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A review by devinr
Lobster Johnson Volume 1: The Iron Prometheus by Mike Mignola
3.0
Lobster Johnson: The Iron Prometheus is the story of The Lobster, scourge of the underworld, and his battles against crime lords, Nazis, and the supernatural. Basically, some of the greatest pulp hero cliches stirred up with some H.P. Lovecraft by way of Mike Mignola. Generally, I liked this comic: it expanded the story of one of the less-well-known characters in the Hellboy/BPRD universe and put him front & center. And it generally worked.
The story started out fairly straighforwardly - brilliant scientist blackmailed to do work for an evil man - and by the end it had become something much different. Mignola's story had a few surprising turns, and he certainly kept the momentum going full steam ahead. And Jason Armstrong's art made me think a little of Mignola, but with touches of Darwyn Cooke and Kirby, as well as his own style. He's a good storyteller, and the character designs were exactly what I was hoping for, but I'm not chomping at the bit to read more of his stuff.
For me, the text pieces at the end of issues two through four were definite highlights; I really liked tracking the character's fictional development, and it made me want more Lobster Johnson stories than the comic itself did. I wish I could say more one way or the other about the book, but it was fun and solid and that's pretty much all there is to it. There were a couple of times I found the story and art a little hard to follow, but all told it was a fun read, not exactly groundbreaking but certainly entertaining.
The story started out fairly straighforwardly - brilliant scientist blackmailed to do work for an evil man - and by the end it had become something much different. Mignola's story had a few surprising turns, and he certainly kept the momentum going full steam ahead. And Jason Armstrong's art made me think a little of Mignola, but with touches of Darwyn Cooke and Kirby, as well as his own style. He's a good storyteller, and the character designs were exactly what I was hoping for, but I'm not chomping at the bit to read more of his stuff.
For me, the text pieces at the end of issues two through four were definite highlights; I really liked tracking the character's fictional development, and it made me want more Lobster Johnson stories than the comic itself did. I wish I could say more one way or the other about the book, but it was fun and solid and that's pretty much all there is to it. There were a couple of times I found the story and art a little hard to follow, but all told it was a fun read, not exactly groundbreaking but certainly entertaining.