“Hellboy: The Silver Lantern Club” #3 presents readers with yet another of Simon Bruttenhom’s tales, but this is more than just another light-hearted romp down memory lane. If you haven’t read it yet, this was my favourite issue yet, but in order to properly discuss what I loved about it, this review is going to be full of spoilers. Sorry.
Written by Mike Mignola and Chris RobersonCover by Christopher Mitten
& Mike Mignola with
Dave Stewart
Illustrated by Christopher Mitten and Ben Stenbeck
Colored by Michelle Madsen
Lettered by Clem RobinsReliving old stories with Hellboy and Professor Bruttenholm, Simon Bruttenholm recalls the strange tale of a woman whose synesthetic visions revealed the presence of a mysterious and malevolent entity. What ensues is a hair-raising confrontation worthy of the Silver Lantern Club’s finest!
I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the last two issues of “Hellboy: The Silver Lantern Club” and that’s also the case for this latest issue, though my reasons for it are perhaps a little different. This issue explores a side of Sarah Jewell that many readers suspected about her—she’s gay. Writer Chris Roberson had already confirmed this in an interview, but it’s quite another thing to have it confirmed on the comics page.
That said, this isn’t an issue about what it means to be a lesbian in late 19th century London. It’s simply about how close the members of the Silver Lantern Club are. Sarah Jewell allows Honora, Sir Edward, and Simon to see this side of her. It’s a measure of trust. And it’s not just that they know this about her, but they allow her to express this side of herself too. Sarah and Amelia share small intimacies, just simple things like holding hands, and they do so without looking for anyone’s approval first. It’s not covert, it just is. We’re learning a pretty important thing about Sarah’s identity here, and it’s used to explore every character in the comic.
And if this comic is a lead-in to a full Silver Lantern Club series, this is the way to do it. We’re getting a sense of what the comic could be like, but more importantly, it’s getting us to invest in these characters. Last month, after issue #2 came out, I had several readers mention to me how they wanted to see more of Lady Bai, a character they’d never seen before that issue.
As for the central mystery, I got a kick out of this, because it played with some things I really like about the Hellboy Universe. We have all this stuff about the Enochian language, angels, and Heaven… but all of it is presented in that way that implies Enochian may not be the language of angels, John Dee’s angels may not be angels at all, and wherever they returned to may not be Heaven at all. In short, the characters know very little concrete information about what they’re dealing with. They call it an angel because that was what it was first assumed to be. Everything is fantastically ambiguous and could be almost entirely wrong except for a few key details.
This is my jam.
Chris Roberson adds historical figures John Dee, John Varley, and William Blake to the story too, along with Blake’s painting “The Ghost of a Flea.” (I’m sure the Hellboy Book Club podcast will have fun pulling up all the background research when they get to this story.) The painting is, of course, a key element of the tale and woven in wonderfully, in part because of Christopher Mitten’s art. The figure as he draws it feels like a creature from the Hellboy Universe, but also close enough to Blake’s painting that it feels like another artist’s interpretation of the same being. And I love that Mitten’s cover for this issue not only teases the creature within, but also its connection to Blake’s painting by adding the five-pointed stars. It was already a great cover, but after reading the issue, I like it even more.
And Mitten’s art is perfect for this kind of half-formed apparition. The way he draws it, it feels like a swirling smoke is cutting a hole in reality, revealing something underneath. It’s not entirely here, and perhaps not entirely aware of our world. The story never explores what motivates the creature, but Mitten makes sure we can still get a sense that the creature has some purpose. It walks like it’s going somewhere, it looks at things like it is weighing them up, deciding what to do next.
Continued belowThe final scene, when you break it down, is just Sarah Jewell reading an Enochian script, but the way Mitten brings it to life, it has energy and grandeur to it. And since the success of their banishing ritual hinges on the connection between Sarah and Amelia, I appreciated all the ways that connection was established throughout the rest of the issue, like when Amelia was troubled and she’s nervously tugging at her sleeve, but relaxes a little when Sarah puts her hand on hers.
Before I wrap up, I just want to touch on the framing sequence. Here we get the moment where Hellboy sees Walter Heap’s painting “Death Riding an Elephant.” (Incidentally, Heap also wrote the Screw-On Head stories in-universe.) In “Hellboy in Hell,” when Hellboy recollects this event, he refers to himself as a kid here—a nice reminder that even though he looks like an adult, he’s not even nine years old yet. I guess they’re pretty relaxed about underage drinking at The Monk’s Head. Anyway, I like the way they take this moment Hellboy will recall fondly half a century later and have Simon use it to springboard into yet another story about the Silver Lantern Club. It gives us a moment to frame this miniseries in the larger context of Hellboy’s life, but makes it feel completely natural in the context of the story it’s telling too.
Final Verdict: 8 – The characters shine in “Hellboy: The Silver Lantern Club” #3. Roberson expresses much of the nuanced character with minimal dialogue, relying on Mitten’s art to communicate the unspoken details. It’s an approach that forces the reader to look at body language to read the story properly, and in the process reveal more of who they are.
