EJP's Comics Primer, Pt. 2: Hellboy, Y: The Last Man

Mike Mignola's Hellboy
OK, so Hellboy isn't all that obscure anymore thanks to the movies by Guillermo del Toro, but if you're only exposure to this character is through the movies, you're missing out. It's impossible to summarize the story of this comic without making it sound pretty out there: A demon baby is summoned from the netherworld by a secret group of Nazis during WWII. The plan goes awry and the demon baby (Hellboy) is raised by a US government group, the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense (BPRD). Hellboy becomes the star agent for the Bureau, traveling the world, alone or with some equally freakish agents, hunting down monsters and ghosties of all kinds.

That summary really doesn't do the comic justice though. Though there are a lot of self-contained story arcs throughout the series (which is ongoing...sort of), there's also the broad arc of finding out just who Hellboy is. Is he the son of Satan? Is he destined to destroy the world, or to save it? And what's up with the big rock fist? Besides creating a lot of memorable characters of his own, Mignola draws deeply from history and folklore for other characters and stories in general. Rasputin and Baba Yaga make frequent appearances. H.P. Lovecraft is a major influence. I wouldn't call this a horror comic--it's pretty hard to classify, actually. There are aspects of horror, but also adventure, superhero, mystery, and occasionally, comedy. Think of the old Hammer films and you're getting close.

Besides the excellent writing, the art really sets Hellboy apart from any other comic I'll mention in this primer. Mignola very much created a style of his own. With a very limited color palette and a minimalist style, every panel of these comics speaks volumes. Mignola is a master of setting a mood and leaving a lot to the imagination. He often lets the art tell the story for him, sometimes going pages without a line of dialog. His style is instantly recognizable by anyone who's read the comics, and I never get tired of looking at it.

There are several TPBs out there collecting the last several years of Hellboy, starting with "Seed of Destruction." There are also a number of spin-offs, including BPRD and the more recent Abe Sapien. Though these spin-off series are entertaining, Hellboy--and most importantly the sense of humor Hellboy brings to his own stories--is sorely missed. Also, though the art in the spin-offs is quite good for the most part, it's not Mignola. Get hooked on Hellboy first, then see where that takes you.

Brian K. Vaughan's Y: The Last Man
In a fit of laziness here, I'm just going to let the good people at Vertigo (the branch of DC Comics that deals with a lot of non-superhero fare) explain the plot of this one:

"When a plague of unknown origin instantly kills every mammal with a Y chromosome, unemployed and unmotivated slacker Yorick Brown suddenly discovers that he is the only male left in a world inhabited solely by women. Accompanied by his mischievous monkey and the mysterious Agent 355, Yorick embarks on a transcontinental journey to find his girlfriend and discover why he is the last man on Earth. But with a gang of feminist extremists and the leader of the Israel Defense Forces hunting him, Yorick's future, as well as that of the human race, may be short-lived."

In the wrong hands, a premise like that could have been a disaster. Instead, Vaughan has created an entertaining comic that is in many ways a huge thought experiment. Usually when something like this scenario is presented in sci-fi, it devolves into some sort of male fantasy: "I'm the only man on earth! Every woman will want to sleep with me!" But Vaughan has really put some thought into what would happen if in this world if all the men died instantly and simultaneously. Planes (the majority of pilots are still male) drop out of the sky. Tractor trailer trucks and other cars instantly crash and shut down nearly every road. Most of the world's soldiers are gone (except for Israel's, of course). Most of the US governement: gone. Suddenly, every musical group comprised of male musicians will never produce a single note again. And this all comes up in the first TPB. Far from a sexual utopia, Yorick Brown's world quickly becomes a nightmare.

I'm only halfway through the series, which just wrapped up with its 10th and final TPB this past month. I can't say I like every single issue, but for the most part it's a compelling adventure story, and I'm definitely at the point of no return. I have to know what caused the plague, how Yorick survived, and what's going to happen to him. Though the art isn't as cutting edge as Hellboy, artists Pia Guerra and José Marzá, Jr are certainly competent. But I'm really into this comic for the writing, and Brian K. Vaughan is one of the best talents out there right now. I've already read his take on the Buffyverse in a recent Season 8 story arc, and once I'm done with Y: The Last Man, I'm sure I'll move onto one of his other series.