Hellboy is one of my favorite characters. Mike Mignola is one of my favorite writers. Alex Maleev is one of my favorite artists. Maybe that put my hopes too high, but this issue felt flat across the board. This is standard BPRD stuff- mission defined, team assembled, off to a mystery that builds the further in they go. The team members are clearly drawn in the writing, but two of them look like each other, so its hard to get a feel for who's the bigot and who's not. The only characters who stand out visually are Professor Bruttenhelm and Hellboy, and since he's the only red thing in the book, that shouldn't even have been a concern. I'll keep my fingers crossed that this all pushes towards something more compelling, but for now, the BPRD is more interesting w/out Hellboy than it is with him.