“Mike Mignola can create practically any character and anything in his “Hellboy” universe and it’ll oddly fit. His newest story is called “Captain Henry and the Graveyard of Time,” with co-writer and artist Bruce Zick.
In 1880 England, after the death of Sir. Walter, his nephew has called up Captain Henry to go into the other world and find out why his uncle is constantly yelling while trapped inside a taxidermized polar bear. While there, Captain Henry gets stuck in a world that’s full of clocks and must find a way to get out.
While the idea of a character in the “Hellboy” universe going into another world, dimension, timeline, whatever, isn’t anything new, the execution is what matters most. Here, the world is miles and miles of clocks. That may not sound scary to the average reader, but once you sit down and think about it, the idea of a giant clock monster is frightening. Mignola and Zick craft a story that is both terrifying and has a mystery that will make readers want to know more.
Zick shows that he has a knack for the weird. Not only are the creatures creepy-looking, but the backgrounds are too. The clock world has this creepy aesthetic where everything is bent out of shape, wires everywhere and objects that look like steampunk vehicles. The best-looking panels are the ones that are colored yellow and green, which gives the world an otherworldly look to it.
The first issue of “Captain Henry and the Graveyard of Time” has a creepy idea that is executed properly, with a world that is weird-looking and monsters that, while some readers may not think they are scary at first, once you see how they look and what they do, it will change their minds. The mystery surrounding this world will also keep readers wanting to know what happens next.
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