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Anyone who kept up with Mike Mignola’s Hellboy saga and read the B.P.R.D. spin-off series will be glad to know this creator is back at the helm for this latest. Sir Edward Grey: Acheron sets the 19th-century paranormal investigator (in his ‘modern’ form of a shade) against an old enemy, Acheron, and the tale sees him confront and face his own destiny.
Mignola and frequent collaborators Dave Stewart and Clem Robins deliver an intriquing tale in a future where Hellboy is no longer around. Anyone who’s followed the 30 year long saga knows his fate. But for those wanting to jump in at this point may feel confused at what’s going on. This comic has Grey summing up everything that’s previously transpired and it doesn’t require knowing everything that’s happened.
Edward is an intriguing bloke. In modern times, this character has emerged as a phantom, wearing a blank, emotionless mask. We see this version in this comic when he travels to Hell to “face” his demons. Mignola’s fantastic art sets a melancholy tone as it seems everyone is suffering.
This one shot is only setting the stage for something even more dire down the road. The hell that Mignola and Stewart crafted sets Sir Edward Grey and Acheron in purgatory. We get an exposition that requires readers to know the universe well enough to know that the world is without a Hellboy, the present is in ruins and we’re not sure how it’ll survive without its heroes. It’s a terrific lead-in for the next tale, The Deathless in Hell, due to arrive in 2022.
