ICYMI! Giant Robot Hellboy #1: The Iron Giant

Giant Robot Hellboy #1 is a comic book with artisanal craftsmanship calling its pages home, but one that is actively harmed by being a monthly comic release. Mignola and company have something really special on their hands here, though, and regardless of how abrupt the pacing of this issue feels, it still demands your time and interest as a reader.

It’s also a book that’s incredibly difficult to review from a plot perspective without outright spoiling, as much of what makes this book so fun on the first-go is experiencing it all without having any knowledge of how Hellboy winds up being, well, a giant robot. This is partially because there’s not enough story in this one issue to truly elevate the quality of what this book will be. Duncan Fegredo & Dave Stewart are a match made in heaven for this title.

That’s not to say that there isn’t enough here to justify your purchase. Quite the opposite, actually. The art in this book is atmospherically rich and filled with life thanks to coloring that’s both filled with depth as well as being inherently purplish in its tone. It’s a beautiful book that doesn’t forget its nature as a comic, and is comparable to some of Mignola’s own work on the original Hellboy.

The plot really ties this together and allows the art to shine in ways a great comic script always does. If you were to rip out what little dialogue is in this book, you’d be engaging with something that stands on its own as just a series of isolated, neatly crafted images. However, the dialogue that is here is able to provide a level of depth that the plot and its visual representation simply can’t.

That is the mark of a well-made comic at a technical level, but even on a subjective note, the book carves itself out a niche within the current market in that it’s able to be goofy without having to be goofy. Its outlandish theme and title are taken seriously, blending into a world of supernatural hijinks and human relationships without having to parody itself or its ideas with the sneer of millennial cynicism. This book really drags you in, which makes its all-too-abrupt and aloof pacing the more disappointing.

This series is being released in three chapters, but unlike the recently released Hellboy in Love, it isn’t written to take advantage of its serialized format. This issue just ends, suddenly, right when the story begins to pick up and answer the many questions readers have, but not in the same way a natural cliffhanger would. While it’s full of artistry and fun, it isn’t complete. Each single issue of something serialized needs to stand on its own in some way outside of its cover art, and this issue doesn’t. However, if you jump on this ride now, you won’t regret where it ends up so long as you’re able to suffer through the awkward shattering of what should’ve just been a graphic novel release.