Summary:  With their German guide Farang in hand our intrepid team of McAllister,  Sandhu, Jewell and La Fleur climb aboard a boat and head deep into the jungle in search of te missing girls and the cult who stole them.

Plot: While the last issue had the feel of a fun police procedural and in the end lightly twisted Miss Marple story Roberson and Mignola instead give us a great pulp adventure story in this second installment. As they strike off into the jungle you can't help but feel like you're in an adventure that gave birth to King Kong, there's that same claustrophobic feel and that foreboding sense of waiting for the other shoe to drop that is just utterly delicious. But although the overall feel is dark, there is some lightness in the character interactions and that balance reminds me a lot of Herge's Tintin. In his stories Herge' always managed to strike a balance between the danger and intrigue and the oftentimes humorous character beats without making either feel unnatural and Mignola and Roberson manage to do the same here especially in the scenes between Sandhu and La Fleur. I think though that even more than the pulp adventure feel what I truly loved was the way Mignola and Roberson have decided to explore the ideas of colonialism and racism inherent to the time period. Traditionally there are two ways they could have played it, they could have white washed it all and pretended those issues didn't exist so as not to bog down their story, or they could have editorialized it and passed judgement in the pages of the story  and while I find that latter option to be the more honest route to go as a period piece it can come off as unreal. After reading this I feel as if Mignola and Roberson feel the same way as I do, but rather than lament the limitations of storytelling they've instead found a third path where instead of whitewashing it or getting heavy handed with on page lectures they simply present it how it was and allow the reader to come to their own emotional end which is really refreshing.

Art: This being the second issue and having spent a considerable amount of words in praise of his art work in my review of issue one it's hard to praise him further with out sounding like a broken record. I will say that I am surprised by just how delicate his work is having found some of his earlier work from Oni Press in the book Bad Medicine. The high level of detail that I love about his work is still evident in his earlier work but it seems much heavier some how, almost like he's trying too hard but here he has the details but the line work feels much cleaner and he does is it more subtly by often times suggesting the high level of detail but with out drawing it all out, which is beautiful. In addition to that I'm loving the change up in the color pallet that Stewart is giving us here. While his work in most of the other issues of Hellboy and BPRD is full of stark contrasts between bold primary colors and inky blacks in Rise of the Blackflame he gives these beautiful pastels that almost seem to bleed into one another like a water color painting at times, especially in the long views of the jungle. It's a stunning about face that gives the book it's own feel in the Hellboy universe, but not so drastic that it feels apart from it which is a great balance. 

Conclusion: This sojourn away from the normal confines of the Hellboy universe continues to entrance and as the story moves deeper into the jungle it's only going to get better.


Grade: 9/10