Rob Williams writes "The Sword of Hyperborea"

[url]https://aiptcomics.com/2022/01/13/swords-of-hyperborea-rob-williams/[/url]

I thought it was interesting and wanted to share the article. AIPT has problems on cellphones so I'd recommend reading on a desktop.

I was really hoping this was going to be as good as the last Witch Finder one shot...but I thought that other than the art this was fairly bland.

Okay story, good art, but felt a bit random. Weird that they went from pre-History to the 20th Century without any stories of the sword over the millennium. Was it buried all this time?
I guess they are leading to the sword getting to Chicago. Is that were Howards finds it?

Although there are a few scenes aboard the Brotherhood of Ra's ship in the latest issue that really did sing and deliver some fun, snappy Indiana Jones like dialogue the majority of the book is really disjointed. When does the book signing take place? Is that where Olssen was recruited? Did it occur after he was stranded on the bottom of the English Channel? It's not clear, and what's more the part that seems like the most fun, Olssen as the defender of Atlantis is just glanced briefly before we see him wash up on a tropical island which really seems like its burying the lead to me.
What's even more frustrating than the story missing the interesting parts is the fact that it means we miss out on Campbell getting to draw awesome scenes of a guy in deep sea diving gear fighting sea monsters with a sword...which should be a crime

I am not sure of the point of this. The book just seems to be a way to show how it got to Howards. You could show the course of the sword through history in a one shot. The individual books don't have any meaning in themselves.
Good art though.

[QUOTE=Kirby101;5977488]I am not sure of the point of this. The book just seems to be a way to show how it got to Howards. You could show the course of the sword through history in a one shot. The individual books don't have any meaning in themselves.
Good art though.[/QUOTE]

Yeah, unless its an established character like Howards/Dennar or Ed Gray I don't think a one shot is enough to make us care about who has the sword...especially not how it was presented here

I probably should have dropped this one a while back, this was really one of the most disjointed books Mignola's put out in a while. Previously the only other Mignola book I had dropped was The Visitor but what kept me going here was the amazing art by Campbell. I just don't get what went on here, the sword somehow got to a Chicago chapter of the Heliopic Brotherhood of Ra and a rip off of Robert Johnson stops them for some reason. Who is the demon who made him a talented guitarist? Why does the demon want to take down the Heliopic Brotherhood? Was it the sword giving him the talent? Was it Edward Gray who died in Chicago?
It's not clear, nor is it clear how it gets to the end with the future frog people who descend from Abe. It's just hollow and muddled and gives us nothing.

Lawrence Campbell is as awesome as always, I'm just sad his excellent art is wasted on such a worthless book.

I could not have said it better. It was a story we did not need.

[QUOTE=Kirby101;6023619]I could not have said it better. It was a story we did not need.[/QUOTE]

The thing is, it could have ended up being good, there were kernels here that could have been developed into interesting stories but they weren't given time to grow.

[I]The Sword of Hyperborea[/I] interviews:
[LIST][*][URL="https://hellboybookclub.podbean.com/e/episode-159-laurence-campbell-rob-williams-talk-sword-of-hyperborea/"]Hellboy Book Club chatting to Rob Williams and Laurence Campbell[/URL][*][URL="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doIUe72cDFM"]Daniel Fee chatting to Rob Williams and Laurence Campbell.[/URL][/LIST]

I think it was a series that showed promise but ultimately failed.