This week Abe Sapien takes a break from the ongoing storyline for a very unique flashback, Witchcraft & Demonology.
Written by Mike Mignola and Scott Allie
Illustrated by Santiago Caruso
Colored by Dave Stewart
Lettered by Clem RobinsGallery artist Santiago Caruso presents the history of Western occultism as seen through the life story of a nineteenth-century necromancer who’s been to Hell and back and is possessed of a single goal—ensuring his place at the end of the world, standing side by side with the devil himself.
Mark: I think it’s fair to say that this is an issue quite unlike anything else in the Hellboy Universe. The art is a huge departure from anything we’ve seen before, and yet it’s perfectly matched for this story. Gustav Strobl’s journey into Hell looks like a William Blake painting, and I can’t really imagine anything more appropriate.
Mike: Yeah, the art really is something here. Blake is an interesting comparison. My first thought went to Francisco de Goya, though. I thought the shift in style between the relative present and the past was indicative of the artist’s two major modes of work: his frescoes (the present) and his etchings (the past.)
The issue is bookended by passages that felt a lot like they were inspired by fresco painting, and it’s the horror element that makes me think of Goya. For readers who don’t know already, fresco paintings are done directly on wet plaster and are usually done as part of a well-funded architectural project. Because pigments are being laid directly into the plaster, often times colors will become muted and more subdued. Now, it’s totally possible to get deep, dramatic reds and yellows, but it seems that palettes usually come in on the softer side. Comparing the above example to the opening pages of the issue we see that the art has similar feeling colors at play. And looking beyond the colors themselves, we can see that the way they’re used is similar to Goya’s fresco work; the brushstrokes look heavy where colors are blended and there are big, clumpy, semi-flat areas throughout.
And then there’s the etched style that’s used to show us Strobl’s history. A lot of the imagery used, while not entirely uncommon for 19th century occult symbology, is an important part of Goya’s etchings. Serpents, men with animal heads, tiny demons and witches make up a large part of his ‘Los Caprichos’ series. It’s actually the page with the witches riding on broomsticks that pushed me in this direction to begin with, simply because it was so reminiscent of Goya’s ‘Linda Maestra.’
I don’t want any of this to make anyone think that I feel like Santiago Caruso is aping Goya. Instead, I think it’s a tool he’s using to give the reader a sense of time and place. The works cited were actually being produced during Strobl’s early life, and would have been somewhat contemporary at the time. Plus, Mignola has professed an affinity for Goya’s work before, and I believe has even gone so far as to include it in “Baltimore” a while back.
Sorry if I went too long or deep there, I just really appreciate when art history and comics intersect.
Mark: You’re totally right, of course! Mignola’s Hellboy: In the Chapel of Moloch is full of references to Goya’s work.
I believe it was Mignola that came up with Caruso for this story (though I’m not sure which came first, the story or the artist). It’s this play on Goya’s work that makes this issue so special.
Like you said, the art gives it a time and place, and speaks volumes about who Strobl was in the 1800s. Even if the reader is unaware of Goya, I think they still have some vague idea of this kind of art, of an era that depicted the supernatural this way, and it gives the reader licence to transpose their ideas about this art and era onto Strobl. We get a sense of the kind of world he lived in, how that world would have influenced his thinking about certain matters of the occult, and how his ideas were somewhat naïve in the larger context of the Hellboy Universe.
Continued belowMike: Oh man, I hadn’t even considered that side of the coin. The fact that Goya’s work could have been something to influence a young Strobl isn’t that far flung, is it? I mean, popular culture can have profound impacts on us today, so what’d have been so different back then? I really like that the work could have influenced the story in both a meta and non-meta way.
Plus, a quick look at Caruso’s site showed me that, if this was what Mignola and Allie wanted out of this story, he was certainly the guy to go to.
Mark: Oh, absolutely. They 100% got the right artist for the job on this one.
This story has a lot of exposition, and handled the wrong way, it could have fallen utterly on its face. That’s not what happened though. Quite the opposite. It soared. This issue is stunning. I found myself lingering on the pages for ages. I don’t remember the last time it’s taken me so long to read a twenty-two-page comic.
Mike: The way the exposition was delivered was really interesting, and I think that sort of lingering pace you experienced may have been intentional. The Strobl history pages were basically narrated passages without any dialogue. This made the neigh-Claremontian word count seem less verbose than it probably is. Couple that with the giant panels Caruso utilized and, as well as an art style that is unlike most North American comics, and we’ve got something more akin to an illustrated story than a traditional comic, I think.
So I’m sure you’ve got a lot to say about this one, do you want to start walking us into spoiler territory?
Mark: Sure. Let’s talk spoilers.
One thing this issue does a lot of is expand on little things we’ve only really heard about in dialogue before. We’ve heard talk about the Black School and about Martin Gilfryd killing Gustav Strobl. And, if you ask me, this is setting up a lot for the future of Mignola’s entire universe. We get some casual mentions of events that will likely be big stories in Hellboy and the B.P.R.D., and little bits that seem to be setting up the future of B.P.R.D. beyond the events of the Hell on Earth cycle.
Honestly, I don’t think I’ve caught all the stuff in this one yet. I read it twice, and few snippets several times, and I still feel like there’s quite a bit more to explore.
Amdusias, who has been mentioned several times but only ever appeared in Hellboy in Hell #4, returns in this issue. As I suspected, he’s the one that restored Gustav Strobl to life.
But the thing that really blows my mind—like I’m still reeling—is the depiction of Hellboy at the end of the world. There’s a scene in here that plays off a vision Hellboy had in The Wild Hunt (which itself was playing off a vision Igor Bromhead had in Darkness Calls).
The thing is, in this version of the vision, the demon riding the black dragon at the end of the world has his own right hand. There’s no Right Hand of Doom. But he still has the Crown of the Apocalypse and Azzael’s sword. Still, it casts into doubt that the figure is Hellboy at all now.
Of course, this isn’t necessarily the truth. We are being told a tale here, so we have to be critical of the source, but even still, holy crap.
Holy crap.
Mike: Holy crap, indeed! It’s this kind of detail that makes me glad we do these talks. I mean, I see the important stuff, and I recognize the weight of it all, but my recall can never match what you’re able to call to mind!
So let’s talk about the missing Right Hand a bit, because this was something I was a little perplexed by. In these types of situations my mind tends to split between, ‘oh it’s just an art mistake’ and, ‘this is significant, I just can’t see why.’
Mark: I don’t see how this one can be an error since it occurred twice, and in between that it showed a flashback of Hellboy as a kid with the Right Hand of Doom. The apocalypse visions deliberately obscure the demon’s face too, but it’s very clearly not missing his left eye.
Continued belowIt still has the hooks on its belt, so the figure is likely still of Azzael’s line.
Remember, the image we’ve seen in the past was always an image in Hellboy’s mind: it was his fear of what would happen. So the details are very flexible.
Mike: Those are all fair points. So let’s say that it’s the latter and not assume an oversight was steamrolled by a deadline. What could it mean? Has everything Abe/Hellboy/the BPRD done reshaped destiny? Has the crown silently fallen to another? or is the missing hand simply due to the fact that, at the time Strobl was in The Black School, no one had ever actually seen Hellboy?
Mark: Well, it’s not just that it doesn’t have the Right Hand of Doom, but that there’s nothing special about its right hand at all. We’ve seen in the past stories of the end of the world and how they get distorted by their perspective of these future events. There’s ancients texts always referring to the right hand as a marker of the Beast. Here that marker isn’t just different, it’s gone.
I honestly can’t fathom what that means.
I do know that Strobl didn’t know much back then. He had massive gaps in his knowledge. His own student, Martin Gilfryd, knew more than him in some respects. So perhaps what we’re seeing here is demons in Hell actively withholding information from Strobl. Perhaps they did not want him to be able to identify the Beast of the Apocalypse.
Mike: But then how would he have know that Hellboy is the guy he wants to stand with at the end of the world?
I think that a lot of this mixing up of ideas, vagueness and contradictions helps to make the whole thing feel even more like a myth. And then, maybe more believable as a result. Like how there are Greek and Roman versions of the same stories. Or maybe I’m looking too hard for a reason to be mixed up? I dunno.
Mark: No, I think that’s exactly what they were going for. It’s an aspect I particularly enjoyed. These stories are always told by unreliable narrators. We always get partial truths, but I think if you put enough of them together, you begin to glimpse what the real truth is…
OK, I have to mention another thing: all those demons! I loved the huge catalogue of demons in this issue. There are so many little callbacks (and a significant nod to Hellboy: The Bride of Hell). The one that jumps out the most is the Master of the Black School.
I don’t know about you, but he looks a lot like Varvara. Not exactly though. There are slight differences, and anyway by the time Strobl was in Hell, Varvara had been on Earth for centuries.
Is it possible this similarity isn’t just a coincidence. The Master could easily be a relative of Varvara. He certainly looks like her demon form seen in B.P.R.D.: 1946.
Mike: Have we seen much of her family tree? While I did not catch the similarity before, I can see the resemblance. I mean, especially since we’ve see how differently Hellboy’s been interpreted, right?
So what purpose do you think all the demons and other nods to the past serve here? Is it simply to further entangle Strobl in the world, or is it something more? Are we being reminded of former players who will be returning sometime soon? Or are we simply being primed for another Strobl-centric issue next month?
Mark: Well, many of these demons are dead now, given the events that have unfolded in Hellboy in Hell. I think there’s certainly set-up for a Hellboy and the B.P.R.D.: 1958 story in there. Setting these demons again mainly seems to be about pulling back the curtain, I think, showing is more of a world that we haven’t really seen much of. Hell was a very different place before Hellboy rocked up and all the demons fled or were murdered and eaten by their servants.
That and I think this history will become more and more important going forward in B.P.R.D., especially when Abe rejoins the team as I suspect he will when Abe Sapien ends.
Continued belowThis issue also ties back to various famed occultists, including Alessandro Divizia from B.P.R.D. Hell on Earth: The Transformation of J.H. O’Donnell. Considering that the fly creatures from that story feature prominently on the cover of the next issue, I assume we’ll start learning a little more about where Professor O’Donnell’s vast knowledge comes from and what really happened to him.
Mike: That’s an interesting idea, especially considering O’Donnell’s new-found lucidity in B.P.R.D. #139.
If I can digress for a minute, is that The Master with Strobl when he’s being tortured in Hell? Is he doing something to his brain? Could that be some sort of symbol for his education having never truly ended?
Mark: Oh yeah, that’s totally the Master of the Black School on the right during the torture scene. I just looked at it as being torture. It never occurred to me what else he could be doing. Now I’m curious…
Mike: Right? It’s a little peculiar that someone who’s ultimately tasked to be an educator would have to get their hands dirty like that.
Mark: Was there anything else you wanted mention or shall we get to grading this one?
Mike: No, I think we covered a fair amount of ground on this one, so I guess this is the end of our spoilers.
I think this was a strong issue. While my feeling is that most of its strength comes from an art style that’s not typical of the series, there’s a lot to be said for how satisfying it was to have this bit of history in Abe’s book. There’ve been flashback issues before, but this one felt different, like it’s more rooted in the foundations of his world.
Let’s say it’s a 7.5 from me.
Mark: I’m giving it an 8.5. I know this isn’t going to be to everyone’s taste. It’s unusual. But for me it was unusual in all the right ways. Like you said, most of this issue’s strength comes from the art. It’s certainly the most memorable of the flashback issues.
Final verdict: 8.
