Lobster Johnson: The Burning Hand

[Middenway]

And Zonjić will be back eventually. He's probably hard at work on more Who Is Jake Ellis? right now.

[Libaax]

And Zonjić will be back eventually. He's probably hard at work on more Who Is Jake Ellis? right now.

Which is good and all but no Mignola, other writing better stories for him and the coloring of Stewart made his art much better.

Jakes Ellis looks nothing near as good as LJ:Burning Hand.

[Jason Abbadon]

That blew me away! Realy re-definied Lobster Johnson for me in a couple of panels- taking away the unflappable and unfailable-ness of the character. This added to Lobster's failure against Memnan Saa really change the almost two-dimensional movie-serial type character into a more nuanced leading role.
It's interesting to see Lobster defined by those around him- like the current (sublime) Punisher series, with no interion dialogue or thought balloons.

It's of note that the BLack Flame is active as an Axis agent in WWII, so eiter the mystery woman becomes the Crimson Lotus or the Flame finds some other motivator in his future.

[Middenway]

The Crimson Lotus was Japanese, I think. Kamala is Siamese. They aren't the same character.

[thwhtGuardian]

The Crimson Lotus was Japanese, I think. Kamala is Siamese. They aren't the same character.

Perhaps Crimson Lotus, like the Black Flame, is more of title or spirit that is passed on rather than an actual person?

[Middenway]

Perhaps Crimson Lotus, like the Black Flame, is more of title or spirit that is passed on rather than an actual person?

Possibly. But at this point I see no reason to suspect that. It seems that it's simple a case of people going "Asian + female = Crimson Lotus". It would be like saying one day it's going to be revealed that Alice and Liz are in fact the same character because they are both female and have red hair. There's nothing actually in the story at this point to support such a theory.

[thwhtGuardian]

Possibly. But at this point I see no reason to suspect that. It seems that it's simple a case of people going "Asian + female = Crimson Lotus". It would be like saying one day it's going to be revealed that Alice and Liz are in fact the same character because they are both female and have red hair. There's nothing actually in the story at this point to support such a theory.

It's a little more than that really, this is what kamala is:



It's a red lotus, or crimson if you will and with the way things work in Mignola's stories I doubt that is a coincidence.

[Middenway]

I tip my hat to you! I totally missed that! Now that changes everything...

OK, I'm totally geeking out right now

[thwhtGuardian]

I tip my hat to you! I totally missed that! Now that changes everything...

You can thank battlestar galactica for that, They used a drug called kamala extract on the show so I researched what kamala was back then and have just now found a use for that information.

I think the curious mind of Gary_B picked up on it as well. A love of words goes a long way it seems.

[edhopper]

While I loved this book, I was a bit disappointed by the open ending. The issue was great up to that point. I guess I got a fever, and the only cure is more Lobster.

[Middenway]

And here's the cover for the trade:

[thwhtGuardian]

And here's the cover for the trade:

I think this is the first time I've been disappointed to see a trade cover by Mignola. I would have much preferred a cover similar to this:



Which had a feeling more along the lines of a classic noir detective movie which really fit the tone of the story.

[the goddamn batman]

I don't know if I ever commented on this but man, this really fizzled out for me.

Kamala seemed to be tied to Crimson Lotus, but that was need explained, which was a big part of my interest in the story. Fuck, I don't think most of anything was explained. It just kind of... ended.

[Middenway]

At least we know there's more coming. There'll be a bunch of shorter stories (enough to fill the third trade) then it's back to a big miniseries again. Lobster Johnson has a long-term plan now with John Arcudi as writer.

[the goddamn batman]

and that's cool, but it doesn't mean a mini series can just end without much of a conclusive ending. at least that's what it felt like too me.