The Sword of Hyperborea written by Mike Mignola and Rob Williams, art by Laurence Campbell, and colors by Quinton Winter
Hyperborea is an ancient civilization in Mike Mignola's Hellboy universe. A recurring relic from that civilization is a split-end sword with a rough handle. This book shows some moments of the sword's travel through history, looking at four people who wielded it for good or ill. Gall Dennar is an ancient warrior who somehow mystically travels through time and is present at the end of the human world (so he covers ancient time and humanity's bleak future). Graf Ling de Gotha is an Asian woman who is adopted by German man. She works during World War I and comes afoul of the Heliopic Brotherhood of Ra, who want the sword and a Vril crystal (it has ancient magical powers) for their own purposes. Victor Olsen is a deep-sea diver during World War II, trying to recover the sword and crystal for the Brotherhood. Elijah Bone is a 1950s musician who's sold his soul to make it big, but the devil he sold it to has an interest in the sword as well.
The stories are diverse, giving a lot of different settings and characters. This book is more like an anthology with some on-going narrative. There's enough story and style here to satisfy human interests and horror fans. It's an engaging and creative. The art is not exactly Mignola; however, it has the shadowy horror resonances of Mignola's style and fits well with other work in the Hellboy universe.
Recommended, highly for Hellboy fans. If you aren't a Hellboy fan, it will feel less significant.
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