Review: ‘Miss Truesdale And The Rise Of Man’ #3 Is Far From “Disposable Media”

Welcome to the table,

Comics are an artform. I know there is this thing where some people will say, “You should be able to roll up a comic and stick it in your back pocket,” or “it’s just disposable media.” I have had friends — friends — who have worked in the industry for years, who say that comics are not permanent, that I romanticize the medium too much, and it will break my heart one day.

It has broken my heart a lot. I have had many “one days” across the span of my life, so the heartbreaking aspect of loving this crazy industry the way I do has long come and gone ten times over.

The reason I never wall myself off from it, the reason I don’t steel my resolve and see the paneled page as something that can be deposed or and disregarded at the whim of powers currently beyond my reach, is because books like Miss Truesdale and the Rise of Man exist. A world where this comic is written, edited, illustrated, inked, colored, lettered, printed, and sold to anyone who has the coin to buy it and see the magic on each page turn is worth the heartbreak that may come from continuing to love this method of storytelling.

Mike Mignola and Jesse Lonergan have created something with Miss Truesdale. It feels so perfect and I am still struggling to put it into words.

Back in early 2023, as I was talking about Miss Truesdale and the Fall of Hyperboria, I said:

“Those who are versed in the lore of the Hellboy Universe are going to find the contents of Miss Truesdale and the Fall of Hyperboria to be nothing short of a revelatory addition to the ever-weaving threads of a world full of wonder, horror, and spellbinding mythology that is as timeless as the characters who drive it.”

I followed that thought by saying, “this book is important. I can feel it in my bones.”

This third issue of the follow-up series, Miss Truesdale and the Rise of Man, affirms that I was correct.

Issue #3 continues the framed time-bending, consciousness-hopping story in which William, a ghost, continues to relay information about the angels who fell to Earth and shifted the world into the age of man that we know.

The third angel falls, twisting lizards into sentient lizard folk known as the Nagunra. They promptly attack Anum Yassa in a way that starts to blur between Anum the Gladiator, Hellboy, and Amelia as each seems to clash with foes in their own lifetime, but feel echoes of things that are, were, and will be.

Lonergan continues to bend reality across the pages in what is some of the most brilliantly orchestrated panel placement I have seen in my lifetime.

Reading these pages are disorienting in a way that feels constructed for our enjoyment. It’s chaotic and overlapping, with an intentional artistry showcasing just how far Lonergan can push the form while still maintaining the plot. It’s nothing short of magical.

The issue has some twists and turns, and the last few pages really have some brilliant moments as far as the sequential storytelling art form goes.

Villains have been revealed in the sense that we know there is a “King of Earth” and more sinister things lurking up from the deeper darkness that, at times, holds demons and other assorted awfulness. Beyond that, the cross consciousness plotline is starting to knit all the threads together, and whatever comes next is going to be big.

Miss Truesdale and the Rise of Man continues to speak to me in the way art is supposed to. It makes me romanticize the medium and hold out hope that there will always be creators working between the pages who are truly crafting wonders worthy of celebration.

Until next time, I love this book. I love everything about it. I would buy statues or figures or prints or what have you if I had the coin to do so because this book is so perfectly perfect. I find it hard to compose my thoughts sometimes when I speak about it. It’s a bit overwhelming, and that feeling is also nothing short of magical.