Abe comes home in one of the most riveting issues to date.
Cover by Sebastián Fiumara
Written by Mike Mignola and Scott Allie
Illustrated by Max Fiumara
Colored by Dave Stewart
Lettered by Clem RobinsAbe arrives in New York City to discover the Bureau knew more about his origins than they let on.
Mark Tweedale: I got to see the cover for this one a while back. That cassette case with “Langdon Caul” written on it has be taunting me ever since. I couldn’t help but get my hopes up for this one, and I wasn’t disappointed. How’d you find it, Mike?
Mike Romeo: I totally agree. That cover got my expectations up, and what’s inside surely delivered. Not only that, but for all of the reveals in this issue, I was left feeling like this was only the tip of the iceberg.
It’s felt like forever since we did one of these, and I’m excited to dig into this one. Did you have something you wanted to cover before we get into spoilers?
Mark: Straight into the spoilers? You’re eager! But, yeah, we get into spoiler territory, I wanted to talk about the art, in particular the opening sequence, with Abe wandering through the ruins of New York. Bruttenholm’s Brooklyn apartment and the B.P.R.D. headquarters in Connecticut were Abe’s home for the first twenty-five-ish of his life. This isn’t an anonymous ruined city street, it’s his city street, and being there, listening to Bruttenholm’s tapes, visibly affects him.
The thing is, we’ve seen a lot of New York in ruins in B.P.R.D. Hell on Earth, and this could have easily felt like very familiar territory. But it doesn’t. Scott Allie, and Max and Sebastián Fiumara have clearly been setting up this story over the last six months by showing flashbacks with Professor Bruttenholm in this apartment, showing specific rooms and pieces of furniture, building a library of visual touchstones.
This sort of long-term visual storytelling pays off beautifully in this issue. And the elements that aren’t familiar, such as a panel of an empty bed, fill in the gaps, adding to the weight of sadness in this issue.
Abe never needs to say “The Professor’s study…” as he walks into the Professor’s study, instead he walks through the apartment wraith-like and silent. The large chunks of silence in this issue fills the comic with ghosts and memories. It’s a powerful storytelling choice, but one that would have fallen short had it not been so carefully set up.
Mike: I wholeheartedly agree on the power in this storytelling. As a reader I was able to feel how hard it must have been for Abe. Not only is his neighborhood in ruins, but his own home has been ravaged as well. I imagined what it must be like to walk into what was once your home, only to find it in this sort of disrepair.
What really drove this home for me was his trip to the hardware store. At first I wondered how long he must have walked until he stumbled upon one, but the I realized that this is probably another familiar place to him. I imagined him in his dark sunglasses, trenchcoat and fedora buying a pushbroom or some such thing from those frightened people.
Mark: Yeah, that’s actually what I like about this issue the most: Abe is sad. We’ve seen him moody, brooding, and angry, but he’s never really shown sadness. This issue, especially in that panel with Abe’s face buried in his hands, brings the sadness. So, yeah, there are big reveals in this issue, and that’s great, but the effect on Abe is personal like it’s never been before. He can’t keep this stuff at arm’s length anymore.
Mike: We’re certainly getting ‘Sad Abe’ here, but it feels way different that the Abe we started the series with. I feel like we’ve finally come back around to the Abe who was a field agent for all those years. He’s got his focus back, I guess.
Continued belowOK, I know you want to dive into spoiler territory, so go for it.
Mike: I do! But where to start? Looking at the cover, and we see tapes and tapes with Abe’s name written on the spine, framed out by Bruttenholm’s image. But once we get into the issue…
Here come the spoilers! Jump to the verdict if you’re not into that sort of thing!
…we find that Abe’s not the only one with secret tapes. I mean, his are the only ones we explore, but Hellboy and Liz’s names are seen as well. You’ll correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think we’ve ever been shown these before. As we, and Abe, come to learn in this issue, Bruttenholm knew a lot about Caul, Cavendish and a ‘buried civilization’ long before his trip to the Arctic. So I wonder what else he knows? What are on the Liz and Hellboy tapes? Is it more than a coincidence that the three of them were brought together? What did Broom know about that’s happening to the world today?
These things aren’t exactly spoilers, as they raise more questions than anything, but good golly did seeing that secret stash of tapes kick open a world of questions for me!
Mark: We’ve never seen the secret stash of tapes, but all the way back in Hellboy: Seed of Destruction #1 Bruttenholm was sitting in his study listening to old tapes. It feels very appropriate. As for the other stuff, I think Trevor must’ve known about Hyperborean for a long time, especially given his connection to the the Osiris Club (he even went on a hunt with them in 1943). It seems he may have learnt about Cavendish from Abe in 1982. The Caul thing is a huge surprise though. Back when I originally read this, I think I just stared at the page going, “HE KNEW?!”
And it seems he had a great deal of sessions with Abe. Liz and Hellboy together fill the top shelf of cassettes, but all the others appear to be Abe’s. But then, Bruttenholm never learnt much about Hellboy beyond the Nazi Ragna Rok programme. With Hellboy and Liz, their mysteries couldn’t be explored by poking through their memories. Abe on the other hand…
OK, I have to mention something, something I’ve been waiting for Abe to connect for a long time. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but since the first issue of the Abe Sapien ongoing series, Abe’s been stalked by crucifixes, and in his dreams and visions, those crucifixes become a very specific crucifix…
That church in the background is the Sea Church on the island of Saint-Sēbastien from Abe Sapien: The Drowning. That same silhouette has been popping up all though this series.
Which is why that closing scene with Bruttenholm and Abe talking about what he found in that church was so fantastic for me. This has always been on the horizon.
Mike: Honestly, I haven’t picked up on that at all!
Can I be totally dense and ask you to lay that out a little more for me? It’s been years since I’ve last read The Drowning.
Mark: I wrote about it in Hell Notes: Abe Sapien, B.P.R.D. Agent.The Drowning is probably worth a reread before the next half of this arc. The story behind the church was that a sea god sent one of his children to Saint-Sēbastien, just as he had in Leto and Babylon (meaning the god is Dagon/Oannes). The people of Saint-Sēbastien rededicated their church to the sea, which is why all the Christian decor is draped in shells and fish bones. When Abe visited the church in 1982, he saw a vision. The thing is, he didn’t remember it later.
I find it interesting though that when he recalls it in this issue, he calls what he saw an angel. This all fits in with what Abe learnt from Maggie in The Garden (II) too. If Abe isn’t the vessel for the spirit of Oannes himself, then he’s a vessel for a servant/angel of Oannes. I’m inclined to think the former.
Continued belowThe main point is that now that Abe remembers this stuff, he can take the next step. I still want him to visit the place where Caul found the mysterious egg that turned him into Abe Sapien. I’ve got my fingers crossed that’s where the next arc is going, what with it being titled “Dark and Terrible Deep”.
Mike: So Abe isn’t the only one back in his old neighborhood, as a seemingly more powerful Strobl has arrived on the scene as well. He’s been a favorite throughout the series, but these last few issues have been exceptional for the character. I really enjoyed how his location/tracking ability was presented by Fiumara. The crudely drawn sigil, the splashy inks, the maps, all of it was not only a delight to look at, but also a clever way of illustrating something that was described as, ‘macrocosm to the microcosm.’ When Strobl is conjuring up one of these maps, his actual perspective is the macro, and the inks show him the micro. Sort of like zooming in on Google Earth, I suppose. Reading this, though, I did wonder if this was a new ability, or something he’s been capable this whole time. I mean, this is the first time he’s actually seeking out Abe, so he wouldn’t have had to use it before now.
And good gracious is Strobl looking horrific! His freshly shorn nose, combined with his already gaunt appearance, makes him look like he’s been reanimated or something. Getting that first good look at him made me realize that he’s gone through almost as severe of a body transformation as Abe did. And, coincidentally, has come out of his transformation more powerful than he ever was before.
Mark: Strobl’s a character that’s really come to life for me these past handful of issues. Considering he’s already died in the past, his zombie-like appearance strikes me as rather suitable.
Was there anything else you wanted add before we grade this one?
Mike: Nah, I think I said my piece.
So let’s call an end to spoilers!
I think that this had to have been one of, if not the, most riveting issues of the series. Abe Sapien has had a clear trajectory for a while now, and it feels like we’ve finally arrived.
This one’s an 8.5 for me.
Mark: It’s a 9 from me. What can I say? I’m a sucker for seeing old Bruttenholm again. The whole homecoming story really worked for me. I’ve wanted to see Abe feel sadness for a while. Letting him have that emotion brought so much more weight to what he was learning.
Final Verdict: 8.75.
