Written by Mike Mignola
Illustrated by Joe QuerioMike Mignola’s hard-boiled pulp hero Lobster Johnson blasts his way through more of the world’s most sinister evils!
Your resident Mignola chroniclers are here, as myself and fellow MC writer Brian Salvatore are here to talk about this week’s Lobster Johnson story in Dark Horse Presents #9 from Mignola and artist Joe Querio. What did we think of this story?
Check it out after the jump.
Brian: February has been Mignola-central, with 2 Dark Horse Presents issues, the new Lobster Johnson mini, and the start of B.P.R.D. Hell on Earth: The Long Death all coming ut this month. The month wraps up with the second Dark Horse Presents story, this time featuring Lobster Johnson. Is it just me, or is this a weird time for a Lobby feature in DHP?
David: It is! It’s so damn weird. I mean, the Hellboy joint in DHP made sense because it was a good blend of Hellboy/BPRD and it fit where both books were. This just seems like they were hoping to jam something in to bring readers over to Lobby from DHP.
Brian: But if that was the plan, wouldn’t they have placed this in a DHP that would have lead into the Burning Hand mini, as opposed to in the middle of it?
David: You would think so. But it’s more likely that it was mostly the equivalent of a headliner at a music festival. They do that a lot though in DHP it seems. Most of their lead stories seem to be the draws and tied to major projects, and mostly there to make sure people buy it and go from there.
Brian: Let’s move off of the semantics, and onto the story itself. What did you think of this brief snippet into Lobster’s history?
David: Like with any Lobster Johnson story, I enjoyed it. The thing about Lobby for me is he’s always someone I just read to enjoy, I don’t have the depth of appreciation for his books as I do for BPRD or Hellboy. This is really Lobster doing what he does. I thought it was interesting though. No Arcudi, and it wasn’t an artist who they’ve worked with in the past. What was your take?
Brian: Lobster stories are fun, because the character is just a badass pulp hero. But like you say, the stories aren’t quite as deep as B.P.R.D./Hellboy stories, and so especially in this truncated version, the story was fun, nicely illustrated, and worth your time, but not anything earth shattering.
David: Yeah, without a doubt. It was a good one, and I like that it sort of combined some of the Chthulu/Lovecraftian bits of Mignola’s other work with the pulp bits of Lobster. It was a fun blend, especially with the completely crap turnout for the gangster. You can never trust monsters Brian. How do these people not know that?!
Brian: Well, years of propaganda like “The Monster Mash” have soften people’s resolve when it comes to what monsters to trust or not to trust.
David: A good rule of life is to generally not trust monsters. The fact that The Monster Mash is an earworm of a song proves that you can’t trust them.
Brian: To be fair, the Monster Mash was played at my wedding.
So maybe I’m part of the problem.
David: Oh, I love The Monster Mash. It’s an impossibly enjoyable song. But is evil. We just started talking about it and it’s stuck in my head now. I bet Mignola loves that jam.
Back to the comic though, I do have to give some props to Joe Querio. Never experienced his art before, but it was really nice work. He’s a great fit for Lobster, especially a one-off like this that was heavier on the darkness than the current mini.
Brian: Yeah, I’m not familiar with his work at all. But he did a really nice job of balancing the tone of the usual Lobster stories with those darker elements. I’m looking forward to seeing him do some work in the future.
Continued belowSo, what are our final thoughts on this? How would you rate it?
David: It’s a 7. It’s a solid little entry into the Lobster Johnson world, and it’s a quick one and done that does exactly what it sets out to do. Mignola does some sharp work, Querio is good. I can’t say I didn’t enjoy it. I’m keeping it at a 7 though because as much as I enjoyed the read, it’s not enough for me to actually buy this issue of Dark Horse Presents.
Brian: I agree that it isn’t enough on its own to make me buy DHP, but at this point, it is a book I buy regardless of what is featured inside of it. But i think a 7 is a fair ranking, regardless. We get an unprecedented two week break, but will be back with more Lobster analysis in the middle of March. Don’t miss us too much!
David: Aww yeah! Wait until May when we’re getting two BPRD books coming out.
