Review by Frank Plowright

The Black Flame is a persistent foe of the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense, a mystical entity in broad terms dedicated to bringing on the end of days. However, in 1933 he was unknown, and that’s when Mike Mignola and Chris Roberson’s story takes place.

In British occupied Burma the daughter of an important couple has gone missing, and her governess has been killed. Sgt MacAllister and Constable Sandhu are tasked with investigation. A second disappearance follows, and this time a man who attempts to stop a black hooded figure is also murdered.

Rise of the Black Flame has an inbuilt attraction for readers of B.P.R.D., but can be enjoyed and understood without any reference to that series. While acknowledging Mignola always chooses his artistic collaborators extremely well, it’s also blessed with Christopher Mitten’s art. He goes well above the call of necessity to include period and location details, with some stunning architecture standing out, and draws distinctive looking people. That, though is all the side dressing to Mitten’s ability to not only provide the supernatural elements, but do so astonishingly decoratively, which is brought out by Dave Stewart’s sympathetic colouring. It makes this a graphic novel to buy to wonder at the art alone.

The supernatural elements largely manifest in the nightmares of a character introduced at the end of the opening chapter. He’s in the tradition of the man who has glimpsed into the abyss and it’s shredded him, brought out very well by Mignola and Roberson as he gradually applies the knowledge he’s acquired in a form of redemption.

Rise of the Black Flame is also a quest and a mystery. The period setting means there’s a place for Sarah Jewell now a decade or two on from her Witchfinder days, and she’s instrumental in guiding those less accustomed to the supernatural. This is a gem, down to the frequent flashbacks being atmospheric and emotionally drenched, and it sustains the interest all the way to an unpredictable end.

Unfortunately, lovers of the actual physical graphic novel are going to find it out of print and eye-poppingly expensive, as it’s never formed part of the bulky Hellboy or B.P.R.D. collections. Perhaps it’s time to go digital.