The British Paranormal Society: Time Out of Mind

The World of Hellboy: Standalone Books

by Chris Roberson (Writer), Mike Mignola, Andrea Mutti (Illustrator)

British Paranormal Society members Simon Bruttenholm and Honora Grant arrive at Noxton together, but with separate goals: Honora hopes to uncover information on the town’s strange traditions, while Simon is searching for his missing assistant.

But their separate investigations lead down the same twisted path that hides a dark secret behind Noxton’s innocent façade!

Mike Mignola and Chris Roberson expand the Hellboy universe with a spooky new tale featuring art by Andrea Mutti with colors by Lee Loughridge, collected for the first time in hardcover.

Collects British Paranormal Society: Time Out of Mind #1–#5.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Horror, Fantasy, Mystery, Historical Fiction, Science Fiction

112 pages, Hardcover

First published February 8, 2023

About the author

Chris Roberson is the co-creator with artist Michael Allred of iZombie, the basis of the hit CW television series, and the writer of several New York Times best-selling Cinderella miniseries set in the world of Bill Willingham’s Fables. He is also the co-creator of Edison Rex with artist Dennis Culver, and the co-writer of Hellboy and the B.P.R.D, Witchfinder, Rise of the Black Flame, and other titles set in the world of Mike Mignola’s Hellboy. In addition to his numerous comics projects, Roberson has written more than a dozen novels and three dozen short stories. He lives with a teenager, two cats, and far too many books in Portland, Oregon.

Reviews

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't realize this was part of the Hellboy universe when I picked it up.
Mainly because the digital cover says the author is Chris Roberson, not Mike Mignola. I'm assuming Roberson is the actual writer and this is some sort of a Goodreads f-up.



Ok, so the gist is that these two old-timey paranormal investigators do some investigating in a small village that is full of secrets.
Old gods and human sacrifice kind of secrets.
But not everything is what it seems!



I've never heard of either of these characters before, but I'm not super familiar with Hellboy. Maybe some of you out there will be excited to see your favs in their own comic or something?
I don't know.
For me, this was very mid.
Recommended for Hellboy Universe completionists.

[Alexander Peterhans · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another ho-hum entry in the Hellboy universe, written by Roberson, who I wouldn't call my favourite Mignolaverse author, and drawn by Andrea Mutti, who seems to be pencilling about a third of all Dark Horse books these days.

There is not a whole lot to say, here - the story is wholly predictable. Not entirely bad, but never great.

(Thanks to Dark Horse Books for providing me with an ARC through Edelweiss)

[Tom Ewing · Rating 3 out of 5]

Damning with exceptionally faint praise to say that this is probably the best Roberson-written Mignolaverse series. It’s still a damp squib but it’s intentionally a damp squib, with the “is that it?” ending for once the point and not the result of Roberson writing flat final acts. So it works, in a quiet way.

The basic idea here is two agents from the proto-BPRD British Paranormal Society are on the trail of a missing third and get stuck into a folk horror plot. There are a lot of ways “a Mignolaverse take on The Wicker Man” could be good, and this isn’t really any of them. But it’s not actually bad either: folk horror lets the reader imagine a lot from some fairly basic ingredients, so the usual feeling with Roberson that he’s stopped halfway through having his ideas doesn’t matter so much. Andrea Mutti’s art keeps the menace understated (perhaps too understated, I thought, but it turns out to be the right choice). Thoroughly unambituous but at least that means it’s able to pull off what it’s aiming for.

[Eule Luftschloss · Rating 4 out of 5]

trigger warning
mention of human sacrifices, mental illness

1910: Two people from the British Paranormal Society come to investigate the possibility of a local cult and the disappearance of a friend. Also, they happen to be in time for the annual spring festival.

Short, fun. Pretty straightforward but over so fast that it doesn't matter.
Would like to know more about the BPS and their work.

The arc was provided by the publisher.

[Lauren Stoolfire · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like Hellboy, but this just wasn't it for me.

[Matty Dub · Rating 3 out of 5]

An ok Mignolaverse entry by an at-best serviceable team, I’d suggest this one to completionists only. This ties in to The Visitor’s world although he himself is not in it and it features Prof Broom’s uncle, Simon Bruttenholm and Honora Grant as they investigate some creepy village that ends up being a sect…

[Mohan Vemulapalli · Rating 3 out of 5]

This High Victorian romp in the Hellboy universe is entertaining and good for an afternoon's distraction but fails tell a compelling story or make a real impact. The book is mostly predictable with hackneyed and stereotypical characters while failing to distinguish itself for anything more than its Victorian setting. Expect a mismatched set of adventurer-investigators out of central casting, a villainous cult in an idyllic green fields English setting, inexplicably placed tarot cards, blood sacrifice to keep the villainous cult busy, steam punk aliens and a low key resolution that is as anticlimactic as it is uninteresting.

3.5 stars rounded to 3.

[Tina · Rating 3 out of 5]

A solid read. Nothing special about it--it was a bit forgettable, to be honest--but it did cure my boredom on a snowy day.

[Canavan · Rating 3 out of 5]

✭✭✭

[FELIX · Rating 3 out of 5]

Me gustan estos temas.

[Luke Shea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun little Folk Horror jaunt through the classy old timey spook story corner of the Hellboy-verse. It's basically just doing a Stone Tape/Wicker Man thing, but I like those things!

[Joseph R. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Investigating two separate mysteries, Simon Bruttenholm and Honora Grant go to the British village Noxton. Honora is investigating the local spring festival which has some very strange elements, least of which is the substitution of a Gray Man for the typical Green Man. Simon has come in search of his assistant who went to Noxton to investigate an ancient stone circle. The locals are very quiet about both mysteries, inspiring these members of the British Paranormal Society to dig deeper into what is going on.

The story moves quickly and has some nice moments. Quaint villages and customs naturally raise the hairs on the back of horror fans' heads, where the likes of The Wicker Man or Midsommar are floating around. The art conveys weirdness and tension without being needlessly graphic. The heroes are fun to root for and they make a good team. I hope some more stories like this are told of the British Paranormal Society.

Recommended.

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

Perfectly adequate Mignola-verse fare. A young Simon Bruttenholm (uncle to Trevor) and a female friend with an interest in dark folklore investigate weird happenings in a little town in the Cotswolds.

We're around the turn of the last century, and, surprise surprise, Noxton isn't as quaint as it appears. Bruttenholm's research assistant is missing, the local vicar is cagey, and the local version of freeze tag involves village children tying each other to poles. It's evident early on that we're in a "Wicker Man" situation, but writer Chris Roberson does a decent job maintaining interest, adding some suitably weird happenings as well as a couple twists from the community.

It isn't a standout Hellboy tale--it's blunt and predictable, with things proceeding pretty much as you'd expect. Still, the plotting and dialogue is serviceable, and the art by Andrea Mutti is generally good. There's a scratchy quality to the characters that I found engaging, even if this was a B-list offering.

[Ben A · Rating 3 out of 5]

An enjoyable, if not remarkable entry in the Hellboy expanded universe. About 10 years ago I entered into a period in my reading where I fell incredibly behind, and one of the universes that fell to the wayside was this one. While I was overly thrilled by it, even one of these lesser Hellboy books do tend to be a notch above the average comic books I read on a monthly basis anymore. Every time I pick up a new one of these mini-series, I tell myself that I am due for a reread from page one of Hellboy: Seed of Destruction #1 and that it might enhance these books with the added context that I've either missed or forgotten over the years.

Special Thanks to Dark Horse Comics and Edelweiss Plus for the digital ARC.

[Rizzie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fun little story. It was pretty mid at the start, but it picked up a lot toward the end. This is one of the few Hellboy-verse comics to not really involve Mignola directly, and unfortunately it shows. The art and writing are both serviceable, but certainly nowhere near Mignola's standards. I'm not sure why this story wasn't simply written as another volume of Witchfinder. Instead we follow two forgettable side characters from that series. I expected this would provide some interesting lore on the British Paranormal Society itself, perhaps the seeds of its influence on the later BPRD, but despite the title of the volume, the Society itself is actually never even mentioned. Strange. Well, in any case, it was still an enjoyable little diversion.

[Etain · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Short bit of hellboy flavoured folk horror with a sci-fi twist. I appreciate how this was much more academic than action focused and I like the two characters well enough but there's really nothing notable about it. The art was very hit or miss, the color and lighting was occasionally beautiful but alot of the posing and character designs just felt aimless. This, just like "reign of the black flame" and "Saturn returns" easily could have and probably should have been a single issue one shot. If takes up more space than it deserves.

[William Dalphin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entertaining but stale

The posh British duo of a man who seems routinely lost and a woman with a no nonsense attitude stumbling through a mystery set in a quaint little village with odd townsfolk feels overdone at this point. I could barely tell if I was reading a Hellboy story or a League of Extraordinary Gentlemen story. Good artwork, but it doesn't even really try to hide the mystery. The only twist is that nothing really happens ultimately.

[Абрахам Хосебр · Rating 4 out of 5]

Черговий цікавий спіноф зі стилізацією під "Хворостяного чоловіка". Закинуте селище, таємний культ і жертвоприношеннями двоє дослідників антропологів. Гонора Ґрант як живе втілення тароїчної Сили, предок Брума , як типовий відлюдник.
А ще читач може кинути оком на останні дні Планети Інопланетян з першого легендарного Seed of destruction.
Супер-фанатська лімітка для відданих шанувальників, читати без бази практично безсенсово.

[Fraser Sherman · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 which is low for me for anything in the Hellboy universe. Trouble is, this story of Professor Bruttenholm's uncle investigating occult goings on in a small English village is recycling cliches (you'd be amazed how many fictional small English villages are enmeshed in cults, sinister stone circles and the right) and unlike the best Hellboy stuff, doesn't add anything new or clever.

[uzhuj · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay so this is more or less the run of the mill small town cult story, but then in the end instead of running away or getting rescued, they just tell the cultist that their beliefs are bullshit. We learn a bit avout the aliens. Which is nice, but also I hope they will not feature much more, they are just good being mysterious.
Nothing special, but adequate.

[John Shaw · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is exactly what I expect from Mignola.
It is a Stuffy British Mystery full of oddities, sinister villagers, things from beyond we cannot see lest it drive us mad, and a lot of murder.
Trevor Bruttenholm, future father of Hellboy, investigates mysterious happenings in a secluded village.
Uncovering a centuries old cult sacrificing humans to their otherworldly gods.

[Dakota Morgan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A thoroughly adequate addition to the Mignola-verse. Some BPS folks investigate a mysterious town and (surprise!) there's a cult thing going on. Andrea Mutti's artwork is probably the best part about Time Out of Mind, which is otherwise the very definition of average. You can predict the ending essentially from the first scene.

[Mark Ames · Rating 3 out of 5]

Story: Odd things are afoot in the English countryside:
Setting: 19th/20th century England
Language: Contemporary English
Characters: Paranormal investigators, scientists of sorts
Art: Engaging and brushy, not to detailed but clear.

Overall, a quick easy read but this type of story is told so often that to make it work it has to have a lot more going on than this rather obvious take.

[Andy Hickman · Rating 3 out of 5]

The British Paranormal Society – Time Out Of Mind, by Chris Roberson
Honora and Simon are like Sherlock and Watson ***
#1 – “But what I’ve read about Noxton’s spring celebration is another thing ENTIRELY”
#2 – “No, there was this .. this creature pursuing me and .. what?”
#3 – “The man was crazed, out of his mind with fear.”
#4 – “Come now, we have questions for you –"

[Tamara · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the panelling a lot in this, it was great for telling the story, and I enjoyed the premise but as soon as the story deviated from old world magic into aliens and time travel, it fell flat for me. I'd have preferred it to stay within the realm of pagan gods and magics instead. It was a quick read, but wordy in some of the dialogue. Overall pretty good.

[Aaron · Rating 2 out of 5]

Essentially just The Wicker Man but make it Mignolaverse. Nothing special for its first 3.5 issues, in fact quite a bit boring and uneventful, but ends with a somewhat interesting twist that makes it fit into the greater Hellboy Universe in a way that, while kind of charming, doesn't ultimately feel like it matters in any way. Lots of forgettable stuff coming out ever since BPRD & Hellboy ended!

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve read part of this story in the past, but I’m pretty sure I’ve never had access to the whole thing before. While it is a fairly familiar trope I feel like they did a pretty good job fitting it into the universe it is set in. I really enjoy the artwork in all of these books and look forward to reading more of them.

[Craig · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not sure how something with all the trappings of classic folk horror--a spooky small town, a cult, standing stones, mysterious disappearances--could be so dull, but there you have it. This is a very boring story, with little to recommend it...

[Benjamin Barham · Rating 2 out of 5]

Roberson's stories read like someone running down a straight hallway at full speed yelling what they see as they pass it. And like he forgets there needs to be art on the page.

Roberson, if you're reading this: you're not good at telling these stories, sit down.

[Adan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simon Bruttenholm and Honora Grant investigate another weird happening in an English village and discover something linking all the way back to the very first Hellboy story. I won’t say much more to avoid spoilers, but I got a little thrill when the answer to the mystery was finally revealed.