The Garden (II) begins, a “two-parter full of revelations”. Does it fulfill its promise?
Written by Mike Mignola and Scott Allie
Illustrated by Max Fiumara
Colored by Dave Stewart
Lettered by Clem RobinsMonstrosities continue to spill out of the destruction Abe saw in Florida as he meets someone with answers about his role in the worldwide disaster.
• Kicking off a two-parter full of revelations!
OK, before we get started, I’ve got to do a bit of orientation. Since Abe Sapien Dark and Terrible spun off from B.P.R.D. Hell on Earth, the two series have run parallel, but slightly out of sync. Big things are happening in B.P.R.D., and I really mean mind-blowingly big things, but none of that has happened yet in Abe Sapien. This arc is set just after Kate Corrigan’s possession in The Devil’s Wings (B.P.R.D. #120–121) and Enos (yeah, he’s still alive at this point) and Johann’s mission to Japan in The Broken Equation (B.P.R.D. #122–123). This is also a thematic sequel to Abe Sapien #12: The Garden (I), which was my favourite issue of Abe Sapien ever, so going into this, I’ve gotta say, my hopes are pretty damn high.
Right away, I want to praise this issue for effectively getting into Abe’s head. In my past reviews, I’ve commented on how readers have been locked out of Abe’s thought process to a certain extent, viewing him as outsiders, not experiencing things with him. Lately, however, the walls have been coming down. What I like about this issue is the way that it gets into Abe’s head with a series of flashbacks that show what’s on his mind without having to use an internal monologue. When juxtaposed against Abe’s facial expressions, the flashbacks tell readers all we need to know without burdening the story with any more dialogue than is absolutely necessary. I’m not entirely sure why, but I feel Abe Sapien works best with minimal dialogue, so this mechanic works very well for both the series and the main character.
As for answers… you’re going to have to wait until next issue. This issue is more retrospective, looking at the various questions that have been asked in the past, but arranged in such a way that the relationships between these questions are inferred. So, no answers, but Abe seems to be putting some stuff together, even if he hasn’t reached that eureka moment yet. If the big revelations promised by the solicitations are indeed coming next issue, this is all very appropriate set-up. And as I said, this stuff enriches Abe’s interior life. It makes it easier to empathise with him.
Now the art on the Dark and Terrible story cycle has always been fantastic. Max and Sebastián Fiumara were fantastic right from the beginning, but even still, they’ve both improved over the course of this story cycle as well. In The Shadow Over Suwanee, Sebastián Fiumara did some of his best work to date, impressing both Mike Romeo and myself. But it wasn’t all Sebastián; Max did a short sequence in that arc, the vision Abe had while he was inside the Ogdru Hem, and it was stunning to behold. It seems memory, dreams, and visions are what Max does best. (Well, that and emotional agony.) I mean, when I look back over the series, practically every time he really blew my mind, it was wrapped up in these somewhat abstract explorations of a character’s interior life. And these elements are all at play in this arc, waiting to step to the fore. This issue is a simmering one, and I don’t mind that. Truth be told, I rather like it.
Max and Dave Stewart are incredible together. I mean, Dave Stewart is always great with whoever he works with, but these two really click. I don’t know whether they talk a lot while working on these issues or they just naturally fall into sync, but whatever they’re doing, it’s working. Sometimes their work is understated, other times it’s big and showy. In this case, it’s simply elegant. It’s working on a level where for the most part it’s invisible, guiding the reader from location to location, character to character, drawing the reader into the story while drifting back and forth between Abe’s memories and ponderings.
Continued belowThroughout the series, whenever we’ve seen Abe’s memories, Stewart has summoned up the colour-pallette of that moment, inviting the reader back to that moment, but here memories all draw from the same pallette, blurring into to each other. This was a really nice touch, and it shows a progression. Abe no longer thinks of these as isolated moments.
As for the cover, it’s big, it’s dramatic, and… mismatched. I think it sets up a reader’s expectations for a different kind of story. As a pin-up, it’s great, but as a cover it emphasises the wrong notes for me.
Skip ahead to the verdict if you wish to avoid spoilers.
It’s great when Abe Sapien connects to Hell on Earth. The moment with Agent Stazz (Nastassja) and Panya frames the series against the grander backdrop of Hell on Earth, something we’ve been missing since the Sacred Places back in October last year.
I like that this issue went down the familiar path so many issues before it have, where Abe arrives in a new places, meets a few strangers, then slowly gets drawn into the town… except Abe doesn’t this time. This time he walks by, going straight to where he’ll find answers. I like that Abe has his focus back, even if he’s carrying around a huge chip on his shoulder.
Which brings us to Maggie, the prophet.
There’s something deeply disturbing about a child bearing the mark of a red left hand upon her forehead. I mean, she clearly didn’t do it to herself. And considering it’s on her hair, that means someone’s reapplying it. This makes me wonder how much she was born a seer and how much she was made a seer.
That mark of the red hand on the forehead is a huge part of the Mignolaverse iconography, except it’s inverted here. The mark has always been the right hand in the past. This time it’s the left…
And finally there’s the scene of Strobl and Vaughn arriving in Norway. And Vaughn can still talk. I was genuinely surprised there’s still that much of him left. I don’t expect much progression on this particular plotline in the next issue. Given the cover, I think it’s pretty clear Abe Sapien #31: The Black School is going to be the big Strobl/Vaughn issue.
End of spoilers
Overall, this issue is set-up. It’s a quieter issue, and the strength of this arc hinges on the next part. However, everything is working smoothly, and I liked experiencing the more contemplative side of Abe. This arc and The Shadow Over Suwanee both handled this aspect of the series well.
Final verdict: 8. It’s quiet, but effective, and it’s easy to go back and reread, looking for hints at where this series is going.
