SPOILERS!!!
So this starts out at a look at the same castle that they showed at the end of the last trade. A man wearing ZINCO gloves enters the castle and discovers the three characters that were awakened last trade. He explains to them that he met Rasputin and he told him to basically get a life. So he wants to help them out. We’re introduced to a few new characters at the B.P.R.D. and they are going to split into two groups to investigate Giurescu castle and we of course get some background on everybody. So they drop Hellboy out of a plane near the castle and he has a jet pack on. He keeps trying to start the jet pack but it is not responding. The jet pack explodes and we see that printed on the jet pack is the word ZINCO. Man this is like ACME. The issue ends with Hellboy crashing down on the place we saw earlier and the Nazi Ilsa Haupstein is not happy.
One of Ilsa’s henchmen jumps out the window at the mere sight of Hellboy but the other is this tough dude with a crazy robot arm! They fight, Hellboy wins but their fighting cracked the floor and they fall below. We get some more Rasputin and Ilsa and of course talk of the apocalypse. Hellboy investigates the area he’s in until he finds a scary looking skeleton dude. The two talk and we get some more funny moments and history. The skeleton tries to kill Hellboy but of course Hellboy smashes him instead. Hellboy continues to wander until he finds a coffin. Sadly it’s guarded by the women of Thessaly, some harpy-like creatures.
Hellboy tries to use his gun on the creatures, but sadly, it’s a ZINCO gun, poor Wiley Coyote. Hellboy gets into a bloody fight and the coffin opens up. It’s Giurescu waking up. Hellboy rushes him but the vampire transforms and tries to shake Hellboy off in flight. Hellboy stabs Giurescu and the two crash down into some water. Giurescu doesn’t look too good and Hellboy has some snakes to deal with. It turns out the snake-like Hecate is involved. We get some more background on Rasputin and the Baba Yaga, a Russian witch. We check in on the other team and they discover a Homunculus, “sort of a medieval test-tube baby”. The creature’s chest has a hole in it and Liz Sherman the pyrotechnic uses some of her firepower to wake the beast. The creature wakes up, kills one of the B.P.R.D. and runs off. The issue ends with Hellboy discovering a bunch of old Nazi weapons, he sets a timer to blow the place up in an hour.
Hellboy chases after Giurescu but runs into Hecate. They have a few words and begin to fight. Their fight breaks through the castle and as they’re falling Hellboy stabs Hecate with a spear killing her. The castle blows up. Rasputin and Ilsa are talking when they receive an iron maiden from the Baba Yaga. Ilsa is told to step inside. OUCH! Hellboy is alive but he’s in bad shape and tied to a pole. Rasputin is there and he talks more about Hellboy’s purpose.
While Hellboy is chained, the fully revived Giurescu charges Hellboy on his hoarse. Hellboy breaks the pole he’s attached to and uses it to destroy Giurescu turning him into a skeleton. Hellboy then spots the iron maiden that ilsa stepped into which is now a revived Hecate. Hellboy is swallowed by the demon and is plunged into darkness. He is then confronted with his demonic origins and the shaved horns on his head begin to grow. Hellboy defies his evil purpose and breaks off the horns! There is a nice conversation between Hellboy and his teammate Kate Corrigan. The story ends with some of the Nazis and Rasputin in a castle. Rasputin blinds a Nazi and he presses a ZINCO device destroying the castle. In the trade specifically, there is an intriguing moment with Rasputin and the Baba Yaga.
So ends another great Hellboy trade. Please note that there is a lot more going on than what I’m talking about, I’m just trying to give a brief summary. This trade is much better than the first. Again this story shows that a story can be enjoyed on a primitive level, as well as an advanced one. We get some more good fights, mythology, and laughs.
4 stars
Tags: Darkhorse Comics, Hellboy, Mike Mignola
