First field mission

In 1884, Edward Grey takes on board a ship to put an end to the existence of Epke Vrooman, a disreputable sorcerer. In 1981, Trevor Bruttenholm retrieves a piece of the diary of Edward Grey that indicates where the boat sank and that edge is a mythical dagger "Lipu". Unfortunately, Hellboy is out and about with the archaeologist Anastasia Bransfield. It therefore calls for a new agent that has never accomplished field mission: Abe Sapien. The latter has to go to the island of San Sebastian accompanied by three Pratt agents (wink to the creator of Corto Maltese) Hampton (nod to the comic book painter Simon Dark for example) and van Fleet (a Another comic book painter, an episode in Batman and Son for instance). Abe Sapien and Van Fleet dive on the wreck site and soon to face a giant octopus and a giant moray. Meanwhile, supernatural manifestations jeopardize the lives of the inhabitants of the island. A strange old woman seems to know very long and manipulate events.

The character of Abe Sapien appeared for the first time in 1994 in the first miniseries Hellboy, Seed of Destruction. "The Drowning" was published in 2008 and can be read independently of continuity of Hellboy or of the BPRD. The scenario of this story was written by Mike Migonla, the creator of the character. He chose a narrative rather unzipped, where history is not very dense (it does not take me long to read this volume) and where illustrations have the spotlight to tell the story. Abe Sapien (still green behind the gills) floundering in the face of supernatural beings whose aim does not appear to him immediately and in addition it encounters an unknown in the equation: the old woman who looks much better control the situation as him . So in the scenario, its appearance Mignola ballad player in appearance with few confrontations, a revelation of the mystery in the penultimate chapter and a final battle that ends the threat.

The story is illustrated by Jason Shawn Alexander who also imaged a Hellboy story in The Crooked Man & Others. It uses a rectangular base layout with typically 3 to 5 squares per page. He designs the action scenes like juxtapositions of the most kinetic positions of the characters, rather than a truly cinematic cutting. This gives a series of snapshots taken from life with each different time frames for sequences that multiply the points of view which gives them great vitality. For the representation of characters, he marries a highly original way of very fine lines to delineate the contours of silhouettes with inking supported enough for shadings, faces and brands are folds of clothing. This gives enough dug faces and clearly adult, it is far from smooth faces and identical for each character. By cons, its mode of representation does not allow him to make the subtleties of expressions on faces. On the other hand, as half of the volume takes place between monsters, this is not so troublesome as that. Side scenery, this is a pleasant surprise: Jason Shawn Alexander the art of representing the exact detail that connects a place or a piece of very concrete and realistic elements without increasing the drawing. Throughout the pages, the reader can appreciate the texture of the planks of a ship, the stacks of books in the office that serves as Abe Sapien room, tiles on the roofs of house, the leather of the combination of Abe Sapien, etc.

In the end, reading this volume was a little disappointed for the cold side of the illustrations that installs a certain distance with the characters and does not allow a real empathy during their adventures. The second point that grieved me is that history does not bring much to the mythology developed in the Hellboy and BPRD series (if not the very rapid mention of Black Goddess) nor the character of Abe Sapien. Mignola takes care to put it in a situation where he must confront his doubts about his ability to be a field agent, but that point is quickly evacuated to the action can be resumed. It really miss the little extra that makes the other series are unforgettable: the more developed characters and monsters that come out of the ordinary.