After an eight-month wait courtesy of the pandemic, we finally get the second half of “Hellboy and the B.P.R.D.: The Return of Effie Kolb,” and it is well worth the wait. With the story returning to the Appalachian Mountains of 2008’s “Hellboy: The Crooked Man,” which featured art by none other than the great Richard Corben, the bar was already set very high, but artist Zach Howard absolutely rises to the challenge. This review contains some mild spoilers, but nothing too specific.
Written by Mike MignolaCover by Zach Howard
with Dave Stewart
Illustrated by Zach Howard
Colored by Dave Stewart
Lettered by Clem RobinsFollowing Hellboy’s strange encounter with the new residents of the Crooked Man’s home, a young spiritual sensitive still feels that something bad is going on in the old Virginia mansion. . . and she’s right.
Prepare for monsters and mayhem in the second half of Mike Mignola’s return to the story of “The Crooked Man,” with artist Zach Howard and colorist Dave Stewart!
“Hellboy and the B.P.R.D.: The Return of Effie Kolb” #1 came out February this year, so I can understand if the details of this story are a little blurry eight months later. If you need a reminder, you can read Christopher Egan’s review here. Better yet, why not revisit issue #1? It’s much better to read the whole story in one go anyway.
Admittedly, with “Hellboy” and its spinoffs being on hold for so long, I’m practically ravenous for new comics. We haven’t had a gap in the publishing schedule this long since the early ’00s, back when there was only “Hellboy” and a burgeoning “B.P.R.D.” Come back to the comics is such a wonderful feeling, but it’s heightened when the comic is as good as ‘The Return of Effie Kolb’ is.
A big part of that is Zach Howard’s work on the title. His style bridges Richard Corben’s and Mike Mignola’s in a way that I wouldn’t have been able to imagine if I hadn’t seen it. Corben’s style is very different from Mignola’s, so much so that Mignola has expressed how he found it difficult to draw Jeremiah Witkins for the cover of the trade paperback collection—Corben’s style was so much a part of that character’s design.
Right: Mike Mignola’s take on Jeremiah Witkins as seen on the cover of the “Hellboy – Volume 10: The Crooked Man” trade paperback collection
For ‘The Return of Effie Kolb,’ Howard has gone to great lengths to evoke Corben, which is an important part of why this story works. This is a story about looking back, about the effect of time. Hellboy and Tom’s memories can’t be jarringly different from what we saw in ‘The Crooked Man’ without damaging the story’s spell.
I use Jeremiah Witkins as an example, because it’s the most obvious one, but Howard’s work extends far beyond that. Just compare Corben’s houses and trees to Howard’s and you get a sense of how much work Howard has poured into every page to make this location feel like the same space.
Howard’s Hellboy looks much closer to Mignola’s than Corben’s—the head to body to Right Hand of Doom proportions feel like the ‘Box Full of Evil’ to ‘Conqueror Worm’ era, and the shoulders haven’t yet slumped as far as ‘The Third Wish’—but it’s in his panel compositions that I really feel him channelling Mignola—specifically ’90s Mignola. Howard works planimetric composition into his panel layouts at times, something Mignola still uses today, but was a much more prominent aspect in his ’90s work. It’s a subtle thing, almost subliminal, but it puts the reader’s headspace into the realm of memory and nostalgia, reinforcing the mood of the story.
And Howard does all this without ever apeing Corben’s or Mignola’s art. Howard is able to reference their work while not just retaining his own identity as an artist, but flourishing. His art isn’t confined—it’s vividly alive. While ‘The Return of Effie Kolb’ owes a lot to ‘The Crooked Man,’ where it really shines is in the new material. When dealing with Sara May Blackburn (or is it Blackbird?), Amelia Brook, and the Linton School for Girls, the story comes into its own.
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This is where the most story investment is. ‘The Crooked Man’ material is the hook, but all the best stuff is with Sara. Honestly, it’s a shame the story is only two issues long. . . or is it? For a while now “Hellboy and the B.P.R.D.” has had an ongoing plot line in its 195– stories, but its other stories, which jump around the timeline, have all been standalones. Since ‘The Return of Effie Kolb’ is a soft sequel to ‘The Crooked Man,’ I expected it to maybe wrap up a few dangling threads, but that’s it. Instead, it sets up a sequel of its own. The way things were left with Sara on the final page, I immediately wanted more.
And I guess that’s because we’ve been in a bit of a break from ongoing stories ever since “B.P.R.D.: The Devil You Know” ended and “Hellboy and the B.P.R.D.” occult cold war plotline was put on hold. Since May last year, pretty much everything has been standalone, and with this one issue we’re getting that sense of ongoing momentum returning again. It’s fun to finish a story that leaves us actively wondering what’s going to happen next and where it could go.
“Hellboy and the B.P.R.D.: The Return of Effie Kolb” #2 isn’t just a strong conclusion to its story. It’s a promise to its readers. If you’ve been missing the ongoing plotlines, ‘The Return of Effie Kolb’ is absolutely unmissable. And considering this is a plotline coming from Mike Mignola himself, it’s made all the more compelling. I cannot stress enough how much life there is in the pages of this issue. And a big part of that is Howard’s art.
It’s a bittersweet element too. While this is Zach Howard’s first “Hellboy” story (unless you include his work on Steve Jackson’s roleplaying game back in 2002), it’ll also be his last, since this is his final freelance comic gig. It’s hard to be too upset about that, since he’ll be focusing on his own projects, but I enjoyed his foray into the Hellboy Universe and I certainly would’ve welcomed another “Hellboy” comic from him. Still, ‘The Return of Effie Kolb’ is a magnificent way to sign off this period of his comics career.
Final Verdict: 9.0 – I finished this issue with one clear thought in my mind, “I need MORE,” and in more ways than one. No “Hellboy” fan should miss this issue.
