In so many ways, The Goon and Hellboy are very similar books. While the tone of Hellboy is more serious than that of The Goon, both of them feature ugly brutish protagonists, a love of pulp traditions and horror traditions and a definite wonky sensibility. Given that they share a publisher, a crossover was perhaps not inevitable but certainly not a surprise. Also not a surprise is that these two talented creators have crafted a really fun and funny adventure pairing their characters, and Powell takes advantage of this new red-horned entry into his world to add another couple of wild ideas in the bad guy realm, making the whole thing even more fun. The book is a visual treat as well, with Mignola providing a terrific framing sequence and Powell capturing Mignola's unique look for Hellboy even while shoe-horning him effectively into the world he has visualized for The Goon.
The general approach of this issue is taking Hellboy on a "Through the Looking Glass/Wizard of Oz" type adventure. He's in a world that's just weird, and spends his time adventuring when really all he wants is to get out. Powell has clearly picked up on the similarities between the characters, with a gag relating to a giant talking spider in both books as well as Hellboy and the Goon sharing similarly unsophisticated methods of dealing with zombies, but he's playing up the differences. While Hellboy accepts the weirdness with more of a quiet dignity, The Goon and Frankie are pretty much monsters and lunatics themselves.
What's kind of fun about this issue is that Hellboy is playing the straight man. The giant demon in a trenchcoat is the straight man, and the most normal thing about the book. I love that Hellboy, who has seen so much and who doesn't generally bat an eye at the weird stuff, is sort of knocked for a loop by his arrival in The Goon's town, even as Goon and Frankie casually offer up jeers for the "Communist Airborne Mollusk Militia!" Of course, Hellboy isn't played as a sap either, he's just sort of out of his element, and his reaction to Frankie when he decides to call him "Rosie" shows that he's in on the gag as much as he is the butt of the jokes.
Mignola provides the artwork for a framing sequence, and his style, focusing on various aspects of the surroundings, is perfect in this context for setting up the shift in world that Hellboy is about to experience. The majority of the issue is by Powell, with help from a couple other colorists, and it is as always beautiful to behold. His Hellboy is a little smaller than the one that Mignola draws, but that helps him fit in with the comedic tone a little better, and the character really does evoke the same look that Mignola gives him, even though the styles are completely different. In addition, Powell has some spectacular visuals, from the design of the weird "cat" that draws Hellboy into a trap or the splash page that shows the villains of the piece in all their glory. As always, there's a demented sense of fun in the violence and action as well, and it seems like not more than a couple pages go by without something getting punched, usually to the tune of reader laughter.
If you haven't been reading The Goon but you're a Hellboy fan, this issue is definitely worth a read, if only to see Hellboy in a context where he's the most normal one. If you're a fan of both characters, then you'll probably get a kick out of this perfect blending of two of the more unique creations to come out of comics in the past couple decades. And if you're not a fan of either one, well, then I'm afraid I just can't help you. Maybe you just hate zombies, I dunno.
