Dark Horse Comics
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Spoiler Alert
The Sword of Hyperborea sounds like a weapon that Conan the Barbarian might use. Instead it’s a bipartite leafed blade well known in the Hellboy universe and it made its debut last year. It has magical properties and it turned Agent Howard from the B.P.R.D. into a mighty warrior. He’s not Shazam, but as far as everyone else is concerned, he might as well be. Instead, there’s a bit of crudeness to be found in his disposition, and he earned himself a funny nickname.
There’s a nice bit of humour in the opening pages of this comic. But I’m sure there’s more to what Sherman was referencing when meeting Howard holding the knife like a club. Readers have to know the Mignolaverse in order to appreciate this side story. The world is without a Hellboy. The apocalypse happened and the new heroes are trying to clean up the mess. Monsters are still invading Earth, and Howard is ready to fight a large tentacled beast like a certain Cimmerian.
This issue goes into a huge flashback instead of giving us a prolonged fight. Before we know it, this tale delves into the past, and reveals Gall Dennar’s time with the blade. It’s a fascinating look at the prehistoric times, but for anyone looking for a random read, this work isn’t meant for that audience. This mini series is developed for long time followers to enjoy. Although Mike Mignola and Rob Williams are clearly writing for that audience, there’s bits from this work to enjoy for someone looking for a random read.
Artist Laurence Campbell‘s style and Quinton Winter‘s colouring job is perfect in rendering the prehistoric, and I can’t wait to see what they’ll do in the later issues. All the visual tropes in this type of art are nicely rendered. As for whether Dennar lived or died by the sword like Conan, that’d be saying too much.
We are guaranteed to see Sir Edward Grey at some point because the introduction to this series mentioned him. It’ll be great to see this character again because of my fondness for him, and all things Victorian. As for who else may appear, all the tales told before have a purpose. These new saviours of humanity may well appear in some form to help Howard deal with the tentacled threat he’s not ready for.
