Abe Sapien: The Haunted Boy

Written by Mike Mignola and John Arcudi. Art by Patric Reynolds. Colors by Dave Stewart.
Abe Sapien: The Haunted Boy is a stand-alone story in a series of one-shot issues which Dark Horse is releasing over the coming months. BPRD's famed green hero investigates a haunting following the drowning of a teenage boy, deals with grieving relatives and a sullen witness, and ends up confronting yet another monster taken from European mythology, this time a Scandinavian one.


The artwork of relative newcomer Patric Reynolds is solid, and he does a great job at finely characterising his protagonists through gestures and facial expressions. Abe comes across as more athletic and dynamic than in other BPRD titles. I especially like Reynolds' take on the monster. Which leads me to the criticism I have of the book: the story ends too fast. The set-up is nicely done, but the solution is hurried:  the final confrontation with the monster is all too brief, relies on a coincidence to solve the issue and thus comes across as a bit of an anti-climax. Which is too bad. I guess sometimes it does take more than 24 pages to tell a story well.
Rating: 3.5 out of 5.