Welcome to the First Issue Bin, where I — Ethan Kaye — randomly grab one of this week's comics that’s just starting up and giving you the details on whether it should get added to your collection … or remain on the comic shop shelf.
Hellhunters #1
Writer: Phillip Kennedy Johnson
Artist: Adam Gorham
Colorist: Frank Martin
Letterer: VC's Travis Lanham
Editor: Jordan D. White
It's a can't-miss formula, isn't it? Take an era in history, gather all the superheroes who were alive in that era, and set them against a big threat and consider it some of the "lost" lore of those characters.
Everyone does it, from the Big Two companies, Marvel (Avengers: 1959) and DC (Stargirl: The Lost Children), to Dark Horse (Hellboy) and Image (Gunslinger Spawn). The question always is, "Does this series rise above the sum of its cameos?"
Because, yes, it's fun to see Nick Fury and The Punisher spin a lost tale from the Vietnam War (Garth Ennis's Get Fury, which, in light of last week's First Issue Bin column, I need point out was a really smart read), but once you get past the initial flash of the team-up, is the story any good? Does it make you want to check out the next issue?
For Get Fury, the answer was yes, it was a mature political comic. For Hellhunters #1, I think the load being dropped on the subsequent issues is going to be too heavy to carry. Issue #1 sets up characters aplenty, but no plot beyond "we will kill Nazis later."
Which, like — yes, go for it, Nazis suck, but if you're looking back to B.P.R.D. WWII adventures, I'd like something that improves on their formula. Hellhunters feels like Hellboy with different faces.
The issue is broken into thirds. In the first, a platoon of German soldiers tread into forbidden Russian lands and are possessed by a demon. In the second, Sgt. Sal Romero parachutes into Russia, is killed by the German demon soldiers, and is possessed by the Ghost Rider. (This character, Ghost Rider '44, previously appeared in writer Phillip Kennedy Johnson's Incredible Hulk run). In the third, Ghost Rider '44 meets up with Sgt. Nick Fury, Peggy Carter, and Sebastian Szardos, the mystic Soldier Supreme from Jason Aaron's Avengers #50 from 2021.
That's all that happens. They go off to kill Nazis.
So much of this issue is eye-catching art and action that it moves at a quick clip. Adam Gorham (Rocket, New Mutants: Dead Souls) specializes in massive panels in Hellhunters #1, eliminating clutter and keeping every moment nearly frantic with either character motion or emotion. The art suits the content very well, and gives the story its necessary extra meat.
I'm not sure why this gets a "Parental Advisory" warning on the cover instead of Marvel's new "Red Band" treatment that they're using for ultra gory books. The violent content is virtually the same as the Blood Hunt books from earlier this year and the Blade: Red Band that's been running for a few months; even the vampirish antagonists are similar and elicit the same amounts of red ink. But impressionable kids are probably not going to be interested in WWII war books in this day and age.
And listen, Johnson is a fine writer. His Action Comics run made me fall in love with Superman all over again, and his Incredible Hulk stories have been keeping a fantastic tale of ancient demons surprisingly grounded. And sometimes you just want to see Wolverine (not in this issue), Nick Fury, and Ghost Rider beat the shit out of Nazis. The first issue of Hellhunters showed us this intriguing set up on the cover, but didn't give those characters enough to do on the inside.
Verdict: Wild character introductions, but other than the idea of killing the demon Nazis we met earlier, there's not much to lead us to issue #2.
