Chris Roberson shows off his knowledge of the Hellboy Universe in the latest issue of “Witchfinder: The Gates of Heaven” with an ending that made us very happy…
Written by Mike Mignola and Chris RobersonCover by D’Israeli
Illustrated by D’Israeli
Colored by Michelle Madsen
Lettered by Clem RobinsEdward Grey starts to run out of leads when a familiar enemy tries to throttle his investigation. Meanwhile, the stakes only get higher as a ghostly thief continues to terrorize London.
Mark Tweedale: Oh boy, I want to talk about the final scene of this one. I won’t just yet—I swear I’ll wait for the spoiler section—but I really want to talk about that final scene.
So with that said, I think it’s fair to say I enjoyed this issue. The “Witchfinder” stories often feel a little confined, but ‘The Gates of Heaven’ is actively expanding the world, introducing many more characters to play with. It’s clear Roberson is looking beyond this five-issue miniseries, so that future stories have more to play with. I didn’t mention it in my last review, just to keep it spoiler free, but it was great to see the British Paranormal Society show up (and to see Simon Bruttenholm is a member.)
Christopher Lewis: There is a slew of new people showing up in this miniseries. So far we have the Foundry, the British Paranormal Society, and the introduction of a couple more members of the Heliopic Brotherhood of Ra. It’s rather exciting to see Sir Edward’s network grow, especially knowing that some of these people will become members of the Silver Lantern Club with him in the future.
Simon Bruttenholm was interesting to see as a young pup. Considering the only other time we saw him was as an old, timid man in “Rasputin: The Voice of the Dragon,” here we see him as an inexperienced teenager. I was surprised that he didn’t show up again in this issue, but hopefully we will see him in the next one.
Mark: Oh, I’m sure we will. I must say, he was looking very well in “Rasputin: The Voice of the Dragon” considering his age. After all, this issue is set in 1884 when Simon was in his late teens or early twenties, and “Rasputin” is set fifty-seven years later, which would mean he’s at least a septuagenarian in that book. It makes me wonder about him.
Right: An older Simon in “Rasputin: The Voice of the Dragon”
We know that he sympathizes with the Heliopic Brotherhood of Ra in “Rasputin” and those associated with the HBR or its offshoots often seem to live life unnaturally long, and often aging very little. Of course, Simon could just have good genes. The age to appearance discrepancy with him isn’t so great as to necessarily be paranormal. Either way, I think he’ll prove to be an interesting character with some areas of gray about him.
Chris: You bring up something that I didn’t pick up on until this issue. ‘The Gates of Heaven’ takes place in 1884, and the previous miniseries ‘City of the Dead’ took place in 1882. I wonder why they skipped over 1883?
Mark: I don’t think they’re going to do the “Hellboy and the B.P.R.D.” thing where every five to six issues covers a year. They could do multiple arcs in the same year (and perhaps they will as they approach the Jack the Ripper events), and they can skip a year. They could do a set over multiple years (either a single long story or a series of shorter stories). The format is flexible. And perhaps it was time to set that precedent and shake up the pattern of the previous four books. Also, it’s probably because they have plans for the Silver Lantern period of his career and they want to get there faster. Assuming they do a book every year, even with skipping 1883, the era in Queen Victoria’s service would still span nine books.
Chris: Makes sense. I do want to talk about how much I have been enjoying D’Israeli’s art over the last two issues. His style gives an old-timey English energy to the book, which fits perfectly with this series. I also liked aspects of Michelle Madsen’s colors during the first issue, but there were a few panels from that issue that I struggled with. Specifically, I enjoyed the deep blacks and contrasting for most of the book, however every once and a while there would be a panel where the foreground and background had little color differentiation. This gave these panels a two-dimensional feel and an odd forced perspective effect, which threw me off and pulled me out of the story.
Continued below
In this issue I didn’t notice a single panel like what I mentioned above. In fact I noticed Madsen used more pronounced shading and highlighting to give additional depth to the art that worked great with D’Israeli’s style. I hope to see more of this in future issues.
Mark: Interesting. I didn’t have that problem with the first issue. In the image above, the light and shadow of Madsen’s colors on Grey were enough to make him pop off the background, which has very little contrast in the light and dark of the colors. Just look at how slight the contrast is on that lectern.
But I do get what you’re saying. D’Israeli’s art works best with dramatic lighting. I find Madsen’s colors are an excellent fit D’Israeli’s art, especially in the opening sequence of this issue. It’s the kind of art that you can look at from a distance and still read with ease.
When I think back to the panels in issue #1 that stuck in my mind, they were the ones with radically different foreground and background color elements, and this issue certainly has more moments that justify that. However, in the scenes that are more restrained, D’Israeli pulls back on the heavy shadows more, giving Madsen more control of the tone, like in the sequence in the Universal Temple of the Heliopic Brotherhood of Ra. (Damn, those guys love their long titles, don’t they!)
Chris: The Brotherhood is an interesting crew. I find it comical that in the middle of London they have a huge temple with Egyptian statues, architecture, and symbols, and then once inside all of the brothers are wearing masquerade masks. For being a secret society, with even some secrecy as to who the members are, they sure like to show off and draw attention to themselves.
Mark: The Heliopic Brotherhood of Ra has always had a rather public face in the 19th century, even if their inner workings have been secret. Practically anyone living in London or Paris at the time would have heard of them.
Let’s get into some (warning!) spoiler material. I had one moment that pulled me out of the book, when Sir Edward became so aggressive with the young girl that visits. I’m used to Sir Edward as he appears in “Hellboy” and “Hellboy in Hell,” where he’s a very measured person. The scene with the girl was a reminder that he isn’t that person yet, and he still has some hard lessons to learn. I’m looking forward to the story where his forceful approach blows up in his face. But, yeah, this was a reminder that his myopic focus on the mystery at hand can make him a real asshole. I think this was part of the reason I like Miss Goad so much in “City of the Dead.” When this side of Sir Edward rears its head, she’s quick to call him on it, whereas when he’s on his own, he’s always convinced his approach is not only the best one, but the only reasonable one, even when he’s being profoundly unreasonable.
Chris: Right on. I think his hatred of the Brotherhood is so deep that anything unexpected to do with them sets him off. Another thing, in the first issue when he received a letter requesting his presence, he came off slightly arrogant until he was humbled by finding out the letter came from the Queen. All of these moments show that Grey hasn’t matured yet and is a little full of himself. Like you said he is far from the patient man we know in the modern day Hellboy stories.
Mark: Oh, for sure. OK, I have to talk about that ending. I remember when “Witchfinder” first came out, it was very close to “B.P.R.D.: Garden of Souls,” which introduced Panya and her backstory with the Heliopic Brotherhood of Ra. It seemed such an obvious set-up, I was sure Sir Edward would cross paths with Panya in some shape or form. But then the second “Witchfinder” story came out, and Lord Glaren died. And since Lord Glaren was still alive when Panya was abducted by the Oannes Society, it seemed to have ruled out any chance of a meeting between the two.
Continued belowOf course, I forgot there could be more than one Lord Glaren. Yes, Lord Adam Glaren was dead, but Lord Michael Glaren is still very much alive. The second I saw the panel with Lord Glaren in it I was like, “Oh shit, Panya’s gonna be in this thing!” All those feelings I had from reading “Garden of Souls” and “In the Service of Angels” came rushing back in an instant.
Upper right: A zombie Lord Adam Glaren in “Witchfinder: Lost and Gone Forever” (1882)
Below: A very much alive (and somewhat exasperated) Lord Michael Glaren in “Witchfinder: The Gates of Heaven” (1884)
Chris: I was wondering why there was such emphasis put on that Lord Gladen scene. Good catch. I do have to say seeing Panya made me grin, and am now eager to read issue #3.
Mark: Yeah, it’ll be interesting to see Panya and Sir Edward interact. Panya loves toying with people and doesn’t suffer fools. And for all his seriousness, there’s still something of the foolish about the young Sir Edward, even if he can’t see it.
Chris: Let’s grade this one. I am going to give it an 8.25. A strong issue with great artistic collaboration. Roberson continues to show his vast knowledge of the Hellboy Universe.
Mark: I’m giving this an 8.5. Roberson’s definitely at his best when he’s writing Sir Edward, and the D’Israeli/Madsen/Robins art team work fantastically together.
Final verdict: 8.4 – “Witchfinder: The Gates of Heaven” #2 taps into the elements that Sir Edward Grey works best with. There’s quite a bit in there that should please long-term fans too.
