Biker Granny From Hell Vs. Ghost Ape — Reviewing ‘Shadow Of The Golden Crane’ #2

Welcome to the table,

A biker grandma with a flaming bat and belt made of chains fights the ghost of a ape being through the flame-filled streets of a Midwest shopping district.

Yep. That’s a thing that happens within the pages of this rad little comic book.

Shadow of the Golden Crane #2 is another offering in the folklore landscape of the Hellboy Universe. This time, Mike Mignola is joined by writer Chris Roberson and the always talented Michael Avon Oeming.

The story kicks off back in the 1960s, with Hellboy off in California investigating a monster sighting. Meanwhile, Victor Koestler and the main character of this series, Sue Xiang, investigate a battling grandma who is seemingly possessed by something that gives her sway over others and a hunger for melee combat.

Victor calls forth a spirit ape that lives inside him to do battle with the bat wielding granny. Sue, upon getting close enough to get a bit of the spirit energy possessing the elderly warrior, is treated to a flash back of 13th century China during the Mongol Invasion.

I’m not making this up. This is the actual plot of the comic, and it is rad as hell!

**Spoilers Follow**

In the story-present day, ghost ape is fighting granny, who now has a flaming baseball bat with nails driven into it. In the 13th century, Sue is spirit riding a member of the Golden Crane, as he and a companion willingly allow themselves to be captured by the Mongol invaders so they can use their rad magic to cast out a demon from one of the Mongol leaders.

The jaunt through the past reveals that there is this heavy metal looking hair pin that contained the spirit of the demon from the Mongol leader who is now possessing the grandma. Ghost Ape is able to grab that, and in turn remove the spirt from the now-kindly old woman. The elderly host is quickly returned to her family after the B.P.R.D. seemingly clear things up with the cops for her, but strangely let the bikers who she was leading go to jail for disturbing the peace.

The back and forth timeline stories featuring the Golden Crane are really the treat of this series so far. I like the ’60s stuff just fine. It’s cool and moody and feels right in the setting, but the flashback really speak to my love of old Kung-Fu movies and occult stories all mashed up together.

I’m looking forward to what the next issue brings as each feels like it’s a cool “monster of the week” story with some book ends that will eventually see the little team figure out some grander mystery about the Golden Crane organization.

Until next time, … I really want a Ghost Ape.