Hellboy and the B.P.R.D.: The Seven Wives Club
Writer: Mike Mignola, Artist: Adam Hughes, Letterer: Clem Robins, Publisher: Dark Horse
Hellboy lives and dies on tone. It’s the reason every Hellboy movie is missing that little bit of magic Mike Mignola brings. It’s gothic, reflective, tinged with sorrow and regret. That’s what ghost stories are about — unfinished business.
So much of that tone comes from Mignola’s shadowy and contemplative art, so when another artist — especially one as distinctive as Adam Hughes — comes along, there’s a risk of messing up that balance. Hellboy and the B.R.P.D.: The Seven Wives Club is a strong effort but falters where it matters most.
The story, frankly, is your boilerplate Hellboy tale. The Right Hand of Doom investigates a paranormal mystery, gets told a folk tale about it, gets impatient and punches a ghost. It’s a winning formula that allows Mignola to worry less about the mechanics of the story and spend more time building a campfire legend. The story is less important to Hellboy than how that story is told, and the book uses its selling point, Hughes’ art, to maximize the presentation. Where Mignola has more Kirby-inspired abstraction to his art, Hughes pushes for a more grounded photorealism in figures with a saturated color palette. That allows The Seven Wives Club to build its horror from detailed, anatomical depictions of rot and carnage.
Unfortunately, not every art decision lands. There’s a pin-up quality to Hughes’ work. He draws beautiful people doing glamorous things. His color palette leaves models airbrushed and ready for a photoshoot. It’s what you expect from Hughes, it’s what he has built a career on but it is a poor tonal fit for Mignola’s story. There are some awkward faces that pull a reader out of the drama. There’s a sanitized vibe from his environments and characters, even when they are exploring musty basements and cobweb-covered labs. It’s a real shock, especially paired with a Mignola tale that’s akin to classic Hellboy comics.
The end result is a book you can easily judge by the cover. If the idea of a Mignola/Hughes joint appeals to you, this is going to be a comic you adore. If you have a very specific idea of what Hellboy comics should look like, you may walk away disappointed. It’s good that there’s a willingness to expand the visual palette of the Hellboy universe, but this is one tonal experiment that doesn’t quite work.
Zachary Jenkins co-hosts the podcast Battle of the Atom and is the former editor-in-chief of ComicsXF. Shocking everyone, he has a full and vibrant life outside all this.
