Review — Nostalgic Saturday Morning Vibes In ‘Young Hellboy: Thrilling Sky Adventures’ #2
by Anton Kromoff
Review
Young Hellboy: Thrilling Sky Adventures #2 is the kind of adventure you want to sink into on a Saturday morning with the record player turned to some funky jazz and the cereal box close at hand to refill your bowl as you relax and forget the world for a little while. It’s not complex, it’s not heavy-handed, it’s just fun… and that is what stories like this need to be.
Overall
10/10Welcome to the table,
If you are looking for pulse-pounding pulp adventure with a side order of occult oddities, then you really should be checking out Young Hellboy: Thrilling Sky Adventures
Let’s get into it.
Written by Mike Mignola and Thomas Sniegoski, with art by Craig Rousseau, colors from Chris O’Halloran, and letters by a man I think may be the hardest-working letterer in all of comics, Clem Robins, Young Hellboy: Thrilling Sky Adventures #2 kicks off at B.P.R.D. Headquarters in Fairfield, Connecticut. It showcases a young Hellboy and his dog Mac engaged in a one-sided conversation about how Professor “Broom” wants Hellboy to go outside and get some fresh air.
Hellboy, however, is deeply enthralled in the adventures of Sky Devil and Ghost Leopard from the comics he is currently reading, so he dons the childhood equivalent of a Lobster Johnson outfit and heads outside with a wagon full of snacks and “funny books” to at least continue to enjoy the day the way he had planned.
The depiction of young Hellboy feels so deeply knit into the nostalgia of childhood that this story within a story elevates from your normal comic story to something far more emotional.
Rousseau really brings some spectacular art to the paneled page in this one. Normally I lean towards the dark shadows and blocky gestures that are classically Mignola, but Rousseau injects so much energy into these panels. The framing is both fresh while nodding to classic pulp comic layouts. The colors from O’Halloran do some really cool things as well and remain consistent throughout.
You know that thing where you can tell that sometimes an issue was rushed or someone was running out of steam by the last handful of pages? That does not happen here.
From a story perspective, the issue feels way shorter than it is, a testament to the action-packed fun that is being packed into these pages.
Ghost Leopard has some really cool powers, shifting animalistic abilities based on the spirits he calls upon, a truly old-school hero trope I feel we do not see these days enough. Scarlett, the Sky Devil, is charming and fun, and the highly suspect Mr. Taut continues to be suspicious.
There are some really fun flashbacks to an ancient civilization in this book that I do not want to spoil for you, but they really work for me, and the colorwork and design of the entities’ masks are tip-top in the weird pulp space.
Until next time, Young Hellboy: Thrilling Sky Adventures #2 is the kind of adventure you want to sink into on a Saturday morning with the record player turned to some funky jazz and the cereal box close at hand to refill your bowl as you relax and forget the world for a little while. It’s not complex, it’s not heavy-handed, it’s just fun … and that is what stories like this need to be.
