Book Review: Lobster Johnson Vol. 6 by M. Mignola et al.

Lobster Johnson Volume 6: A Chain Forged in Life stories by Mike Mignola and John Arcudi with art by Troy Nixey, Peter Snejbjerg, Toni Fejzula, Stephen Gree, and Ben Stenbeck

Five one-shot stories in one volume!

A Chain Forged in Life--An inebriated donation-collecting Santa is found in a snowy rural area of New Jersey. The cops that find him get quite a story. The sodden Santa was collecting toy gifts from patrons at one of New York City's department stories. His shift ended when the store closed, which is also the time a trio of robbers burst out with the Christmas Eve sales money. Lobster Johnson appears out of nowhere and tries to stop the thieves. They kidnap the Santa and hightail it to Jersey with the loot and the hostage. Even with all that effort, the Lobster is still after them. The story is exciting and focused on the Santa character (he's narrating, so it makes sense). It follows in the Christmas-action-story tradition of Die Hard and works quite well.

The Forgotten Man--Some pretty massive plot holes ruin an otherwise interesting story of homeless people disappearing in 1935 New York City. The Lobster is drawn in when no one else (the cops or the papers) will help the indigent who face danger from the sewers and a fake preacher. The action is also standard and less interesting than it could be.

The Glass Mantis--The cops and the Lobster are tipped off about a hit happening at an art museum. Someone is supposed to kill a visiting Turkish artist who has made many beautiful glass sculptures for a visiting exhibit. The best is a glass mantis; a lot of other ones are much lesser works. The assassin turns out to be a Turkish woman who shouts "Imposter!" as she shoots. The cops have dressed up one of their own as the artist, but wearing a bulletproof vest and beard keeps him alive. The woman surrenders and escapes from the cops. When the Lobster catches up with her, she tells the story of what's really going on. The mystery of the story works really well along with the action. This is my favorite in this collection.

Garden of Bones--Lobster Johnson investigates a graveyard (the titular garden of bones) with his assistant Harry, hunting down a cop-killer who has an M.O. very similar to mob enforcer Big Benny Jeunot. The only problem is Benny is supposed to be six feet under and voodoo magic doesn't work on consecrated ground. They do have a run-in with Benny, leading to a small cult of Fimbakonu, which is not voodoo. The cult follows all the voodoo rules, leading Harry to save the day at the end. It's a fun story but pretty short.

Mangekyo--The Lobster and his crew stop a prison break set up for a German spy. A bunch of monkeys in kabuki masks tried to dynamite the prison wall. The crew follows the monkeys back into the forest where they confront the Crimson Lotus, a Japanese magic-weaving woman who lays traps for them, some psychological or mystical. The story is a lot of fun.

Recommended.