Review by Ian Keogh

Hellsing is a London-based organisation that’s kept the world safe from supernatural threats for almost two hundred years, yet now they’ve been decimated. Former Nazis based in South America have been creating vampires and are targetting both Hellsing and the Catholic equivalent Iscariot.

The response has been to send top agent Alucard to South America along with his assistant Seras Victoria, and in Hellsing 3 they cut a bloody swathe through troops who’d set a trap.

Before picking up in South America where a slightly greater test awaits, Kohta Hirano begins with a neat few pages, an appetiser so to speak, explaining why vampires are so dangerous. It ties into the big picture that Hirano’s gradually been building, setting three implacable forces against each other, and a second brief chapter heads to the Vatican in 1999, serving as an epilogue to the ‘Crossfire’ story run in the previous three volumes. The sample art shows the crowing Nazi leader now convinced he holds all the cards, Alucard notwithstanding.

Their design is based on American actor Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Hirano features chapters here where he’s centre stage. He’s a continuing threat and while powerful in the command structure he has no fears about overstepping his authority, claiming he’s acting on Hitler’s direct orders, to which there’s no real response for a Nazi without seemingly contradicting their leader. Hirano also introduces new Nazi fanatics for later use.

More so than previous volumes, Hirano switches between different styles of cartooning, some pages more rendered than others, and some where the swathes of black ink predominate. Whatever style employed is accomplished, but it’s an interesting creative choice. His portraits continue to be usual, packed with life, and the final page illustration of Alucard’s reaction is a gem.

While there are chapters packed with the customary violence, Hellsing 4 is a volume that takes a step back and sets the scene, discussing how the current situation evolved, and introducing new characters whose importance will come in future volumes. As such it satisfies already captured readers while introducing a little more for those who might feel Hirano was beginning to repeat himself.

Oh, and just in case Hirano’s use of Nazis might lead anyone to believe their views are being spread as acceptable, rest assured that’s not the case. Their leader is a cackling caricature mouthing dialogue to match, given enough power to make a credible enemy, but treated as a Hollywood villain. He’s back in Hellsing 5.

The first four volumes can also be found combined in hardcover as Hellsing Deluxe Edition 1.