Book Review: Captain Henry and the Graveyard of Time by M. Mignola et al.

Captain Henry and the Graveyard of Time written by Mike Mignola and Bruce Zick with art by Bruce Zick

Young Whittier inherits his uncle's mansion in 1880s England. Edward Grey and some other Whittier relatives are summoned when he hears a voice speaking from one the decorative polar bears the uncle once hunted. The family hooks up a fancy steampunk suit that will transport someone to "the other side," hopefully to settle down the uncle's ghost. Captain Winston Henry, ex-military and friend of the family, is in the suit when they power it up. Initially, he is transported to what seems like the spirit realm version of the mansion's interior but an overload sends him to an entirely different place, the Graveyard of Time. He only knows the name because he runs into a professor who claims to be a time traveler trapped in this dimension along with a lot of other time travelers. As the name suggests, the other time travelers are all dead, most still sitting in their time travel machines. The graveyard is not without its monsters, as Captain Henry soon discovers. 

The book is part of the Hellboy universe, though a very tangential corner. The graveyard is a steampunk art playground for artist Zick, who comes up with very fantastical machines, ruins, and monsters. Other than exploring and the occasional fight, the story is not so interesting. An explanation for the graveyard is given at the end that could easily have been given much earlier. This story is more of an excuse to be creative than to develop a new character or a more significant plot. I enjoyed reading it but probably won't come back to it. I'd read a sequel.

Mildly recommended.