Hellverine #1: Flaming Akihiro Served Well Done

Wolverine on fire! Ghost Rider with claws! Readers could be forgiven for thinking that’s all Hellverine was when the character was introduced. But by the end of its titular mini-series, the character had become more complex thanks to its merging with Akihiro. Hellverine #1 tries to keep that complexity going in a new ongoing series.

Hellverine #1 delivers an abbreviated history for Akihiro before catching up with him in the present day. Inhabited by the demon Bagra-Ghul, he travels the country alone punishing evil people and sculpting the remains into freakish monuments of his victims. His hope is to learn exactly what he’s become. In North Carolina he finds a pond full of submerged corpses chained to concrete blocks. Sensing the evil of a man in a nearby cabin, fire envelopes Akihiro and Bagra-Ghul takes over. The demon makes short work of the human behind these killings. Once vengeance is delivered, Akihiro takes over and his search for truth continues.

Akihiro’s internal monologue drives Hellverine #1. It’s a smart choice. It allows Percy to deliver backstory with an added emotional flair. And there is a lot of backstory. Percy summarizes the character’s entire history, eliminating the need to read anything that came before, including the Hellverine mini-series. Additionally, the way Percy frames Akihiro’s past primarily in terms of the tragedy he’s endured and rage that has resulted sets him up as an ideal character to bond with the Bagra-Ghul demon. This is even more true thanks to key revelations in the end of the issue.

Percy uses the combined histories of Akihiro and Bagra-Ghul to try and create a character meaningfully different from Ghost Rider. It works reasonably well here thanks to Akihiro’s internal monologue during the scene at the lake. But without continued good development of Akihiro in this new role, the series does run the risk of being Ghost Rider with claws.

A key positive in Hellverine #1 is the complete lack of Logan. Over the course of Bagra-Ghul’s development (from the Wolverine/Ghost Rider crossover to the Hellverine mini-series to the first issue of this new ongoing), Percy continually reduced Logan’s importance, shifting the focus to Bagra-Ghul itself and then Akihiro. The result here is a fully realized character that doesn’t require a big name like Wolverine to boost the series or even this first issue.

Ienco’s art is somewhat understated for the borderline horror book that Hellverine #1 appears to be setting up. The sequence in the lake with the drowned corpses leans toward gruesome but never really gets there. Likewise the demonic elements and Bagra-Ghul’s “sculptures” never inspire fear.

The art does work during the more introspective sequences where emotion needs to be conveyed via facial expression. In panels that are pulled further away from Akihiro, light shading around cheekbones, jawline, and forehead is enough to suggest emotion. Closer in, though, Ienco applies significant detail. One panel in particular captures Akihiro’s self-doubt about his very existence thanks to subtle lines creating a furrowed brow and slightly downturned mouth. There are other moments like this throughout the issue that keep Akihiro’s visual depiction in line with the emotions Percy strikes with the inner monologue.

Like Ienco’s art, Valenza’s coloring never elevates the demonic elements Percy describes beyond the words on the page. The fire that is so critical to Hellverine’s visual presentation most often comes across as two-dimensional. Otherwise Valenza’s work is effective.

Akihiro’s extensive inner monologue results in a high number of caption boxes spread throughout the issue. Lanham organizes them effectively, maintaining an easy flow for the eye to follow and largely staying out of the way of Ienco’s art.