Review – Abe Sapien #10 (Dark Horse)

Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Writer: Mike Mignola, Scott Allie
Artist: Max Fiumara
Release Date: 12th February 2014

Abe Sapien has always been one of the most interesting characters in the Mignolaverse and this title has lived up to that in spades as Abe goes a wandering to find himself after being shot. Oh, and the world is ending, with supernatural monsters appearing all over the place. Just a detail.

Here, Abe has found himself in a small town which seems to have been spared the worst of the carnage. By and large accepted by the locals he helps them with some minor outbreaks of madness and makes friends enough to drunkenly spill some personal information.

The artwork is the usual simplified beauty that we’ve come to expect from this universe and especially from Max Fiumara and it neatly illustrates the differing action in the various scenes, from the shadow and flame of the early panels to the beige tones while Abe is having a beer with the sheriff.

This issue really manages to evoke the feeling of a small town, surrounded by madness and turning to the tried and tested formula of turning in on itself to survive. Their tolerance for their strange guest is wearing, even though he’s probably right when he issues some warnings…

In between snippets of the wider insanity, we get a pretty big revelation about Abe too which could well be the crux that moves this arc to its conclusion.