#he was definitely bottoming for Jahad

[incorrecttowerofgodquotes]

STOP IT WITH THE GENDER SIU

[eddycurrents]

Strange Places: The Island

Words & Art: Mike Mignola | Colours: Dave Stewart | Letters: Clem Robins

Originally published by Dark Horse in Hellboy: The Island #1 & 2 | June & July 2005

Epilogue - Originally published by Dark Horse in Hellboy - Volume 6: Strange Places | April 2006

Collected in Hellboy - Volume 6: Strange Places | Hellboy Library Edition - Volume 3 | Hellboy Omnibus Volume 2: Strange Places

Plot Summary:

Hellboy emerges from the depths of the ocean to a crag of wrecked ships and navigates an island of ghosts, ruminating on who he is, who he was, and who he’s meant to be.

Reading Notes:

(Note: Pagination does not represent anything within the issue or collections themselves, it is solely in reference to the chapter.)

pg. 1 - The bleakness in these panels from the white skies, white water, the faded colour to the gulls and the ships, this feels like purgatory. In his introduction to this story, Mike Mignola said that he was inspired by William Hope Hodgson’s Sargasso Sea stories, which explains the setting, but this feels so much further removed from the world. That Hellboy has landed himself in a no man’s land.

Also, I think a potential interpretation of “The Third Wish” and “The Island” is to see them as two parts of the death and resurrection of Hellboy. Maybe not literally, maybe so, since everything here seems to be an existential exercise. In the former, you could see Hellboy going to a “hell” in the underworld of the sea and the final panels are vague enough that he could have drowned. Then in “The Island”, his soul is traversing this kind of purgatory, facing his demons and angels, while searching for a way to exist again.

pg. 3 - Absolutely stunning work from Mignola and Dave Stewart. The fading, distant sunset just adding to the feeling that wherever Hellboy is, there’s soon to be no light or warmth.

pg. 4 - This is a nice summary of the last story. The appearance of others is certainly strange.

pg. 5-6 - The sea shanty, what’s actually looking more like flaming mugs than just sloshing ale, and weird orange colour definitely give it a feel that something’s wrong here.

pg. 7 - And there’s the rub. You do wonder, though, if Hellboy’s drinking with ghosts or if his loneliness and drink have him hallucinating happier surroundings.

Also, I just love the presentation here. The layout for the page and bottom tier’s grid is just interesting.

pg. 8 - Hecate’s looking a bit different from her last appearance, but it’s interesting to see her here to lay claim on Hellboy. The moon in the background is a nice little hint to her identity, if anyone was confused at the onset before she’s explicitly named.

Also, like the monkey with a gun panel, this is probably one of the funniest sequences in a Hellboy comic.

pg. 9-11 - Hecate’s reasoning for Hellboy to join her is kind of weird, reiterating a binary choice that Hellboy himself has rejected the notion of before.

That’s also probably one of the creepiest, most terrifying “I want you inside of me” propositions from a woman...or iron maiden. Somebody should probably do a study of the sexual innuendo in Hellboy and how awkward and strange much of it happens to be.

pg. 11 - Hellboy atop the cliff, tossing away the rum bottle, discovery of another skeleton, and then fade to black is probably one of the scenes in this story that most reminds me of The Seventh Seal.

pg. 12 - And then things possibly get stranger. Being unfixed in time and place give you a lack of orientation literally, so the appearance of a castle randomly on this island is even an odder prospect.

pg. 13 - When has Hellboy ever done the “sane” thing?

pg. 14-15 - Like the castle, the appearance of the priest, knights, and the man they’re judging as a heretic is hard to place, unexplained, making you wonder if it’s something currently happening, something that has happened previously and we’re just getting a flashback, or what.

pg. 18 - Sudden monster appearance is sudden.

pg. 19-21 - Impressive battle, though there’s an interesting level of futility that Mignola introduces through referencing Moby Dick. That Hellboy is losing himself in continuing this battle.

pg. 22 - Yeah...grievous impalement probably isn’t good.

pg. 24-25 - I definitely seems more now that the bit with the priest is in the past. With the heretic telling the priest that he’ll rise again some time in the future.

pg. 26-27 - The juxtaposition of the heretic’s words in the past over the events in the present with Hellboy are well done. The art as well is just phenomenal. The darkness, the spot colours of red, the designs for the sculptures and decorations, the resuscitation of the old heart, you kind of just have to stare at these pages a few times to take it all in.

pg. 28 - Aside from just looking cool, there are also possibly some hints as to some of the story elements in what otherwise may just seem like random images.

pg. 30 - Mohlomi’s reappearance is certainly interesting. Especially serving as a kind of psychopomp for Hellboy. It makes you wonder if his role even in “The Third Wish” was merely a passive guide, ferrying Hellboy from one place to another.

pg. 31 - I absolutely love that the heretic has taken Hellboy’s colour scheme, along with his blood. It helps reinforce the idea that this is an assumption of Hellboy’s life and destiny, that he’s basically stolen everything of Hellboy’s existence to spur his own resurrection. And in doing so, Hellboy’s colour has faded and left him grey.

There’s also a visual similarity to the wound pattern and silhouette of Rasputin. From a conceptual standpoint, it sets up Hellboy against not just someone who has taken on his essential life spark to serve as a kind of doppelganger, but also a representation of his opposite.

pg. 32 - The heretic basically explaining it to us, and Hellboy just not having any of it is typical. Absolutely gorgeous art still from Mignola and Stewart.

pg. 34 - The legend of those gold tablets (alternately copper in some tellings, I think, but mostly gold) is real. Again, it’s a testament to how Mignola tells a story, weaving in bits of pre-existing folklore, urban legends, mythology, occult, and magick with his own inventions to tell a bigger story.

pg. 37 - I find it very interesting that as soon as Mignola goes into the creation story for Hellboy, the constrained layouts and grids ends. Suddenly we get a full bleed page, something we’ve not seen often in the series. Visually, it signifies that something bigger is being told here, even if you don’t necessarily comprehend that on a first reading.

pg. 39-40 - And that full-page storytelling continues through with the creation of the Ogdru Jahad and their offspring.

pg. 41 - And just weird happenings regarding the creator race of Watchers and the one who basically constructed their “devil” in Ogdru Jahad, and how his bits and pieces ultimately come down to Hellboy’s conception.

pg. 42 - This conception of the creation of gods and monsters, of mice and men, is interesting. Even if predicated on a faulty understanding from Blavatsky.

pg. 44 - Just stunning use of colour from Stewart.

pg. 46 - And it gets woven back into the narrative that started in Seed of Destruction and is currently running through this narrative movement in BPRD.

pg. 47 - It’s interesting that it always cycles back to the crazy. Delusions of grandeur and an attempt to run the world, to have it accept him as a saviour, anyone who disagrees be damned. It’s an interesting counterpoint to Hellboy, who doesn’t want to be a hero but tends to do the right thing just because it’s “right”.

pg. 50 - I love it when Hellboy provides his own sound effects.

pg. 51 - It always sucks when hurting the villain hurts you yourself. This mirror nature between the heretic and Hellboy is fascinating. It’s also interesting to see what effect Mohlomi’s trinkets are having.

pg. 52 - The heretic’s assumption of Hellboy’s “true” form, even as this nascent Anung Um Rama demon--though looking a wee bit more like Astaroth--is interesting. It’s a sign of a path not taken.

pg. 53 - Creepy worm is back.

pg. 54 - The heretic suffering as the worm creature thing dies is an interesting touch. Gorgeous artwork.

pg. 56 - After all that...

pg. 57 - Ominous hint of things to come.

pg. 60 - Love the use of the fairies and night creatures and whatnot again as a kind of Greek chorus for the epilogue.

Also a hint for what comes next in the main narrative, “Even now he is bound for England.” which I think picks up in Darkness Calls.

pg. 61 - I find it interesting that Hecate has apparently fallen silent, likely living by Hellboy’s wish for her to leave him alone (at least for the time being).

pg. 62-63 - Nice reiteration and reinterpretation of who Hellboy is.

pg. 63 - It’s also interesting as to just how much of Hellboy’s eventual fate is shaped just because this little hobgoblin, Gruagach, couldn’t handle his smackdown from being a jerk back in “The Corpse”.

pg. 65 - Just let it go, pig dude.

Final Thoughts:

So...if “The Third Wish” was a fairy tale, Mike Mignola’s tragic take on Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid, this is something else entirely as a follow-up, somewhere between The Seventh Seal and Black Narcissus. It’s bleak, distant, esoteric, and absolutely lush when it comes to its use of colour to set mood and atmosphere.

While it is a resumption of the origin cycle for Hellboy that has played out before in the narrative a few times now since Seed of Destruction, it’s also a bit of transference and confrontation of Hellboy’s destiny that plays out here. Where previous iterations may have been an emotional response and rejection, here we get a more measured physical and intellectual rejection.

This also feels kind of like a dry run for the storytelling approach that we’re going to eventually be seeing in parts of Hellboy in Hell. This story definitely takes us to some strange places.

d. emerson eddy is just a broken machine, with all the layers of dust some things have started to fail. Some things. Some.

[junker-town]

Temple might win ‘only’ 7-8 games this year, and that’s disappointing? Times have changed

Just in case any of you had any delusions that college sports are about purity, fun and honest competition, you're kidding yourselves. It's a cold-hearted, calculating, bottom-line business. For many years, the Big East has specialized in being cold-hearted. What goes around comes around, and in losing its two premier football schools, the University of Miami and Virginia Tech, to the ACC, the Big East is getting what it deserves.

In 2001, the Big East conference made the announcement that it was kicking Temple's football program out of the league. [...] The conference chose to boot Temple despite the existence of pitiful and pathetic Rutgers, which has been an even bigger football doormat than Temple.

That's Philadelphia columnist Larry Atkins in the summer of 2003, writing about the Big East getting raided (for the first time, but definitely not the last) by the ACC.

Temple was so hopeless a program at the turn of the century that even when it was losing big programs and looking to replenish its stock, the Big East still chose to let the Owls walk at the end of the 2004 season. Rutgers stayed, UConn joined, and Temple got the boot.

The Owls had to go independent for a couple of years, missing out on a Conference USA invitation and settling in the MAC. It was never a great geographical fit — akin to New Mexico State joining the Sun Belt — but it was at least a home.

North Alabama head coach and three-time Division II national champion Bobby Wallace had gone just 4-18 in his first two years in charge when the conference first decided to ditch the Owls. Wallace rallied a bit, winning four games each year from 2000-02, but as the Big East's decision became final, recruiting cratered and so did Wallace. He went 3-31 from 2003-05 and was let go, eventually returning to North Alabama. He and his Lions made the Division II championship game in 2016. The guy can coach; he just couldn’t coach Temple.

At the time of Wallace’s dismissal, barely 11 years ago, Temple was maybe the hardest job in FBS, a football program with an uncertain future, at a land-locked school without an on-campus stadium, in a metro area not known for overflow prep talent.

Big East membership brought some big teams to town, but it didn’t enhance recruiting enough to make a difference. But then Al Golden came showed up.

I’ve written a lot about how Boise State became powerful by making a good hire, then a great one, then an amazing one, etc. Coaching hires are almost impossible to nail consistently — insert go-to examples here (Oklahoma hiring John Blake before Bob Stoops, Florida hiring Ron Zook between Steve Spurrier and Urban Meyer, Alabama hiring Mike Shula before Nick Saban, etc.) — but if you make a few good ones in a row, you can improve your lot in life. Temple has done just that.

Al Golden: great hire. The Penn State alum and former Virginia defensive coordinator stripped the house down to the studs, went 1-11 and finished dead last in S&P+ in his first season, then began the upward move: 111th and 4-8 in 2007, 77th and 5-7 in 2008. Temple won 17 games in 2009-10 and made their first bowl in 30 years. Golden left for Miami and was replaced by Florida offensive coordinator/Central Connecticut alum/all-around dude Steve Addazio. Miami fans might think poorly of him, but before his arrival there, he had pulled off one of the most impressive coaching performances in a long, long time.

Steve Addazio: decent hire. Addazio wasn’t around very long, but he stuck the landing the one time he absolutely needed to. Temple went 9-4 and surged to 45th in S&P+ in 2011, and in March 2012, the university scored a re-invitation into the Big East, this time for all sports. The Big East would become the AAC and lose its power conference status soon after, but Temple was still upgrading. Of course, the Owls then went 4-7 in 2012, and Addazio left for Boston College.

Matt Rhule: incredible hire. Under Addazio, a good defense had begun to lose its way, and an improved offense wasn’t making up the difference. Rhule needed a reset season of his own (2-10 in 2013) but engineered stunning, linear progress thereafter: 6-6 and 81st in S&P+ in 2014, 10-4 and 55th in 2015, 10-4, AAC champs, and 32nd in 2016.

Geoff Collins: ???

Temple’s 34-10 win over Navy in the 2016 AAC title game was Rhule’s last. He left for Baylor, and the Owls missed out on a shot at a program-best 11th win with a disappointing performance against Wake Forest in the Military Bowl.

Still, everything changed under Rhule. Temple went from hard-job success story to seeming like a far less difficult job. The stadium issue is still as unsettled as ever, and Philadelphia isn’t suddenly producing 40 three-star recruits per year, but from first Golden, then Rhule, emerged a blueprint for how Temple can succeed.

In the 11 seasons since Golden arrived, Temple has not yet produced an offense better than 64th in Off. S&P+. But the Owls ranked between 37th and 70th in Def. S&P+ every year from 2007-11, and after a two-year reset, they ranked in the top 25 each of the last three years. You can build a decent offense and killer defense in North Philly. And now it’s up to former Florida defensive coordinator Geoff Collins to keep the good vibes (and low point totals) going.

2016 in review

2016 Temple statistical profile.

Temple’s defense was excellent out of the gates; the national average for yards per play is around 5.8 in a given year, and the Owls allowed greater than 5.6 only twice, against outstanding Penn State and USF offenses.

The offense, however, took some time to round into form under first-year head coach Glenn Thomas. The line and receiving corps each had key pieces to replace, and the offense was below average for about half the season.

Things picked up in mid-October, however.

First 7 games (4-3): Avg. percentile performance: 58% (~top 55) | Avg. yards per play: Owls 5.6, Opp 4.8 (plus-0.8)

Next 6 games (6-0): Avg. percentile performance: 77% (~top 30) | Avg. yards per play: Owls 6.4, Opp 4.5 (plus-1.9)

After a 34-27 loss to Memphis, Temple began to figure things out. The Owls eked past UCF in Orlando, 26-25, then romped, beating their last six AAC opponents by an average score of 34-11. They beat good USF and Navy teams by a combined 40 points.

They played hungover in the bowl game, giving up 31 consecutive first-half points before embarking on a furious comeback to lose only 34-26. But what a team this was over the final two months of the regular season.

Offense

Full advanced stats glossary.

Geoff Collins has an impeccable defensive résumé and a hardscrabble, work-your-way-up track record that should play well in Philly. The Western Carolina grad was named defensive coordinator at Division III Albright in 1997 at age 25, then took over the defense at Western Carolina in 2002 before landing at the FBS level. He served as DC at FIU, Mississippi State, and Tulane, trademarking an aggressive, swaggering (on and off the field) brand of defense along the way.

So the odds are strong that the Temple defense will remain mean and exciting. Great. What about the offense? Will Collins be able to figure anything out that Rhule et al couldn’t?

For an affirmative answer to that, Collins turned to Dave Patenaude. Patenaude was Joe Moglia’s offensive coordinator at Coastal Carolina over the last five seasons. He established consistent run success in Conway, S.C., but late in his tenure there, he seemed to be trying to create more of a pass-first attack. It didn’t stick because CCU couldn’t keep a quarterback healthy, but it makes his intentions a bit unclear at this stage.

Patenaude has hinted at more of an up-tempo style, but we’ll see if Temple has the efficiency to pull that off. Temple produced plenty of big plays over the last couple of years, but inefficiency let the Owls down at times.

Rich Barnes-USA TODAY Sports

Ryquell Armstead

Here are some of the pieces Patenaude inherits:

RB Ryquell Armstead. The junior exploded in 2016, topping incumbent Jahad Thomas’ numbers in just about every category. He had 20 carries for 210 yards in the win over USF, then posted 20 for 133 against UConn two weeks later and 10 for 76 in the AAC title game win. He showed far greater efficiency potential than the all-or-nothing Thomas, and his “alls” were a little bigger than Thomas’ as well. He will be the offense’s rock with Thomas now a Dallas Cowboy.

WRs Ventell Bryant, Keith Kirkwood, and Adonis Jennings. The trio of 6’3 wideouts (Kirkwood is big enough that he moonlighted at defensive end this spring) combined for 123 catches and 2,017 yards at 9.9 yards per target last year. Thomas was a scary receiving threat, and tight end Romond Deloatch is gone, but these three were the heartbeat of the passing game, and they’re all back. So is Brodrick Yancy, a smaller option who averaged 8.1 yards per target.

Five offensive linemen with starting experience. Temple has to replace second-round pick Dion Dawkins but, among its returners, gets back three 2016 starters and senior guard Brian Carter, a 2015 starter.

Temple played quite a few bad defenses in 2016, so the raw numbers maybe overstated the potential a hair, but there’s still obvious upside here. (Plus, there are plenty of bad defenses once again on the schedule.)

At least, there is if a quarterback emerges. Sophomore and 2016 second-stringer Logan Marchi and three three-star prospects — junior Frank Nutile, redshirt freshman Anthony Russo, and true freshman Todd Centeio — embarked on the beginning of a QB battle this spring, and the fight will continue into August.

Centeio and Marchi bring solid mobility to the table, while Nutile and Russo might have the best arms. There’s variety — a very good thing, as Patenaude can go a couple of different ways with his intended offensive identity — but there’s no surefire success.

Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports

Adonis Jennings

Defense

Under Rhule, Temple won with offensive explosions and a dynamite defense. We’ll see how much the offensive identity changes, but it should be more of the same for the defense. In terms of raw defensive averages, unadjusted for opponent, Collins’ Florida defense was almost a mirror image of Temple’s last year.

Success Rate: Florida ninth, Temple 10th

IsoPPP (explosiveness): Florida 42nd, Temple 56th

Finishing Drives: Florida seventh, Temple 26th

Temple had a better run defense, while Florida was better against the pass, but both defenses were ultra aggressive, well rounded, and willing to risk big plays in the name of turnovers and three-and-outs but pretty good at avoiding big plays, too.

Collins and defensive coordinator Taver Johnson (a former defensive backs coach at Ohio State, Arkansas, and Purdue) do inherit a defense that has some holes to fill. Rhule recruited a lot of front-seven talent, but all-world end Hasson Reddick is gone, as are all three starting linebackers and two other starting linemen. That’s a lot of churn to overcome.

Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images

Michael Dogbe (98) and offensive lineman James McHale (74)

Junior tackles Michael Dogbe and Freddie Booth-Lloyd should serve as nice anchors, but the key to success up front could be young former star recruits. Four-star sophomore tackle Karamo Dioubate and mid-three-star sophomore linebackers Chapelle Russell, William Kwenkeu, and Sam Franklin represent the next generation of Owl defenders, but after easing into roles last year, they’ll be thrust into the spotlight. Kwenkeu and Franklin were working with the first string this spring, and Dioubate should be, at worst, the top backup tackle.

The key could be the defensive end position. Reddick, Praise Martin-Oguike, and tight end/pass rusher Romond Deloatch combined for a patently absurd 39.5 tackles for loss and 22 sacks last year, allowing the Owls to generate major pressure without blitzing. There are countless replacement candidates, from seniors Jacob Martin and Sharif Finch, to six freshmen (three redshirt, three true), to receiver Keith Kirkwood. But one way or another, the Owls will have to figure out how to generate pressure.

If Temple has a generally competent pass rush, the DBs will take it from there. Safeties Delvon Randall and Sean Chandler combined for 9.5 TFLs, six interceptions, and six breakups last year, and veteran corners Artrel Foster, Derrek Thomas, and Cequan Jefferson are joined by a potential stud transfer: Mike Jones was a lockdown corner (and phenomenal punt returner) for NC Central last year but decided to ply his trade at a higher level before going to the pros.

It would be difficult for even an elite recruiting team to lose the talent Temple loses on defense without at least a temporary stumble. This will likely be the Owls’ first year without a top-25 defense since 2013, but with this talent and athleticism, it’s hard to imagine that stumble being too lengthy or significant. Say, top 50 this year and top 30 in 2018?

Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports

Delvon Randall (2) and Sean Chandler (3)

Special Teams

The addition of Jones might have more of an impact on Temple’s special teams than its secondary. In 10 returns for NCCU last year, he gained 220 yards and scored two touchdowns. If he finds similar success at the FBS level, then the combination of Jones and either Aaron Boumerhi or Austin Jones at place-kicker gives the Owls a couple of solid special teams anchors. And the upside grows if all-or-nothing kick returner Isaiah Wright becomes a little more consistent.

2017 outlook

2017 Schedule & Projection Factors

Date Opponent Proj. S&P+ Rk Proj. Margin Win Probability 2-Sep at Notre Dame 17 -15.5 19% 9-Sep Villanova NR 23.8 92% 15-Sep Massachusetts 111 16.1 82% 21-Sep at South Florida 56 -4.2 40% 30-Sep Houston 49 -0.1 50% 7-Oct at East Carolina 100 8.5 69% 14-Oct Connecticut 125 20.8 88% 21-Oct at Army 102 9.3 70% 3-Nov Navy 71 5.3 62% 10-Nov at Cincinnati 75 1.5 54% 18-Nov Central Florida 78 6.9 65% 25-Nov at Tulsa 77 1.8 54%

Projected S&P+ Rk 67 Proj. Off. / Def. Rk 90 / 30 Projected wins 7.5 Five-Year S&P+ Rk -1.5 (76) 2- and 5-Year Recruiting Rk 79 / 74 2016 TO Margin / Adj. TO Margin* 6 / 6.0 2016 TO Luck/Game 0.0 Returning Production (Off. / Def.) 57% (58%, 56%) 2016 Second-order wins (difference) 10.7 (-0.7)

Depending on your view of Steve Addazio, Temple is either 2-for-3 or 3-for-3 in its last three hires since Bobby Wallace went 0-11 in 2005. Golden, Addazio, and Rhule combined to completely change what we think Temple is capable of as a football program. The limitations are still obvious, but we know Temple can produce a hard-hitting defense and a big-play offense and win a lot of games, and the odds are pretty good that Collins will do something similar.

It’s hard to imagine Temple avoiding at least a couple of steps backwards in 2017, however. The Owls have to replace a first-round defensive end, a second-round offensive lineman, a multi-year starting quarterback, an explosive running back, and all three starting linebackers. Even if the replacements provide reason for optimism, S&P+ says Temple will be more like a top-70 team than a top-40 team in 2017, and I think I agree. I also think the 2018 Owls could be pretty ferocious.

Even with a projected step backwards, though, Temple is looking at probably a seven- or eight-win year. S&P+ projects at least a 40 percent win probability in 11 of 12 games, and like so many other AAC teams, the Owls’ fortunes will be determined by relative tossups — they have probability between 40 and 65 percent in six games.

A coaching change is always scary when you’re coming off of two of your best ever seasons, and we technically don’t know if Collins will be a good head coach until he proves it. We also don’t know how he’ll recruit; his first, abbreviated Temple signing class had an average rating barely higher than UMass’.

Still, he fits the Temple profile and checks a lot of boxes. And he takes on a job a lot less hard than his predecessors did. That’s enough for now.

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