The Visitor

[middenway]

Scott Allie discusses The Visitor and hints at a few other things...

[borntohula]

I thought it was quite alright. Will definitely give it a couple of issues

[grogtheslayer]

I love that cover, I wish I could get my hands on one.

Prices on eBay tend to be hovering in the $20-30 range for sold copies, so it is roughly in line with the ComicsPro variant on The Three Gold Whips in terms of cost. My primary LCS didn't have any, although the guys did go to the ComicsPro meeting. My secondary LCS had some for sale (they also sell on eBay, albeit with higher prices).

[Joker]

Scott Allie discusses The Visitor and hints at a few other things...

That plot hole question... man. It wasn't plot hole, it was them adding The Visitor in where he wasn't needed.

[topfueluhl]

Prices on eBay tend to be hovering in the $20-30 range for sold copies, so it is roughly in line with the ComicsPro variant on The Three Gold Whips in terms of cost. My primary LCS didn't have any, although the guys did go to the ComicsPro meeting. My secondary LCS had some for sale (they also sell on eBay, albeit with higher prices).

I ended up buying a copy off eBay. I'm thinking about getting it signed by Mike at ECCC.

[Storey]

That plot hole question... man. It wasn't plot hole, it was them adding The Visitor in where he wasn't needed.

I wasn't quite sure when reading the issue if they were implying that the Visitor actually had a hand in the outcome or not... did he use his device or not?

[middenway]

I wasn't quite sure when reading the issue if they were implying that the Visitor actually had a hand in the outcome or not... did he use his device or not?

My feeling is that he didn't. He started to, just like he did in 1944 when he sees baby Hellboy, but he stops himself.

[DannyBoy7783]

The aliens have been one of my favorite under the radar aspects of Hellboy. Despite being a painfully obvious thing to explore they have stayed away from them for the most part. They've basically been a mystery for two decades.

On the one hand, I am hungry for more content related to them and their mission. On the other, I am a little nervous about the final product based on issue 1.

Art: didn't care for it. It doesn't seem to fit. I didn't like Guy Davis at first either and he grew on me over time so maybe I'll warm up to it. I've liked some artists that dabble in the Mignolaverse but not all of them. We'll see. Not loving it but I'm keeping an open mind

Story: Started off strong in the first few pages but as others have said it's just a rehash for the bulk of the issue with the alien in the background.


I was thoroughly hyped for this series when it was announced and I'm going to wait until the end to really form my opinion. I think this one has the potential to really do something different.

I don't universally love every issue of every Mignolaverse comic but the broad strokes work for me. I'll give it the benefit of the doubt for now.

[Storey]

My feeling is that he didn't. He started to, just like he did in 1944 when he sees baby Hellboy, but he stops himself.

That is what I hoped...

[middenway]

That is what I hoped...

Yeah, I don't think he's responsible for the dragon being killed, but rather the dragon being killed is what stopped him. Though I think it can be read either way... which is a probelm when we're supposed to be experiencing the story through the Visitor character and yet we don't know what is and isn't motivating his actions in a scene like this. There's a certain lack of clarity in the viewpoint.

[Joker]

Hmmmm... maybe it was my bad reading of it, but I definitely didn't catch that at all.

I'd still make a few changes, but I understand why he played that scene the way he did, now.

[Kirby101]

This issue was more interesting than the first, with seeing the Visitor's personal life. I think we will get some revelations about his race.
But overall it is still a weak series compared to other Mignolaverse books.
And the art still leaves me cold. To simplistic and undynamic.

[thwhtGuardian]

This issue was more interesting than the first, with seeing the Visitor's personal life. I think we will get some revelations about his race.
But overall it is still a weak series compared to other Mignolaverse books.
And the art still leaves me cold. To simplistic and undynamic.

Yeah, it was an improvement... but just barely.
I was really hoping this would be a huge turn around for the series, and after a disastrous first issue that should have been a free #0 intro comic rather than an actual first introductory issue Roberson and Mignola do manage to pick up a little ground here. Where as we got nothing about who the alien was last issue or why we should care in the first issue we did get some insight here into his character...but only some and the story skipped over the most interesting fact: his meeting and relationship with an African American woman in the late 50's early 60's! We see Ruby rescue the visitors from an allyway beating by some bigoted kids but we don't see anything more as after that it's just a flash forward and they have a leave it to beaver marriage. Seeing that relationship blossom would have been a huge insight, and seeing as how he uses that relationship in how he seemingly measures humanity and Hellboy you'd think it would be included but instead although it is alluded to it's never shown and that's frustrating. It seems like a classic example of "show, don't tell" except Roberson doesn't really tell us enough either so we're left with almost nothing to go off of. It's like he's rushing the set up to get to the "stunning" conclusion, but the thing is when you do that the conclusion, no matter how interesting in concept, ends up having zero weight because the readers were never given a good reason to care.

Although there were a few interesting character moments and I did like the the fight scene between Hellboy and the giant armadillo(though even that wasn't fully shown) this book just hasn't grabbed me...which is sad because the story of the lost alien from Conqueror Worm has been something I've been wanting to see told for a long time. This is a drop for me, which is the first for a Mignola book for me.


On the art side Grist does have a little more to do in this issue as he isn't forced to ape out the greatest hits of Hellboy here, and when the giant armadillo showed up I thought we were really going to see what Grist could do...but as I mentioned above once introduced the plot just moved on, without giving Grist the chance to really stretch his legs. I'm not the biggest fan of his cartoony style but his talents really aren't being well served by the pacing and tone of this book. He should have been put on some bombastic adventure with a lot of humor and action rather than this dull slog that doesn't seem to know where it's going. It's a serious mismatch between the art and the story and that's really a first as Mignola and company have always made great pairings in the past.

I've never once dropped a Mignola book in my life but I don't think I'll be picking this one up again... and that almost hurts to say that.

[TDG]

Hello all,

It is an okay second issue, I found it a bit more interesting than the first but it still needs to find it's stride.
It is rather dull as some other people he point out.

I was actually surprised about the black woman knowing that her husband was an alien and not be surprised to be in this form when she entered his room but I really should have seen this one coming.

One thing has me a little confused now is the Ogdru Hem spirit, I always had the idea that these were unfathomable beings, so far away from humans that communication is impossible. (like an ant opening a line of dialogue with a human), but this is the second time there is one who speaks English and actually talks to people.
Demons I can understand, the whole seduction and such, but Ogdru Hem?

[thwhtGuardian]

Hello all,

It is an okay second issue, I found it a bit more interesting than the first but it still needs to find it's stride.
It is rather dull as some other people he point out.

I was actually surprised about the black woman knowing that her husband was an alien and not be surprised to be in this form when she entered his room but I really should have seen this one coming.

One thing has me a little confused now is the Ogdru Hem spirit, I always had the idea that these were unfathomable beings, so far away from humans that communication is impossible. (like an ant opening a line of dialogue with a human), but this is the second time there is one who speaks English and actually talks to people.
Demons I can understand, the whole seduction and such, but Ogdru Hem?

Yeah, I wasn't a huge fan of that element myself; it just felt out of place to me though I did like the design of the creature and how it grew out of the calf.