Hellsing Recommended

Publisher
Dark Horse
Writer
Kohta Hirano
Artist
Kohta Hirano
Country of origin
Japan
Year
1998

Hellsing GN 5

By David Rasmussen
16th Jan 05

Publisher - Dark Horse
Rated - No Rating (probably OT 16+ or so)
By Kohta Hirano
Dark Horse Staff
Translation by Duane Johnson
Lettering by Wilbert Lacuna
Editors - Tim Ervin and Fred Lui

Hellsing GN 5
Previously...
The battle in South America is over.
The battle for England is about to begin.
Having taken over one of the British Navy's own aircraft carriers, and with a fleet of "airships" under his command, it seems that the new "fuehrer" (the little pudgy guy who has taken control of the whole show from his former "leaders" after having them put to death) is on his way to march all over London unless he's put down hard.

And that's where we come in.

And now...
With a nazi controlled aircraft carrier to deal with it seems the British has their hands full, but it's nothing a little intervention (in dramatic style) from Hellsing can't cure.
In the most dramatic action sequence to date, Alucard rains down on the aircraft carrier (using a modified SR-71 "Blackbird" (usually seen used by those X-people at MARVEL) as his "chariot") to bring down the curtain on the nazi forces within said aircraft carrier in dramatic fashion.
But in the end it was all for nothing. Don't want to say more because you should read this yourself.

But I can say this much. With a cliffhanger ending that sees London burning (the nazi symbol burned into the city itself large enough to be seen from orbit), and the streets filled with undead nazi stormtroopers, things look bleak. If dawn comes it may not come fast enough for the citizens of London, let alone England, in the face of this devastating undead assault that has already left untold dead in it's wake.

And wouldn't you know it! You'll have to wait all the way until MARCH to see what happens next!
Sigh... oh, well. Breakdown time!

Hellsing Breakdown the 5th
What's Hot? - I think I said this before, so I'll say it again. This is a solid read.
I'm not one for horror, and I've said that before to the point that I'm repeating myself (sorry) but this is one solid title. Somehow I think if I found more titles like this I can begin to like the horror genre more and more. I don't know, but the solid writing and action of titles like this just seem to do more for me than some other titles that I didn't like very much. This one is just too good.

What's Not? - I can't think of a thing. It's good.

Moments to Remember? - Alucard's assault on the compromised aircraft carrier. It is the most visually dramatic moment of the series that just kicks it like nobody's business. I wonder how they did that on film (anime) because if it looks that dramatic on paper it must really be something to see in anime form!

What to Ignore? - Today in the "weird dreams" dept. we have another weird dream...
No, no, Seras is NOT being visited by the spirit of her large gun again. This time out it's Alucard who is being visited by... the Spirit of Bruce Willis Movies Past? Eh??
So I'm to believe while Seras' gun's spirit is a nice guy who actually wants to help her, the spirit of Alucard's Jackal gun is Bruce Willis... because he played The Jackel in the movie of the same name. See?
Oh and then Christopher Walken, Maximillian Schell and others drop in and...
Ugh! Ignore it! It's so close to the major action sequence that I... ugh! Ignore it!! Ignore it!!
This scene alone makes me want to put together a fund to afford to purchase therapy for Mr. Hirano... now.

Overal1? - With the big payoff just around the corner (I think) we draw near to... ?
I'm guessing the book doesn't go past Graphic Novel 6 but I could be wrong. We'll see next time.
Of course NEXT time is months away so it'll be awhile before we get to "next time"...
Just remember to get this (and the previous four Graphic Novels) soon. This is bloody good reading... mostly because there's lots of blood in these books. Lots. Plenty. It could coat a house and then some.
Nuff said.

-- David Rasmussen 16th Jan 05