Hellboy and the B.P.R.D.: Saturn Returns

[URL="http://www.multiversitycomics.com/news/hellboy-bprd-saturn-returns/"]Coming in August...[/URL]

Interesting . . . I wonder when in the past this will have taken place.

[img]http://www.multiversitycomics.com/wp-content/themes/mvc/images/timthumb.php?src=http://multiversitystatic.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2019/05/HBYBSR_i1_CVR_SOL.jpg&q=95&w=588&zc=1&a=t[/img]

Nice I saw this pop up today on my Instagram feed....insta-happy.

That's a great cover, I wonder though if that owl is just an owl...or secretly a vampire.

[QUOTE=thwhtGuardian;4350461]That's a great cover, I wonder though if that owl is just an owl...or secretly a vampire.[/QUOTE]

That owl does look a lot like Baron Konig.

[URL="https://13thdimension.com/hellboy-and-the-bprd-behind-the-cover-of-saturn-returns-1/"][I]Saturn Returns[/I] #1 cover process[/URL]

[URL="https://13thdimension.com/hellboy-and-the-bprd-saturn-returns-2-cover-revealed/"][I]Saturn Returns[/I] #2 cover process[/URL]

This came out yesterday. It was fine, but it didn't leave much of an impression on me.

I'll probably re read it. (To be fair, I think the Hickman X-Books have kind of made everything else feel pretty inconsequential to me lately.)

Yeah, House of X and Powers of X are phenomenal so far. Very in line with Hickman’s F4 and Avengers runs.

As for Saturn Returns, it’s very in line with much of Hellboy and the BPRD. Well written and fun, but the stakes are low and it feels a little supplementary.

See, the whole Powers/House of X thing seems pretty muddled for my tastes.

As for this issue itself I felt like though obviously important the Liz plot line should either be in its own book or either a back up feature or short in something like DHP as being cut into the issue proper took away from developing the main story with Hellboy. The concept of investigating a decades long string of serial killings in the woods of New Hampshire has a lot of potential but without the time to develop a sense of mood it comes across as a little flat.

To be clear, I like Hellboy stories like this. I think it was mostly just overshadowed by the more bombastic Hickman stuff. Also being part 1 of 3...

(as an aside, the X books aren't muddled at all. It's actually a pretty clear read, and I haven't read X-anything since the '90s.)

I really enjoyed the first issue, looking forward to seeing what happens.

Have we seen Agent Kinsley and Special Agent Oates before? Oates says "Hellboy knows me." Can't place him at all, and google is no good.

[QUOTE=timbolton;4526809]I really enjoyed the first issue, looking forward to seeing what happens.

Have we seen Agent Kinsley and Special Agent Oates before? Oates says "Hellboy knows me." Can't place him at all, and google is no good.[/QUOTE]
I think they're both new characters to readers. Kinsley certainly is (unless she was mentioned in a prose story I haven't read).

[QUOTE=middenway;4526908]I think they're both new characters to readers. Kinsley certainly is (unless she was mentioned in a prose story I haven't read).[/QUOTE]

I can't believe there exists a Hellboy prose story that you haven't read. :)

[QUOTE=topfueluhl;4528123]I can't believe there exists a Hellboy prose story that you haven't read. :)[/QUOTE]
I haven't read most of them actually. I've been holding off, hoping Dark Horse would publish nicer editions. I'd certainly like Christopher Golden's three novels in a hardcover omnibus that sits comfortably next to the comics.

[QUOTE=middenway;4529845]I haven't read most of them actually. I've been holding off, hoping Dark Horse would publish nicer editions. I'd certainly like Christopher Golden's three novels in a hardcover omnibus that sits comfortably next to the comics.[/QUOTE]

That would be nice!

I'm not the biggest Mitten fan, but this issue was his best work to date for me. Really enjoyed the set up here. Looking forward to seeing this unfold.

My feeling about the Liz portion of the story hasn't changed. As much as I want to see her development as a kid the Hellboy portion is more interesting at this point but it's suffering from underdevelopment and pacing issues due to the Liz portions taking up page count and breaking up the flow of the story.

I don't know what it is, but something about this one just isn't ticking the boxes for me.

I thought the first issue was a lot better than the second--they're introducing the monster in a weird, anti-climactic way which I hope pays off hugely later on.

I also can't be bothered about the Liz story. Roberson's demonstrated several times now that his Mignolaverse strength is not building characters, so spending this long focusing on a fairly uninteresting (so far) part of her life seems like a wild misfire. It also seems symptomatic of what I feared would happen if they finished the "modern" story and tried to keep filling in with these stories: eventually we'll hit the point where we get three-issue arcs about the time Tom Manning got gas at the Cumberland Farms instead of the Circle K. Diminishing returns, man, diminishing returns.

[QUOTE=ckmoak;4580415]I also can't be bothered about the Liz story. Roberson's demonstrated several times now that his Mignolaverse strength is not building characters, so spending this long focusing on a fairly uninteresting (so far) part of her life seems like a wild misfire.[/QUOTE]
This is written by Scott Allie, not Chris Roberson.

*hangs head in shame*

But we can all agree that whatever the particular writing thing we're talking about is, Arcudi does it best, right?

Seeing the enthusiastic posting for the final chapter :p I guess most agree with me that this was a hot mess. I am not even sure what happened in the end. And the Liz stuff just felt superfluous and distracting. So the creature was from 110,000 BCE. But that doesn't explain anything. Why did it appear 90 years ago? And that last fight, the sheriff's deputy is attacked and then ok, Agent Kinsley is attacked and then is ok. The storytelling was jumbled and I am lost on the connections to all the people. What's with the Goya painting? (Yes I know it's title). Disappointed all around.

Yeah, this was very poorly executed. I don't know what to say...

Hellboy and the B.P.R.D. has underwhelmed me for a long time. If it wasn't solely Mignola writing, I was skipping it. Somehow I thought this one was.
At this point, I'd just rather not have new Hellboy books than have bad ones. And make no mistake, these are bad books.

I dunno... I just feel bad for the artists working on this book.

[QUOTE=Joker;4647760]Yeah, this was very poorly executed. I don't know what to say...

Hellboy and the B.P.R.D. has underwhelmed me for a long time. If it wasn't solely Mignola writing, I was skipping it. Somehow I thought this one was.
At this point, I'd just rather not have new Hellboy books than have bad ones. And make no mistake, these are bad books.

I dunno... I just feel bad for the artists working on this book.[/QUOTE]

What makes it worse is that it could have easily been a good book...if they had just picked one plot or the other. Both stories had the makings of something worth while...but crammed together? Neither one got the development it deserved. I blame the editor honestly, they should have clearly seen that there wasn't enough room for both stories and forced the issue.

[QUOTE=thwhtGuardian;4651069]I blame the editor honestly[/QUOTE]

Ironically, it was written by the long time Hellboy Editor.

[QUOTE=Joker;4652341]Ironically, it was written by the long time Hellboy Editor.[/QUOTE]

Which is why it's so weird. These guys know how to pace good stories...and they just aren't.

So, here is my issue with the book...

It's clearly a hamfisted attempt to create a new protagonist by removing Hellboy from his part of the story before the conclusion and having his agent friend, who is so forgettable and uninteresting that I can't recall her name, resolve the ghoul angle. If that wasn't the purpose, then what was the point of that whole story in the first place. The Liz story was fine, I guess? It didn't tell us anything new about her character or develop who she was in any way, so the whole story could not have happened and we'd be in no different a place than where we started.

I don't agree that this has been the case with the rest of Hellboy and the B.P.R.D. I've thoroughly enjoyed '52-'56. The Bruttenholm stuff has been great, the treatment of the side characters have been consistent and have been developing the setting, and Varvara's appearances gave new context to the later B.P.R.D stories.

For me, I felt like this was a story made so the reader can solve the case, but the Bureau can't. We have all the clues to put together exactly what happened, but the Bureau lacks the context we have.

I think the Liz story works on paper, but in execution, it didn't work primarily because the scene transitions are unmotivated. There's no reason for the Hellboy scenes to cut to the Liz scenes, it simply cuts to them because the story is finished telling you all it wants to with the Hellboy stuff for now, so it arbitrarily goes to Liz.

Take the first issue for example, we begin on the case, then randomly cut to Liz in the middle of the issue, go back to the case, then end with Liz having run away. It would have been more motivated if we'd begun with Liz, she has that "When 's Hellboy coming back?" moment, then cut to the case with Hellboy going, "This one's gonna take a while," to connect the scenes. Then end the last scene of the case with a moment about how people have been unexpectedly vanishing, then return to Liz being gone. It motivates the cuts and it gives a shape to the overall issue.

I feel like all the elements are there, they just need to be juggled into an order that flows better.

Interesting. You're definitely not wrong!


Maybe someone should take the digital files, rearrange them, and see if it truly works better...'

[QUOTE=zerodemon;4654803]I don't agree that this has been the case with the rest of Hellboy and the B.P.R.D. I've thoroughly enjoyed '52-'56. [/QUOTE]

It's so fucking exposition heavy. Just endless dialog where none is or should be needed. It is classic bad villain monologuing. It's large amounts of dialogue in action scenes. It is characters talking to themselves to say things the art should, and often is, conveying in the panel.

It hasn't been good. Certainly not the level of craft the Mignolaverse is generally associated with.

double post

Yeah this one felt a little flat to me as well.