Hellboy and the BPRD: 1957 "Forgotten Lives"

With the Lobster Johnson card on the cover I think I was more hyped over this issue than it probably warranted which led me to being more disappointed that it didn't contain a meet up between Hellboy and the Lobster than the story deserved. It's not that it's a bad story, the character moments between Bruttenholm and Hellboy were well done and the concept of the Heart Island potter's field cemetery off the Bronx being haunted was fun but it was thin after that. A low stakes haunting that gets solved when Hellboy realizes he remembers the name of one of the people interred in one of the mass graves wrote a couple of Lobster Johnson pulp stories just feels like it should have been the kind of story used for a quick back up story rather than a full issue.

I think that was in my top three for Roberson-penned Mignolaverse stuff. As much as it did kind of pitch a premise that didn't end up being there, I really loved the quiet and the character work. Even when we get Hellboy/Bruttenholm stories, their relationship (when he's adult at least) rarely feels familial to me. This did worlds to ground their father/son relationship and fill that gap for me. I think it helped that I've lost a chunk of investment in the ongoing HB&BPRD story arc right now, so my expectations weren't particularly high.

It felt in the best way like the early days of BPRD with the dream team of writers and artists willing to take a whole miniseries to have its leads reflect on what death means to them over the break room table. I hope we can have a bit more like this in the future.

Nothing earth shattering, but a nice, sweet story with good art.

It may have been a "quieter" story than many people want/prefer, but I did enjoy it none the less.

Then again, I read a lot of collected editions reprinting many of the old pulp magazine serials, so that probably gave this an extra appeal to me as well. And it was nice that they (sort of) brought back Norvell Cooper, even if it was only his ghost.