchfinder series was in the works, but the end to this series seems like a rushed attempt to tie up a stand alone mini. Disappointing, but not totally worthless. The issue's front two thirds are written beautifully. It's only the end I hate. So the story is what affects my score for this issue.

VERDICT: a slightly disappointing end to what was all in all an exquisitely done series. But it was still pretty good. Bring on the next series please, Mike! Rated 7.5 out of 10.

Posted by Fanbot at 8:46 pm, SUNDAY 8 November

Review - Sir Edward Grey: Witchfinder #4

I've come to expect a very high standard of comics from ark Horse - they have consistent creative teams that complete a series/arc without outside help, loads of creator-owned titles and a general high degree of workmanship in comics. Sir Edward Grey: Witchfinder #4 is no exception. Some perusers of Big Small Comix.com have little taste for this genre, and that's fine. Not gonna stop me reviewing this though. Anyway.

The Good: Art: NZ (yay!) artist Ben Stenbeck delivers an extremely high standard of artwork. Though he adheres to the shadow-heavy, stylized house style of the Hellboy universe, his own, semi-realistic, smooth lines lend good tone and mood to the issue. Dave Stewart's awesome colors (big dose of gore red in this issue, good to see) complement the artwork perfectly. Dave is just amazing at flat coloring; he shows depth with virtually no gradients or anything other than exquisite flat colors. Story: Mike Mignola writes this, need I say more? The story kicks up a notch; now we know the full potential of the creature, other parties move in on Grey and co. A possible way of defeating the creature is found, and Grey's origins are revealed. The story flows well, good dialogue, and some very believable and real-world characters.

The Bad: No good fight scene with the creature, as has been present in the last three issues? Awww. Um, can't think of anything else, Dark Horse have awesome work quality as I said in the intro.

The Ugly: No uglies identified. Comment if you find any please.

Verdict: A superbly done issue from Mike and Ben as usual. Good story, great art, awesome colors. Well done indeed. Rated 10 out of 10.

Posted by Fanbot at 1:13 pm, SATURDAY 10 October

Review - Sir Edward Grey: Witchfinder #3

Creative team:
STORY  Mike Mignola
ART  Ben Stenbeck
COLORS  Dave Stewart

It is somewhat ironic that today, on this most holy of days, it is with great pleasure and irony that I present a comic from the creators of the greatest paranormal horror title in comic history. This is Sir Edward Grey: Witchfinder #3, a miniseries spinning out of the Hellboy universe, going under Fanbot's reviewing microscope. Let us begin ...

The Good: Oh yeah. This series is really getting interesting now. Mike Mignola and NZer Ben Stenbeck have done an awesome job on this issue as always. Mike delivers a good expository towards the end, in which we finally discover the origins of the blood-sucking monster that has been terrorizing 1879 London for the last two issues. Ben Stenbeck's artwork cranks up a notch - we finally get a horrendous dose of good ol' Hellboy-esque GORE. The first four pages have so much red in them, 8.5 on the gore scale. This is good. This is very good indeed. I love a bit of gore (well actually a lot) in my comics - Transformers G2 a prime example. Dave Stewart, Eisner-award-winning colorist extraordinaire, how could I forget. His colors are just amazing, they complement the artwork perfectly. He is the king of flat coloring. I love him (in an admiring way).

The Bad: OK ... well, I actually am pretty satisfied with Witchfinder #3. But then again I'm easily pleased. The only gripe I have is that the story, although greatly done, isn't seeming to be going anywhere fast. Dark Horse said that Mike would be really slow with the pay off for this series, but how slow? This by the way is a very minor thing. I still love the comic, don't get me wrong.

The Ugly: one solitary typo in this comic. On page 14 (in context at least), "sun" seems to be misspelled "nun". And another thing, not so much an error as an inconsistency; in the first four pages, the monster is bright red. In all its other sightings it has been a dark greyish green color. This may be because it's one of those animals that changes its skin color according to mood - and the monster was mightily pissed off at the humans. Or it may not. Who knows?

Verdict: Very very satisfying to read. The consistent creative team have done extremely well. I applaud them. Rated 9.5 out of 10.

Posted by Fanbot at 12:43 pm, SUNDAY 6 September

Review - Sir Edward Grey: Witchfinder #2

At the risk of repeating myself, I have never read a page of Hellboy. Never had a taste for that kind of stuff, horror stuff gave me nightmares you see. But with this series, which I won the first issue of in a comic store comp, has struck something within me I cannot and will not explain. The fact that a Kiwi like myself - artist Ben Stenbeck - is drawing Witchfinder may have something to do with it. The creative team certainly has. Mike Mignola, Hellboy writer and artist of old. And the superstar flat colorist Dave Stewart (always liked this style because I can do nothing else with Photoshop). But is this enough to make it a good issue?

The Good: as always, Ben's art for this is top-notch. I enjoy his shadowy, semi-realistic art, and it complements Dave's flat coloring as well. And Ben's put in a little allusion to his nationality; one of the thugs eyeing Sir Edward up in a dark street is a Maori, with big lips and green moko tattoos. Mike's dialog for this is detailed and realistic, and sounds like it could actually sound plausible in real life. Letterer Clem Robins has a lettering style I like a lot - his long tails, clear letters,which look hand-rendered rather than computer-generated. All round, for art, it is an amazing issue.

The Bad: I'm pretty pleased with this issue as a whole, but the story itself seems to be what those in the profession call an expository - where a long talk between characters reveals a large or not-so-large amount of info to the reader. That's what this issue feels like. There's not so much blood and gore as #1; no sign of the monster until the last page - I have been getting into this, so I kind of expected some gore. But never mind. Oh, and one more thing; the spirit guide Zora calls Sir Edward "poor man" in every speech bubble. That's kinda annoying.

The Ugly: no uglies have been identified in this comic. From my experience, this is usually a sign the creative team knows what they're doing. But of course I already knew that - it's Mike Mignola, for crying out loud!

Overall, Sir Edward Grey: Witchfinder #2 comes in for me at 8/10. The story wasn't as great as I thought it would be, but for what it was, I enjoyed it. The art cheers me up from any screw-ups as usual, so I put the comic down happy. Go figure.

Posted by Fanbot at 8:01 am, SUNDAY 9 August

Review - Sir Edward Grey: Witchfinder #1

Branching out into the ever-growing range of comics I review, I present to you Sir Edward Grey: Witchfinder #1! Sir Ed was originally a fairly minor character from the pages of Dark Horse title Hellboy, and now the brass in DH have granted him his own separate comic title. I personally have never read a page of Hellboy or any DH title for that matter, but I saw both Hellboy movies, so that's got to count for something. Anyway...

The Good: This comic is great. The shadowy art is abso-fricking-lutely awesome. New Zealander Ben Stenbeck and Hellboy writer legend Mike Mignola collaborate in one hell of a team. The story is fairly stock gothic/horror/mystery stuff, nothing I ain't seen before, but this is first issue, so it's early days yet. And you may have heard me say that action in a first issue will really hook readers in. Well, this has plenty of action in it, and a fair  amount of gore - the remains of a man splattered all around his house, a fluid-drained corpse - makes me shudder all over just thinking about it. but of course you should come to expect this from a dark title like Witchfinder or anything from Mike Mignola. And Ben's art is just right. I love it. 'Nuff said.

The Bad: Umm ... umm, well ... actually I can't find anything that is particularly wrong with this one. The slight "nothing-I-haven't-seen-before" feeling comes to me when I read this. Maybe as the story develops we'll see some juicy plot twists. Watch this space.

The Ugly: There have been no uglies identified within this comic so scroll down and don't ask awkward questions! Go, go!!

Overall, I'm rating Sir Edward Grey: Witchfinder #1 at 7/10. The art's great, but the story is kinda underwhelming for me. I'm left disappointed as to what might have been. But I cannot judge yet, since as I pointed out before, this is the first issue and you have to get the next one to really get a feel for the title. So that's exactly what I'm gonna do. Goodbye my besotted fans, see you next time. Oh, and now my username has changed. Fantom is no more. Behold ... FANBOT!!! Mwahahahahaaaa!!!

Posted by Fanbot at 5:20 pm, THURSDAY 6 August