Hellboy: The Wild Hunt

Bought at Boocup, Kerry Parkside, Pudong, Shanghai, China.

Title: Hellboy: The Wild Hunt
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Date: October, 2018
Writer: Mike Mignola
Artist: Duncan Fegredo
Colorist: Dave Stewart
Letterer: Clem Robins
Editor: Scott Allie

Hellboy is recruited to join the Wild Hunt to defeat a gang of six giants who have awakened from their tombs. But the battle with the giants leads to betrayal and plunges Hellboy into a rapidly-brewing war between the forces of mythical Britain.

This was a beautifully atmospheric deep dive into Arthurian mythology with Hellboy's own distinctively snarky viewpoint laid over the ancient forces a play.

There is a lot going on in terms of plot and characters, and much of this volume is simply putting pieces onto the board for the game to come, but the setup is lovely to watch unfold.

Duncan Fegredo does a great job with the art, incorporating the mythical elements while keeping the distinctive look of Hellboy.

Rating: 8.5/10

The Stand Volume 6: The Night Has Come

I bought this one here in Shanghai, probably at Boocup, but I didn't make a note when I got it.

Title: The Stand
Issue: Volume 6: The Night Has Come
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Date: 2013
Writer: Stephen King, Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa
Artist: Mike Perkins
Colorist: Laura Martin
Letterer: VC's Joe Sabino
Editor: Nicole Boose
Cover: Tom Coker, Laura Martin

The sixth volume of the trade paperback collections of Marvel's adaptation of The Stand is the final volume, covering the final confrontation between Randal Flagg and the forces of the Free Zone, plus all of the aftermath of that climactic scene.

This was a very strong adaptation that stuck closely to the source. I thought the look of the characters was great, the selection of dialogue worked, and the pacing was excellent. It felt familiar in a good way, an excellent revisit to a favorite story of mine.

I didn't read the previous volumes of the adaptation, but would definitely give them a look on the basis of this one.

Rating: 8/10

Star Wars: Allegiance

Bought at Boocup, Kerry Parkside, Shanghai, China.

Title: Star Wars: Allegiance
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Date: 2019
Writer: Ethan Sacks
Artist: Luke Ross
Colorist: Lee Loughridge
Letterer: VC's Clayton Cowles
Editor: Mark Paniccia, Tom Groneman
Cover: Marco Checchetto

This was really odd. It's a prequel to Rise of Skywalker, but it's very clear that the writer of this story had been given no information on the plot of Rise of Skywalker, and so in hindsight, it reads like the prequel to what everyone expected Rise of Skywalker to be, rather than the prequel to what we actually got.

No mention of Palpatine, of course, because, well, that would have been a spoiler at the time this was released.

The result is a rather uneven mixing of two separate plots. Finn and Poe (with BB8) try to retrieve some weaponry for the Resistance and end up hunted by bounty hunters. And Leia visits Mon Cala with Chewie, Rey, 3PO, R2, and Rose on a diplomatic mission.

Complications of the usual sort arise in both scenarios, and there are a few good moments for some of the characters, along with a fair amount of wasted potential. I'm always here for Rose getting to be part of the action, and was happy to see her shine in a few places, but much like in Rise of Skywalker itself, she still spent too much time standing around with nothing to do. I also thought there was a bit too much playing into the hothead side of Rey's persona. Leia came off as a good diplomat, but we expect brilliance out of Leia.

The story also leaned a bit heavily into tired cliches. Trial by combat? Really?

The crew of bounty hunters introduced in the Poe/Finn subplot were the most interesting people in the story, although that was due in some respect to novelty.

Rating: 4/10