Feel the Claw! Click the cut for a discussion of the latest issue of the noir hero’s adventures, but be warned some spoilers are discussed.
Written by Mike Mignola and John Arcudi
Illustrated by Tonci ZonjicAs dead gangsters bloody the floor of his secret hideout, crime-fighter Lobster Johnson goes head to head with the powerful Nazi boss–the Black Flame!
David: Round four of Lobster Johnson: The Burning Hand is here, with Mignola, Arcudi and Zonjic telling the tale. With me as always is my Mignola brother from another mother, Brian Salvatore. So Brian, we’ve got an issue with a lot of Black Flame, a lot of action, and big baddabooms. How’d you feel about this issue?
Brian: As I was reading, besides being giddy over one-liners like “FEEL THE CLAW,” I kept finding myself thinking about the pacing of the series. I find it strange that so much resolved itself in the penultimate issue. The example I just thought of was this: wouldn’t it be weird if Ghostbusters was a 5 issue miniseries instead of a film, and Gozer is defeated at the end of issue 4?
Was I the only one a little perplexed by this?
David: Yeah, it definitely took a lot of the big villains out of the picture, but I think in a five-issue mini-series you have to dedicate this issue to the big action/movements and have the last issue act as a wrap-up of everything that preceded it. I understand you being perplexed, but I think that’s mostly the nature of the way these minis act.
My biggest issue with it though is it really feels like a series written for trade. The BPRD/Hellboy minis always have good closes to their issues, but this just feels like a constant flow of story. There’s no divide between issues in my book. That’s not necessarily a bad thing for everyone, it just kind of cheapens the issue format a bit.
Brian: I agree, this definitely feels more like an OGN than a miniseries, and I understand the role that issue #4 typically plays in a miniseries – it’s just that I don’t particularly care for it.
Last time, we spoke about ‘The Pickens County Horror,’ and how that was illuminating a corner of the B.P.R.D. world that we rarely get to see, and that is also what this series is doing, but instead of rural South Carolina, we instead are exploring the past. Do you think that this story will, or should, have any real relevance to the “main” B.P.R.D./Hellboy stuff we’re getting? Or is this simply a way to tell more stories for a fun character?
David: More of the latter. ‘The Iron Prometheus’ didn’t factor into anything. I think they were just giving a fan-favorite character some time to shine. I think it’s cool that they’re throwing some historical background on the idea of The Black Flame, but really, it’s just them telling an enjoyable story, and they do that. It’s a perfectly fun book with some great art from Zonjic. But for me, nothing about it does anything that interesting or exciting. What about you?
Brian: This is the great struggle in my comics readership: do I want good stories, or do I want an interconnected universe? I know I shouldn’t have to choose, but many times that’s the case – the DCU is a shared universe, and I love that Batman might swing through the background of “Animal Man” if the story wants him to. That’s my favorite part about superhero comics – the scope. Yet, very little of what is happening at DC or Marvel is as good as this.
Look, I’ve been enjoying this mini a lot, and I’m glad it is there – but I think I’d prefer energies being spent on stories with more at stake (even if that seems to contradict a lot of what I said about ‘Pickens’). I think this story could’ve been a great one-shot, or OGN, or maybe even a feature in “Dark Horse Presents.” But if it was down to this or a “B.P.R.D.” mini, and I couldn’t afford both, Lobster Johnson would be left on the shelf.
Continued belowDavid: Yeah, see, I don’t care about an interconnected universe much at all. But for me, there’s a substantial divide between something like ‘The Burning Hand’ and ‘The Pickens County Horror.’ If I was going to compare the two to other visual narratives, I’d say the former is like an enjoyable romp of an action movie, like a lesser Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol or something of that sort, while the latter is a more thoughtful, well-executed two episode arc on a great hour TV drama like Battlestar Galactica.
And I think those are the targets they’re aiming for. I don’t think Mignola and Arcudi are looking to make this book anything besides that. They’re looking to make a book that is fun and has cool one-liners and Lobby shooting cannons at the Black Flame. It’s mostly style, a little substance.
If you make a cold comparison to ‘Pickens,’ I’d find it hard to argue that in one issue I’m more invested in the events that are transpiring in it than in the four that are going down in ‘The Burning Hand.’ But maybe I’m just a jerk!
Brian: I wouldn’t call you a jerk for that stance.
What I would call myself is spoiled, because even as I sit here talking about I want more B.P.R.D., we’re in the midst of 2 B.P.R.D. minis, and another starting in May, with the promise of “Hellboy in Hell” starting later in the year – we get the best of both worlds: stories that exist simply to be entertaining popcorn books, and a dense, interconnected mythology.
Plus, we get to see Tonci Zonjic do his thing, and the issue continues his amazing run on this title.
David: Yeah, Zonjic has been my reason for purchase to be honest. He’s been top notch throughout, and it makes sense if only because he’s such a great fit for the style of the book. They couldn’t pick a better person for a Lobster Johnson mini-series.
So, what’s your take on a ten point scale? Whattaya give it?
Brian: Again, as we’ve said before, the Mignolaverse books are some of the best in all of comics, so rating them is really hard. But, given that this is an inessential, but totally fun, book, I’d say a 7 is a fair place for it on the scale. What about you?
David: I wasn’t as enthusiastic about this book as you were to be honest, and I haven’t been throughout. I’ll give it a 6.5, and I must admit, I might be being generous just because of the Mignola factor. Not my favorite effort from the team, but it’s hard to burn it more than that. There isn’t anything explicitly wrong with this series. It’s just not something I really dig on.
Final Verdict: 6.75 – Buy the Trade
