Oh man, there’s so much in this issue to digest.
Written by Mike Mignola and Scott Allie
Illustrated by Max Fiumara
Colored by Dave Stewart
Lettered by Clem RobinsAbe meets a prophetic young woman who knows the truth about his role in what’s coming.
Mike: OK, so I knew that post-Suwanee thing’s would pick up, but the last three issues have done way more to advance Abe’s story than I imagined they would.
Story-wise, this issue was pretty dense, which means I’m at a loss with how to talk about any of the narrative without spoiling things, so do you want to start this conversation with Fiumara’s art?
Mark: Sure, although even that’s going to be hard to talk about without getting into the story; Max Fiumara’s art is so story driven.
Let’s start with the things we already know about, like Maggie not speaking English. In Maggie we have a character really driven by facial expression, body language, and the emphasis in her speech bubbles. And given that this issue is a single 22-page conversation, this means so much of the heavy-lifting for this character lies with the art.
Throw in the complication that Maggie’s mother understands her daughter at a face-value level and that Maggie is only a kid grappling with dense subject matter, I have to applaud Fiumara for his work on this book.
That and this is a three-way conversation. There’s that aspect of Maggie knowing she’s being observed by Abe the whole time, that her mother wants her to confirm things that aren’t true, that her mother knows what she’s saying without understanding what she’s saying. So much of this is conveyed through the art. There’s a lot going on in Maggie’s eyes. And her mother’s eyes too. They imply a conversation with her daughter beyond simply the words she’s saying. They’ve spoken about this stuff before, and the history of those conversations is written on the faces of both mother and daughter.
Mike: I thought that the mother might have been the most interesting person in the room to watch. There were points in the conversation where she looked like she was trying to put on a face that wouldn’t cause concern or alarm, but her eyes told a different story. Which led me to wonder: whose benefit is that for? Her daughter? Herself? Or is it something else, maybe something she’s not telling Abe? The subtlety of Fiumara’s work really created a dynamic between these characters that would have been impossible for a lesser artist. I was really impressed by this issue.
During the entire conversation I kept waiting for her to say, ‘Anung Un Rama’. Partly because, you know, tie-ins and all that. But then also because it would have been a touchstone for me, something to give me my bearings in the conversation to try and gauge how thoroughly the mother was translating.
Mark: The mother is fascinating to watch. Like you said, she’s playing on multiple levels. And I liked the way her biases colored her interpretations, and when she learns the truth, other aspects of her character bubble to the surface.
This is an issue heavy with exposition, but that exposition is used for dramatic tension and reveals character. We only just met Maggie and her mother, but you get such a strong sense of their characters, their relationship, and a sense of what they’ve been through.
I’ve got to say, I loved the crap out of this issue, and we’re just scratching the surface. Buckle up, this is going to be a long review. Also, shall we talk about spoilers now? With this issue it’s really hard to talk around them.
Mike: Yeah man, let’s get down to brass tacks!
Here come the spoilers! Skip down to the verdict if you want to avoid that sort of thing.
OK, so this story promised to be a “two-parter full of revelations”, and I think it’s safe to say it delivered. Even though the bulk of this arc was a reassessing of what others have already told Abe, I couldn’t help but feel like he was being receptive to it for the first time. It’s like he actually wants to know now, and that in itself felt like a revelation, though not the largest or most surprising by any measure. I’m dying to know what you thought the biggest reveal from this issue was and whether or not our ‘holy smokes’ moments line up.
Continued belowMark: For ages I’ve seen the shamans of the past with a left hand print on their forehead and assumed this was the Mark of the Left Hand. And then all the way back in Abe Sapien #14, Abe gets told about this girl bearing the Mark of the Right Hand. And the image on the page was what Abe conjured up in his head: a girl with a hand print from a right hand upon her forehead.
Then he finally gets to meet Maggie and… she’s got a left hand print on her forehead.
Not only was this a great reveal, it was a bloody brilliant joke. And when the penny drops, Abe doesn’t even need to facepalm, because he’s already facepalming.
Honestly, this is so obvious now, I don’t know why it didn’t occur to me sooner. Or why someone didn’t point it out to me on any of the many occasions I’ve gone on a ramble about these Mark of the Left Hand shamans.
This isn’t just a great moment for this issue, it’s a great moment for the series as a whole. I loved it.
So, what was your favorite bit?
Mike: I really got a kick out of seeing Abe piece together Panya’s hand in all of this. I feel like I’ve been waiting forever for her role in everything to start shaping up, and here, right in the middle of all this Abe news, we get a sliver of where she may fall in all of this. And it got me thinking: what if she’s more than we think she is? What if she’s got some connection to Vril, or one of the Hyperborean-city women?
Am I way off the mark on that?
Mark: I know so little about Panya, I’m open to almost anything. There were once witches sent by Oannes to guide humanity. He sent them to Leto and Babylon… and I wonder if he sent one to Egypt as well. Could Panya be one of those witches? An Oannes witch appeared in Abe Sapien: The Drowning on the island of Saint-Sēbastien, and she had some mastery of Vril. She even created her own son: a homunculus-like being that looked just like a human.
I do think she has some connection to Vril, but I’ve no idea what. You know who might though? Agent Howards. Have you read last month’s B.P.R.D. yet? Howards wrote a message to Panya that seemed to have her intrigued.
Well, OK, it’s not explicitly said that Howards wrote it, but that’s my guess. I mean, he was busy writing a note that looked very like this one in the previous issue.
Mike: It’s kinda nuts how much depth Panya has, especially when you consider how little time she spends on-panel as compared to the rest of the main cast.
Mark: I’m still grappling with the revelation that she knows where everything is headed and she’s not trying to stop it. I’m going to have to do a reread and see how that information has colored her actions since she joined the Bureau.
Mike: I’m going to go out on a limb here and guess that Edith Caul’s appearance was an ‘oh shit’ moment for you as well? I mean, you’ve speculated that it was her who appeared at the end of issue 22, and her name came up when we were talking about 24, so getting the confirmation must have been satisfying.
Mark: Not really an ‘oh shit’ moment. I saw that one coming, and she said to Abe pretty much what I expected her to. But it was very satisfying moment, especially since I felt that B.P.R.D.: The Dead had already closed the chapter on Edith’s story. It felt right to have her be the one to tell Abe that the answers he’s looking for aren’t in Rhode Island, that that chapter of his life is already closed.
That’s the thing with this issue. I felt like it had a lot of satisfying moments. And this moment was a very cathartic one. That acknowledgement of Bruttenholm as a father figure, that the Bureau was Abe’s home, hit just the right right notes for me.
Continued belowMike: I feel the same way. And to circle back to Fiumara’s art, even the way he presented Abe felt right to me. It seems like there’s been a shift in Abe’s attitude towards who and what he is, and it’s showing in his body language. When he first met Maggie, it looked as if he was carrying himself in a cautious, almost vulnerable way. His stance was tighter, his arms were crossed over his belly, he even held his palms out when he first spoke to her. After two dozen issues of Abe as this posturing, brooding, wanderer-type it was refreshing to see him soften a bit. Like he was tired of carrying on that way and finally ready to listen to these women tell him what he needs to hear.
Mark: The body language in this issue really was top notch.
Mike: So now Abe’s headed back to Colorado I suppose?
Mark: No, I don’t think so. I think he’s heading to Fairfield, Connecticut, back to the old Bureau headquarters where he lived for twenty-five years.
The problem is there’s something of a roadblock up ahead: New York and the Black Flame. And I remember Fenix’s vision of Abe in New York…
Keep in mind, Fenix’s visions at this point were much more impressionistic, less literal. But I do expect Abe Sapien Dark and Terrible and B.P.R.D. Hell on Earth to collide in New York.
Mike: That makes sense, seeing as how the current B.P.R.D. arc is bending back towards Manhattan.
Can we put our speculation caps on for a minute? Does Abe make it back to Connecticut, or is the push in that direction just a means to get him in the same theater as Liz and Johann? This story has firmly planted itself in the timeline of events, so I’m figuring it’s possible that, as Johann is watching that soul cannon in action, Abe is already on the island.
Mark: Yeah, that’s part of what makes this so exciting. Abe Sapien is a little behind B.P.R.D. at the moment. While Ae and Liz are fighting the Black Flame in New York, Abe could be somewhere in the city, impaled on spikes.
Unfortunately I can’t speculate on this too much, though. I know more than I should. I don’t know if he makes it back to Connecticut or not, or even if that’s where he’s going, but I have very strong suspicions. I do think you’ll find Sebastián Fiumara’s cover for Abe Sapien #32 very interesting though. It’s the kind of cover that demands a closer look. I think it’ll be in the Dark Horse solicitations in a week or two. I was seriously geeking out when I saw it.
Mike: Oh man, we’ve ventured way past just talking spoilers for this issue haven’t we? Anything else left that we haven’t touched on?
Mark: Yeah, one last thing… The stuff about Maggie leading people to Hyperberum. This kind of echoes stuff the in Frankenstein Underground‘s ending, though not quite. In that story the future of humankind is said to be underground, but the Hyperberum of this story is not a part of Earth. Denise’s translation of Maggie’s ramblings might even be said to imply that Hyperberum may even be in the heavens… Space, perhaps?
Mike: Space, huh? I kind of took those implications to point towards some sort of afterlife, like she was saying that the entire race was fated for death and will be moving on to whatever comes next.
Mark: Perhaps something like that plane of existence Johann has glimpsed in the Sledgehammer armor. It could be interpreted so many different ways and all strike me as compelling. I still want to know exactly what happened to the followers of the Right Hand Path.
End of spoilers!
Mike: These two issues were really solid. Not only that, but I thought they were rewarding for two reasons: 1) there was a lot to chew on for long time readers, and 2) it left me feeling like Abe is headed towards a strong conclusion to the Hell on Earth cycle.
I’d say this issue, and the arc as a whole, earns an 8.5 from me.
Mark: I agree on all counts, but the art pushed this issue to a 9 for me. I really loved the character work. Everyone was operating on multiple levels with so much said without dialogue. For an issue that’s one big conversation, that’s a real asset to the storytelling.
Final verdict: 8.75.
