Review — ‘Shadow Of The Golden Crane’ #3 Advances Toward Its (Hopefully) Epic Ending

Welcome to the table,

This month’s Shadow of the Golden Crane kicks off With Agent Xiang investigating a haunting at a haunted Chinese herbalist shop in Seattle. Typing that sentence was so much fun I did not really think I needed a preamble. Let’s get into it.

From the pen of Mike Mignola and Chris Roberson, with art from Michael Avon Oeming, this paranormal mystery keeps unfolding across space in time in a way that maintains it’s charm and oozes with style. But … it feels so weird to type this … it is starting to lose some steam for me.

Agent Sue Xiang is on her own as Victor, the ghost ape-summoning B.P.R.D. agent, has left to join Hellboy in California. Agent Xiang is investigating a shipment of herbal powder that was sent to the shop in an old metal jar.

The moment she touches the jar, she is gifted visions of a long line of historical moments and individuals who have touched the jar. She gets some insight into a story that showcases three sword-wielding women. On the surface, these women appeared to be common courtesans, but were actual supernatural slaying solders in the war against evil.

The book is beautiful. The plot has been fun up to this point, but this issue feels a bit slower than the first two offerings. Its not bad, it just seems to meander more than the last two and I can’t quite put my finger on why it does not connect with me as well.

It has all the hallmarks of a good B.P.R.D. story. There is a cursed object, a flashback to help bring the reader into the strange and sorted history of said cursed object. There is a fight with some supernatural thing, in this case a creepy cloud like entity. There is setup for a falling action and final fight that will loop the whole story around to the seeds it has been planting down in California since the beginning of the twisting time traveler tale.

I think that is where it is misfiring for me. Each issue has seen Agent Xiang’s team shrinking as they head down to California to fight whatever threat is happening there. This issue is Agent Xiang seemingly alone, save for her memories and the help from the civilians around her. The jar seems to be the missing piece of whatever Victor and Hellboy are clashing with on their side quest.

The beauty of Hellboy Universe stories is how they connect and the tone they strike. Having read this one a few times, I just can’t get as pumped about it as I have been about the others. At first I blamed it on the existential dread of the real world at the time I was reading the first one.

Then I thought maybe it had to do with how much I loved Frankenstein New World, another Hellboy Universe title I have recently been reading. However, I am now on my fifth read. I think it just misses on pacing in a few places and the full page ads disrupt really key story moments that turn an excited page turn into a diluted delivery.

I adore the creators behind this title. I love Dark Horse books. I’m always going to be the biggest champion of stories in the Hellboy Universe, but this one just does not connect. More than anyone else, I’m disappointed. That is a weird feeling for me, of all people, to have.

Until next time, hopefully the next one really brings it all together and I can write this off as an anomaly, not something I need to consult a professional about, because I am way more apt to blame myself over this missed connection than the titans behind this title.

Only time will tell I guess.