Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Writer: Mike Mignola and Scott Allie
Artist: Max Fiumara
Editor: Scott Allie
Release Date: OUT NOW!
Price: $3.50

Abe Sapien #33 touches on the desire we all address from time to time, the desire to find oneself, to know your own history, where you came from and who you are is a fundamental driving force for each and every one of us. Without that knowledge, we are little more that flotsam cast adrift on the sea of life.

How much greater then is that desire for a two-hundred-year-old mutated fish man who can’t remember his past or how he came to be the way he is? That is the dilemma facing Abe Sapien and his quest to fill in the gaps in his memory have led him to a confrontation with necromancer Gustav Strobl even as dark forces threaten to destroy the world. A hidden cache of audio tapes provides Abe with vital clues but a little knowledge is a dangerous thing as Abe finds to his cost as layer upon layer of his past life is painfully revealed.

Abe Sapien #33 is a peerless performance by all concerned, as it switches between Abe’s past and present realities. The emotional tension ratchets up several notches as the threads of Abe’s very existence is unravelled and you may want to scream in frustration by the end because we are now so tantalisingly close to finding out the truth. However, the team of Mignola and Allie know how to tease a reader into sticking with a story to the very end. Hang in there, if Abe Sapien #33 is anything to go by, it will all be worth it.

Reviewer: Gary Orchard
Reviews Editor: Steve Hooker