HEATHER’S PICK :: HELLBOY: THE MIDNIGHT CIRCUS: Young Hellboy joins the circus.  That sentence alone should be enough for you to pick up this hard cover graphic novel.  Just in case it’s not, let me elaborate and mention the minds behind this story-Mike Mignola and Duncan Fegredo.  Admittedly, I haven’t read a lot of Hellboy standalone books (I’m a B.P.R.D. girl, after all.)  Some of my favorite vignettes in the B.P.R.D. mini-series year books (1947, etc.) have featured young Hellboy.  Give me stories of Hellboy playing with his black lab and getting pamcakes any day.

 I couldn’t be happier to get a full graphic novel all about young Hellboy and his misadventures when he runs away to join the circus.  Of course, this isn’t just any circus but an evil one.  It’s particularly interesting that the tale of Pinocchio is intertwined with Hellboy’s story.  Mignola’s writing and Fegredo’s art combine to create a delightfully creepy book just in time for the Halloween season.

SETH’S PICK :: ABE SAPIEN: DARK AND TERRIBLE #1: If you’re at all familiar with the Mignola-verse of characters, you know Abe Sapien’s story is as intriguing as Hellboy’s.  And while you could say that Abe has been largely about a creature trying to hold onto his humanity, in recent years Mignola and company have further mutated the fish-man.  Now he looks less like a man with gills, and more like a relative of the Creature from the Black Lagoon.  Fitting, since the Earth has literally gone to hell over in B.P.R.D.  Now, courtesy of Dark Horse, Mignola, Scott Allie, Sebastian Fiumara and colorist extraordinaire Dave Stewart, we get an all new ongoing series featuring Abe.  It’s a fish-man fighting monsters, travelling the ruined Earth, and trying to make sense of what he was and is.  They had me at fish-man.

SETH’S PICK :: HELLBOY IN HELL #3: The fact is, many times a high profile creator returns to a character they made famous, in spite of publicity, the book somehow doesn’t live up to expectation.  Mike Mignola’s return to drawing Hellboy in this series certainly attracted lots of attention, but it has been far from a let down.  In fact, it’s arguably as good as anything Mignola’s ever done.  You can really see the joy he’s getting out of taking Hellboy in a new direction.  It’s not a rehash of where Hellboy has been before, and Mignola is clearly crafting challenging stories and situations that will only further develop the character.  It’s also worth mentioning the genius-level coloring of Dave Stewart.  He’s long been Mignola’s go-to colorist, but the new setting of Hell has really allowed Stewart to stretch out and use a richer, more varied palette.  These are masters of the craft who are not only enjoying the process of making these comics, but are pushing themselves to evolve their work and the characters they continue to define. 

Bonus Pick of the Week:  I’d be remiss not to mention this week’s debut of our pal Jason Latour as the new writer of Winter Soldier.  All of us around here have long known how hard Jason works at comics, and some of us have even heard about what he has in the works for Bucky Barnes.  Alongside Nic Klein, who may well be the most suited artist to work on Winter Soldier since Jackson Guice, Latour plans to move Bucky forward in genuinely interesting ways.  Ed Brubaker brought Bucky back to relevance, and he’ll always cast a long shadow on whoever else writes the character, but Latour and Klein will distinguish Winter Soldier in ways you’ve never seen before.

RICO’S PICK :: B.P.R.D. 1948: This new B.P.R.D. looks like the perfect book for the season. Max Fiumara and Dave Stewart make everything look exciting and Max does a great and unique version of Hellboy as a…boy. Mignola and Arcudi’s latest B.P.R.D. tale is wrapped in a beautifully spooky Dave Johnson cover.

RICO’S PICK :: LOBSTER JOHNSON: PRAYER OF NEFERU ONE SHOT:  Wilfredo Torres provides art on this self contained Lobster Johnson story. Torres’ talents are well displayed depicting Egyptian motifs, bloated fat cats, and the brilliantly designed neo-pulp protagonist, Lobster Johnson. Arcudi and Mignola always deliver a great ride and Dave Stewart drenches the entire Mignolaverse in pitch-perfect color. Oh yeah, and how about that sweet cover by Tonci Zonjic!