Feature: The House of Lost Horizons: A Sarah Jewell Mystery #3 Annotations 

Hell Notes: Who the Hell Is Sarah Jewell?

By | May 10th, 2021
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Welcome to Hell Notes, Multiversity Comics’ annotation column for the Hellboy Universe. This Wednesday a new miniseries launches, “The House of Lost Horizons: A Sarah Jewell Mystery.” Sounds good, but if you haven’t been reading all the numerous titles in the Hellboy Universe, you may be wondering Who the hell is Sarah Jewell?

Well, don’t worry. Mignolaversity has got you covered.

Sarah Jewell first appeared in 2016’s “Rise of the Black Flame,” and though she’s only appeared in a few stories since, we’ve had hints at much more. Sarah has a long career as a paranormal investigator spanning from at least the 1880s into the 1920s.

Jewell’s first major encounter with the paranormal was as a girl (presumably a teenager based on the art) when she took on a poltergeist haunting an asylum in the United States. She did her homework and studied exorcism, and thankfully it paid off.

After that, Sarah began traveling the world. This is when she had one of her most famed adventures, when she took on a manticore in a Persian harem. This adventure was later turned into a novel, The Mystery of the Sultan’s Crown1. In fact, many of Sarah Jewell’s adventures were adapted to novels, a whole series collectively known as The Sarah Jewell Mysteries.

I’ve no idea how accurate these stories are or even who wrote them, but in the Hellboy Universe it seems they were similarly popular to something like the Nancy Drew novels. (The Hellboy Universe has a long history its characters having within-universe fiction written about them, such as the Sir Grey penny dreadfuls based on Sir Edward Grey2, “The Sky Devil” comics based on Scarlett Santiago3, and the pulp novels, comics, luchador films, and even a big-budget Hollywood film directed by Guillermo del Toro based on the Lobster4. Usually these stories are highly inaccurate or completely fictionalized.) Hellboy himself read one of the Sarah Jewell novels, The Thing in the Well, which featured a teenaged Sarah Jewell, but other than its title, I don’t know much about that.

The earliest story I can put a date to is Sarah Jewell’s appearance in “Witchfinder: The Reign of Darkness,” when she first met Sir Edward Grey. It was December 1888, and the two were in The Monk’s Head, a pub in Whitechapel, both independently investigating the Jack the Ripper murders. While her American impropriety initially rubbed Sir Edward the wrong way, he was affected by Sarah’s words about the London police’s lack of concern for the victims. In that brief meeting, she had managed to change the way he saw the world around him, and like a house of cards it soon came tumbling down.

For most of ‘The Reign of Darkness,’ Sarah Jewell is on her own. She believes there is something wrong with Proserpine House, a charity home for “wayward women,” and so she gets herself in there to find out what’s going on. She has no one on her side and no backup, she just sees something that needs to be done and no-one doing anything, so she gets in and does it herself.

And it nearly gets her killed. Turns out the Proserpine House was tied to the Heliopic Brotherhood of Ra and they were gearing up to kill twenty-seven women in ritual sacrifice so they could summon the Black Goddess. Luckily, Sarah had good instincts and she was able to save herself and seven other women. That and she unknowingly had a diversion in the form of Sir Edward Grey, whose investigation had led him to Proserpine House and had caused a bit of a ruckus. Together, Sir Edward and Sarah managed to prevent the summoning and burn down Proserpine.

This was a meeting that would change both their lives and begin a long friendship between the two. In particular, Sarah Jewell changed the way Sir Edward saw himself. Afterward, he could no longer continue to serve the upper class at the expense of the working class, so he ceased working as an agent of Queen Victoria.

Continued below

In the 1890s, they were both members of the Silver Lantern Club (which held its meetings in the rooms above The Monk’s Head in Whitechapel), a group of paranormal investigators. This period has barely been explored in the comics so far. We had ‘The Great Blizzard,’ a short story set in March, 1891. During the tale, the pair recovered a bracelet which apparently would grant whomever possessed it a boon from Cailleach Bheur, the Queen of Winter. This seems like an artifact we may see again in another story someday (perhaps when we get the next Sir Edward Grey series now that “Witchfinder” has ended).

During ‘The Great Blizzard,’ other investigations were briefly mentioned; the Limehouse Ogre incident, in which Sir Edward’s instincts are proven to be excellent; and an incident on Great Titchfield Street relating to William Blake’s ‘The Ghost of a Flea.’ Mainly though, ‘The Great Blizzard’ shows how much Sir Edward and Sarah Jewell had grown to trust each other. Especially with Sir Edward, we got to see him much more relaxed and open. I can’t think of anyone else he’d let call him Eddie like Sarah does.

What little else we know about this period is from Hellboy: The Companion and focused on Sir Edward Grey; he turned the famous witch Abigail Wodehouse into the authorities in 1892, and in 1893 he was involved with incidents that led to the closing of the Heliopic Brotherhood of Ra’s Universal Temple in London. In future stories, Sarah looked back fondly on this period, mentioning a few incidents; one involving the Heliopic Brotherhood of Ra accidentally summoning a “goat thing,” another involving some sort of rift, and a critter that had been asleep under Ludgate Circus since Roman times until a burst water main woke it up—an incident Sarah handwaved away as nothing more than a nuisance.

In 1908, there was an explosion in Tunguska, Siberia, which Sir Edward believed was caused by the Heliopic Brotherhood of Ra. He and Sarah set off to investigate, traveling all around the world. Again, very little is known about this period, only that they at some point had a run-in with the Chutt5. After a few years of traveling, the two parted ways. Sarah would only see Sir Edward once more before his mysterious disappearance in 1916. For more than twenty years, Sir Edward and Sarah were constant companions, but she has stressed that while her relationship with Sir Edward was close, it was purely platonic.

I’ve no idea when this next incident happened. It could have been before Sarah ever met Sir Edward, while they traveled together, or after they parted ways, but while in Borneo, Sarah inadvertently trespassed into headhunter territory and had to fight her way out with an old cavalry saber. She came out of this with a spear through her left arm, a nasty injury that would become the yardstick against which she measured all others. However, it demonstrates how good she is with a sword. She’s also a damn fine shot with a gun too.

At some point, Sarah ended up in Louisiana in an incident seemingly involving an alligator tribe. This was also where she met Marie-Thérèse LaFleur, who became a traveling companion for several years. The earliest event I can put a date to with the two women together is the fall of 1922, when they were investigating an incident involving exsanguination in Bali, however it seems likely they’d been traveling for a least a few years prior given their level of familiarity.

But Sarah has seen far darker things than exsanguination. She doesn’t mention it, but certain things she’s seen weigh on her mind. She has seen the twin serpents Nimung-Gulla (likely when she encountered the Chutt, I’d wager)6, she’s come across an Ogdru Jahad cult7, she’s encountered Zara-Hem8, and had a brush with something nasty involving frogs9—all elements of the darkest forces at play in the Hellboy Universe.

Things from Sarah Jewell’s past.

The next major story with Sarah Jewell just happens to be the one in which she was introduced to readers, “Rise of the Black Flame.” Set in May 1923, Sarah is now a middle aged woman. As much as she speaks fondly of her adventures, she also hints at darker times, when she wrestled with her own demons. In this tale, Sarah and Marie-Thérèse come to Siam to investigate a blood cult said to be at a place called the Temple of the Black Flame. The cult has been kidnapping young girls. As is often the case, the authorities only take notice when a rich white girl is kidnapped, by which time Sarah is already deeply involved in her own investigation. This is something we see again and again with Sarah. Her primary motivation is usually compassion for the victims. It’s her foremost concern.

Continued below

Throughout “Rise of the Black Flame,” Sarah is shown to be formidable, but she’s definitely past her prime. Physically, she’s not as fast as she once was, but her mind is still sharp as a tack. As a result, she relies quite a bit on Marie-Thérèse, who seems at least as formidable as Sarah when she was younger. The two are well-suited as traveling companions, as Marie-Thérèse is likewise motivated by compassion. Throughout the story, she is always checking on others, their emotional states, and tending to wounds (something she’s clearly practised at).

During the adventure, Sarah gets another nasty wound, a sword slash on the back of her leg, so when it comes time to confront the Black Flame Cult, she is not there. However, Sarah is busy in her own way, looking after one of the kidnapped girls they found. It’s not as dramatic as fighting cultists, but it’s such a defining aspect of her character. Simply being there for this little girl is something important to her.

On December 24, 1924, Sarah and Marie-Thérèse were investigating a murder, aparently commited by the Braithwood Boogam. Turns out it was just regular murder though. That said, the boogam did get a kill in before the tale was done when the murderer ran into it.

This story was clearly a teaser for Sarah Jewell’s own series. It had Sarah and Marie-Thérèse at work on a closed circle mystery, like a good Agatha Christie novel but with a paranormal element at play. And, of course, Sarah is utterly unfazed by the boogam.

And look, another casual reference to an untold adventure!

This Wednesday, we’ll be getting the beginning of ‘The House of Lost Horizons’ miniseries, a new Sarah Jewell story set in 1926. It’s another closed circle mystery, but this time with everyone stranded on an island during a storm. There’s an occult auction planned, but before it can happen, there’s a murder. . . So it’s very much in the vein of Agatha Christie again, this time playing off elements from my favorite Christie novel, And Then There Were None.

But what I really want to stress here is how we’ve barely seen the tip of the iceberg with Sarah Jewell. There are so many stories hinted at, and while we certainly don’t need to see all of them (sometimes it’s fun just to leave a story as a single throwaway line), there are certainly others that need to be told. Some because the imagery is just too much fun (an alligator tribe in the Louisiana Bayou), others because the tale is clearly connected to the deeper Hellboy Universe mythos (like the Zara-Hem adventure). Sarah’s stories can be so many different things; ‘The House of Lost Horizons’ certainly feels like an Agatha Christie novel, but she can also do pulp adventure stories while she traveled the world, or delve into the paranormal detective tales with the Silver Lantern Club in the late 19th century, or even explore her teenage years as a novice exorcist.

And beyond just exploring her various adventures, I’d like to explore her character more. Despite Sarah’s unflappable nature, we know there are things that haunt her, even if we don’t know exactly what they are yet. This is a character we’re still getting to know, so if you really want to know who the hell Sarah Jewell is, then I suggest picking up her new series. I want to see many, many, many more “Sarah Jewell Mysteries” in future.

FURTHER READING

  • “Witchfinder: The Reign of Darkness” written by Mike Mignola and Chris Roberson, illustrated by Christopher Mitten with colors by Michelle Madsen
  • ‘The Great Blizzard’ written by Chris Roberson, illustrated by Christopher Mitten with colors by Dave Stewart, in the “Hellboy Winter Special 2017”
  • “Rise of the Black Flame” written by Mike Mignola and Chris Roberson, illustrated by Christopher Mitten with colors by Dave Stewart
  • ‘The Longest Night’ written by Chris Roberson, illustrated by Leila del Duca with colors by Michelle Madsen, in the “Hellboy Winter Special 2019”
  • Continued below

  • “The Other Side of Summer” written by Chris Roberson, illustrated by Mike Mignola, collected in Hellboy: An Assortment of Horrors.

Art featured in this article was taken from the first four stories from this list. Lettering in all by Clem Robins.

Sarah Jewell and Sir Edward run into the Chutt

NOTES

1 This story was mentioned by Hellboy’s friend, Ginny Payne in “The Other Side of Summer,” a short prose story by Chris Roberson, collected in Hellboy: An Assortment of Horrors. She also gave Hellboy another Sarah Jewell novel, The Thing in the Well as a parting gift.

2 The penny dreadfuls about Sir Edward Grey called him “Sir Grey,” which is simply not done. It’s Sir Edward Grey or Sir Edward; never Sir Grey. This speaks to the dreadful quality of Sir Edward’s representation in the stories.

3 You can read about Scarlett Santiago in “Young Hellboy: The Hidden Land.” Hellboy loved her comics as a kid.

4 From ‘The True History of Lobster Johnson’ published in “Lobster Johnson: The Iron Prometheus.”

5 We’ve seen the Chutt a few times, most notably in “Lobster Johnson: The Iron Prometheus” and “B.P.R.D.: The Black Goddess.”

6 I’ve spoken a bit about Nimung-Gulla in Who the Heck Is Hecate? and The Right Hand and Left Hand Paths.

7 The symbol here is the same as one worn by the mysterious man in “Hellboy: The Island” who had read the true history of the world from golden tablets at Tenochtitlán.

8 The Zara-Hem plotline is still in its early days. We’ve seen these statues show up in “Witchfinder: Beware the Ape,” “Lobster Johnson: Tony Masso’s Finest Hour,” “Hellboy and the B.P.R.D.: 1952,” and “The Visitor: How & Why He Stayed.” This Cthulhu-like statue has shown up time and time again, and it’s never resulted in anything good.

9 I feel like a list of all the frog references would be obscenely long. Given that there is an entire story cycle called “Plague of Frogs,” and that they’re closely connected to the end of the world, this particular connection to Sarah Jewell seems pretty major.


//TAGS | Hell Notes | Mignolaversity

Mark Tweedale

Mark writes Haunted Trails, The Harrow County Observer, The Damned Speakeasy, and a bunch of stuff for Mignolaversity. An animator and an eternal Tintin fan, he spends his free time reading comics, listening to film scores, watching far too many video essays, and consuming the finest dark chocolates. You can find him on BlueSky.

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