Four Panel Folly Comic museings.

Runner Up!: Abe Sapien – The Abyssal Plain

Nobody, not even a super hero like Abe, can resists the glowing dangly thing of an angler fish.

Runner Up! highlights my second favorite issue of the week while discussing it in a less formal tone. Please contribute your thoughts as well!

Why it didn't win:
Abe Sapien was actually the least interesting part of this issue.

Abe Sapien – The Abyssal Plain #1 starts with a gut punch.

Set in 1948, a Russian submarine has sunk to the bottom of the Norwegian sea. The last surviving sailor of this ship is writing a letter to his girlfriend back home while waiting to die. It's a really powerful way to start an issue. Writing like this is proof Mike Mignola can write about more than just monster and alien stories. He just happens to choose to write those monster and alien stories 99 percent of the time.

This is one of those times, as the prologue with the sailor eventually ends and we meet Abe Sapien (in 1984) and his crew preparing to do a scavenge mission from that same submarine. Naturally zombies are going to show up. This shouldn't surprise you and it shouldn't be considered a spoiler.

So, yeah, no spoiler warnings for that one.

To be fair Mignola shares writing duties with John Arcudi in Abe Sapien – The Abyssal Plain #1. So, this could be the reason for this issue's increased number of “human” moments. I personally don't know, it cold be possible Mignola was all like “YO. JOHN. I'm gonna write the letter a dying sailor writes to his girlfriend knowing she'll never have the chance to read it. You handle the water zombies this time.”

Artist Pete Snejbjerg (not a spelling error) gives this tale of fishing boats and sunken war subs a real Treasure Island appearance. Faces and expressions just seem to scream pirates and salt water. He also handles the underwater sequences very convincingly. The way things float around while still having mass while Abe is exploring the submarine is great. This is why the dude's a professional.

It is during that submarine sequence we get to see the body of the sailor from the issue's beginning. It's another unexpected sentimental moment from Abe Sapien – The Abyssal Plain #1 (The first of these moments being that other time we saw the dude.).

One of my favorite things about this issue is that it ends with an argument. Abe and the Captain of the ship have a heated argument about the rules of the ship. That's right, amidst all the nuclear subs, bloated corpses, and magical helmets, and fish people, there's a whiny debate about doing what the boss said. Also, both arguments are valid so it's all around a fun moment in this issue. “Fun” in the sense that I didn't expect it, at least.

Plus seeing Abe be such a stick in the mud makes me chuckle.

The expanded B.P.R.D. Universe continues to excite me. Even it's throw away stories like this one are some of the best comics on the shelves these days. Abe Sapien – the Abyssal Plain #1 alone has great moments dealing with death and life and fish people. Really, what more could anybody want from a story?

Nothing. Except for maybe more action but that looks like it'll be coming next issue. ...And maybe more fish people, but hey I'm not going to be too choosy here.