Lobster Johnson - The Prayer of Neferu
For those who don't know who this weird-named character is, he's side character from the Hellboy Universe. To my knowledge, Hellboy has only interacted with his ghost, as the Lobster was active in the 20's & 30's, decades before Hellboy was brought to our world by the Nazis. Lobster Johnson is a Noir-style Batman-type vigilante who fights against terrorists, gangsters, paranormal threats, ect... He is at least as ruthless as Batman and also relies on an array of cool gadgets to fight the good fight. He's a very grim character and always shouts "Feel the Claw!" when he attacks. One of his signatures is to burn a lobster claw into the forehead of his victims.
All that backstory explained, here's what happened in this issue.... We see a nefarious group of characters meeting at a club to see the unveiling of a recently "found" mummy. It's understood that this group is some kind of a secretive, cultish, high-society organization. A woman introduced as "Princess Nefertu" greets the crowd and presents the ancient corpse to the audience. Suddenly Lobster Johnson announces that the mummy was stolen that same night from a museum and he swings into action yelling "Feel the Claw!" The Lobster attacks, guns blazing, and drops numerous gangster types and cleared out the room by the time he addresses "Princess Nefertu", who he reveals is nothing more than a local criminal in Egyptian garb. A hulking man with a sledge hammer attacks LJ from behind and eventually lands a solid blow, knocking out the vigilante. When he awakes, he is chained to a wall in a basement as Nefertu and her big friend are beginning some kind of ritual involving the mummy and 3 of his ancient companions in a fiery cauldren. Nefertu explains that she will harness the spirits of the 4 priests of Annubis who she has gathered and she will be granted ancient powers of the Priestess of Annubis and all they lack is the living blood of a "volunteer". As they move forward to begin the bleeding process, Lobster Johnson makes them sorry for not chaining up his feet and kicks his surprised attackers, destroying their ceremonial knife and freeing the souls of the 4 dead priests. The ghosts pull Nefertu into the fire where she dies, and then posses the corpse of the big man, who LJ killed in his escape. When a spear through the head doesn't slow him down, Johnson's sprints upstairs where his weapons belt is waiting. Apparently a possessed monster zombie is not match for a good, old-fashioned grenade. The book ends with a view of the dead mobsters and closeup of the Lobster Claw burned into a piece of paper at the scene.
This was a short story, but it was full of pulp heroes, zombies, gangsters, and explosions. All the things that make Hellboy books so great. I wish Mignola handled the art duties here as well as writing the story, but Wilfredo Torres does a good job matching the art with the story. I really dig this Lobster Johnson guy. This issue makes me want to pick up his graphic novel that I passed on a few years back. I'm pretty sure I would buy an ongoing Lobster Johnson comic, if one were available. Fun fun stuff!
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