Did you miss us? Mignolaversity is back with a look at the conclusion to “The Devil’s Engine.”
Written by Mike Mignola and John Arcudi
Illustrated by Tyler CrookAs Zinco’s latest scheme ends in disaster, Fenix and Devon escape the bat-faced monsters and reveal why Abe needed to die.
David: So Brian, we’ve been pretty unimpressed with The Devil’s Engine so far. It hasn’t been bad. It just hasn’t lived up to the standards of all of our favorite B.P.R.D. joints. The ultimate question though is this – did Mignola, Arcudi and Crook make it all better with this last issue?
Brian: It made it better – all better is a bit of a stretch. The discussion between Devon and Fenix was the part of the issue that I most enjoyed, and seemed to be the reason the whole mini was constructed: to get them to a place where they could talk about Abe.
That said, I still think the issue was a little disjointed and not the strongest B.P.R.D. we’ve seen this year. What say you?
David: It was the best issue of The Devil’s Engine, but yeah, it wasn’t a particularly good issue of B.P.R.D. Really, it read as an interlude that served three purposes: 1) build up Devon and Fenix’s relationship; 2) get to the point about Abe; and 3) get the Zinco pieces moving in the background. It did a solid job at that, but realistically, it was kind of thin as a mini-series. It was an entertaining interlude, especially the last part, but when 50% of the issue takes place in a luggage compartment of a felled train, we’re not talking about something that has the ability to reach the heights of other B.P.R.D. minis. Crook was damn solid though. What did you think?
Brian: Crook is one of the best; his work was excellent from top to bottom. For my money, he is the best “monster” guy on the B.P.R.D. staff , only maybe behind James Harren . He just gets how to draw a giant monster, and the ever spectacular Dave Stewart colors a bloody beast like no other.
Let’s talk Zinco for a moment. While I like Zinco as a story element, I felt that here it was out of place and didn’t really serve a purpose. This is the downside of doing a series of minis instead of an ongoing; when you need to bring something up to speed, and it isn’t suited for a one-shot or a mini of its own, it winds up barging in on an unrelated mini. In an ongoing, there are always little moments of world building and catch up going on, and that is just part of the understanding. Because of the B.P.R.D. structure, those seams are shown a little more here, as Zinco’s connection to the main story was tenuous at best.
In fact, this felt like two stories that wanted to get told, but neither was strong enough to carry its own story, so they were tied together. Do you agree with that?
David: I thought this was great work by Crook. I think it was by fault of his that The Devil’s Engine was a weaker B.P.R.D. endeavor because he had a lot of highlight reel moments.
As for your other point, I totally agree with that. Maybe it’s kind of like The Stand, where you’d have the sections looking at The Trashcan Man or other baddies. It moves Zinco and the potentially bad (or maybe good) Fenix and Devon closer to where they need to be. Granted, I know Devon isn’t evil by any means, I just hate his face. Although he was a bit more awesome than usual in this issue.
I really do think that’s right though. Two stories. Not big enough to stand on their own, but they need to exist to move the story forward.
Brian: Man, you HATE Devon. Need to get you some Haterade there, David.
I think this also suffers from being released during the same period of Exorcism, the first issue of which was insane-o good.
Continued belowSo where do we fall on this ranking? I think this particular issue gets a 6 from me – above average, good art, but a lackluster mini.
David: It’s not my fault Devon is a bastard. I am pro-Abe, thus, I am anti-Devon.
For me, I’ll give it a 7. It was a solid issue. It wasn’t great, but I can’t not give it a buy rating. So it gets the lowest buy rating I can give it.
Final Verdict: 6.5 – We’re probably a little hard on this one
