Summary: Two thrilling tales in one! In the first part Swampy faces off against an unexpected icy foe and in the second we see him team up with the Dark Knight to stop a kidnapping ring involving Grundy.
Plot: This is a book I've been desperately waiting for ever since it was announced last October and it didn't disappoint in the least. While I've never really liked his work on Batman, I've loved nearly everything else King has done from the Omega Men and Grayson to the Vision and Mister Miracle but this might just be his best turn yet as it's mix of subtle horror with suspense and a beautiful father son relationship was just incredible. I think the best part was that although I'm a huge fan of horror and mystery I didn't see the twist coming from a thousand miles away and that's a hard feat to pull off, and on top of that this wasn't even the story I was looking forward to as I bought this just for the Wein story so that it was so good was a huge bonus but the excellency didn't end there as the follow up story was just as fun. 
    The second part was really the main event for me, though a lot of people point to Moore as the best Swamp Thing writer(and I do enjoy his work) Wein was always my favorite when it came to Swamp Thing and I was overjoyed to see him return to the book in 2016 and was pumped that he planned on a follow up...sadly he passed before that story could come to fruition, all except for this one story which would have served as the first issue. Just seeing the story would have been fun but editor Rebecca Taylor chose to print the story by Wein and Jones as a silent comic in honor of Wein's passing and both the sentiment and the story itself were beautiful. The scene where Swamp thing started off as angry at a bird for biting off a piece of him and then smiling at it in benevolence as he constructed it a new nest on his own was a perfect scene and I'm both overjoyed that I got to see it and saddened by the fact that such creativity was silenced. RIP Len, you'll be missed but thanks for the fantastic stories.
Art: While Jason Fabok's wintery landscapes were amazing and I loved how he slowly let on the passage of time with the gradual desiccation of Swamp Thing was really well executed the main draw for me was again in the second story with Kelley Jones. I've always loved how well Jones' grotesquely elongated anatomy worked in horror stories but what's equally thrilling is how human his expressions are and that balance between monstrous and human is not only perfect for Swamp Thing but beautiful to see. In this silent tribute to Wein that beauty was a perfect match for the book as his art fully told the story with out a single word which is both a testament to his art and Wein's story as when Taylor revealed Weins break downs to Jones it matched up perfectly to the story I got directly from the art alone.

Grade:10/10

Summary: Koshchei and his band continue on their mission to destroy the last of dragons and their eggs in order to save the world.
Plot: In this second issue of his new six issue miniseries Mignola continues to craft an incredibly addictive tale and it’s one that anyone who's ever been a fan of fairy tales and folklore has to read, even if you've never tried Hellboy before. This book is ultilizes a skill Mignola has used several times in the past with his weaving of stories within stories, but here he really takes it to the next level to weave a very authentic Russian world. One of my favorite parts was the inclusion of the character whose father was a fish and whose mother was a cow; he gave us the fairly tale in less than a page but then continued to weave it further with his mission tying into Koshchei's in an incredibly organic way that continued the fable and forwarded the main plot. I addition to that there were also talking snakes and  of course dragons and they each had their own story to tell and yet it never felt bloated or over crowed. What it comes down to is that nearly every page in this book had a different type of tale or creature to enjoy as the world enfolds before us.
Art: The art by Ben Stenbeck is as excellent as always, and when he's paired with Dave Stewart on colors it’s hard not to enjoy the complex and realistic looking world on display. Like in life, it’s all about the details, whether it's the small purple mushrooms on the tree in one scene or the grizzled meat hanging off an arm that’s been hacked off in another there's just so much to soak in.
Grade:10/10

Summary: Professor Bruttenholm and Sandhu's investigation of the Nazi occult program finally brings them face to face with the Master.
Plot: Although I've been enjoying the characterizations of Bruttenholm and Sandhu and the pulp action feel in the previous chapters this installment by Mignola and Roberson felt a little thin(although the action was fun!).  At it's most basic level this issue can be broken down into just three scenes; first the Nazis breaking into the tomb, the second focusing on Bruttenholm and Sandhu escaping Kroenen’s zombie lab, and finally Bruttenholm and Sandhu getting a bit closer to stopping Rasputin. But in between those big action set pieces? Well, not a lot actually as the book simply jumps from point A to point B for no other reason than the plot needs to move forward and there is only one issue left to do it in. This rush at the end is occasionally a down fall in Mignola's work; he spends so much time setting the table that in the end the conclusion feels a bit rushed and with this book having only one issue and with so many questions still on the table this book is going to have a hard time escaping that. Also, although I've seen it said previously elsewhere I was willing to let it slide befor, but for a book with the title Rasputin: Voice of the Dragon there has been precious little of the man himself so far with only one panel here on the very last page. 
Art: I don't know what happened here but although he continued at his usual pace of excellence when it came to the supernatural elements Mittens basic grasp of his human characters was pretty poor in this issue. It wasn't so much an anatomy issue for me but just one of basic character modeling; at several points in the book Bruttenholm was just rendered so strangely that if it were not for the dialogue one wouldn't have known it was him on page which is made more difficult in the fight scenes. Hopefully he bounces back in the conclusion and finishes strong.

Grade:6/10