Cryptozoology is one of those a pseudoscience that has people trying to find creatures that might exists but nobody has gotten a living specimen of (bigfoot, the Loch Ness monster.) Of course, that doesn’t mean people can’t write fiction about them. Comic creator Mike Mignola, along with fellow writer Christ Roberson and artist Shawn Martinbrough and colorist Lee Loughridge, created a one-shot called “Hellboy and the B.P.R.D. 1957: Falling Sky” with that idea in mind.
Dr. Woody Farrier and Hellboy investigate whatever it is that crashed landed in the woods in Sutton, West Virginia. However, Woody, a cryptozoologist, is getting tired of going on assignments because what he wants to find evidence of the existence any cryptozoological creature.
This one-shot is all about Woody. We are introduced to him and we get a bit of info on his personality. Cryptozoology is perfect for the world of “Hellboy” in that there are a ton of monsters that these characters can encounter with Hellboy punching them into oblivion. However, the monster design here is a bit of a letdown. The monster itself is a neat idea, but the actual design is boring.
That’s not to say the artwork is terrible. Martinbrough’s vision for what the “Helboy” universe looks like is nice. It looks like an old horror comic from the “Golden Age” of horror comics but with an updated look to it. Loughridge also helps by making everything dark and foreboding. His colors are a nice added touch to the comic.
“Hellboy and the B.P.R.D. 1957: Falling Sky” is a nice introduction to a character and idea that can be used for lots of great things in the “Hellboy” universe. The artwork also has some nice touches to it with the only black eyes are the monster design for a creature that, when you hear the name, conjures up something a million times greater than what was drawn here.
Leave a Reply