Rasputin: The Voice of the Dragon #1
Dark Horse
Written by: Mike Mignola, Chris Roberson
Art by: Christopher Mitten
Color by: Dave Stewart
Just to let you all know. Sadly, no dragons have shown up (yet) in this first issue of Rasputin. Speaking of him, he is alive and well. He has been thought dead and seems to have some kind of power. It all begins with Adolf Hitler finding Rasputin as he pitches an idea for Rasputin to work with him. What do you get when a “holy” man teams up with Hitler? Pure madness and chaos. One interesting aspect is seeing these two hash an idea of how to control the world and it’ll be fun to see who will be able to stop them.
After a brief introduction and meeting between Adolf and Rasputin, we are then introduced to our main character. Professor Bruttenholm, who works for intelligence for his government and is also a man interested in the paranormal. I would say what I found most likable about him is that even though he knows he is in a world with doubters, He really seems only willing to bring up any of his findings when there’s just enough evidence to help push forward his investigation. Even his superiors are fine with him trying to look more into what appears to be something about ghosts and spirits with the enemies in Germany.
Bruttenholm seems to really play it safe for his job’s sake as he decides to only look further into his findings by taking time off from work and search for more information on his own. I enjoy how he’s very smart about going his own way about this. To me, this helps a man in his position to not have him lose a job if he was caught disobeying an order while at work. He also never seems to try and push the ideas of the paranormal onto others. It’s an interesting take on a character who essentially tends to keep these things to himself and only pour out his information when he’s sure there is something to look into. He’s also not going to be in this alone as we meet one of his longtime friends Harry, a soldier getting ready to head out into the war again. They are both interested in the unknown and I like that they show how even they know that what they want to be proven real can be dangerous as they exchange remembering an old friend no longer with them. With the appearance of an actual zombie that barges in as they are catching up, it seems that they will be sticking it out together and see how this has happened.
Rasputin: The Voice of the Dragon seems to be about mystery, magic, and monsters. This essentially feels like an old age Ghostbusters story. It doesn’t have a lot of humor as it takes a more serious tone. Even with that, issue #1 tends to be an enjoyable book with layers of unknown waiting to be unraveled.