It feels like the Hellmouth crossover has overtaken the Buffyverse titles from Boom! Studios for an eternity at this point, so it’s a surprise to see the cover of the latest issue of Hellmouth and see that this is only issue #4. This has been a crossover in only the loosest sense of the word, as the Hellmouth title has been chronicling the adventures of Buffy and Angel inside the titular Hellmouth. At the same time, their individual titles have been telling the stories of each character’s supporting cast as they get along without them. The ongoing titles have been far stronger than the Hellmouth mini itself, and this issue is no exception.

This issue sees the aftermath of Buffy learning that Angel is a vampire. She sets off on her own to find the Hellmother (a being that finally made herself known in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer title as well), leaving Angel and Drusilla alone. Unfortunately, this leaves Angel defenseless against the Hellmother.

Writers Jordie Bellaire and Jeremy Lambert have a tough task ahead of them. Wringing drama out of Buffy learning something that the audience has known for two decades at this point. This isn’t even the first time we’ve seen Buffy wrestle with Angel’s vampiric nature, and since there’s no romance between them in this incarnation Bellaire and Lambert’s attempts can’t help but fall short. 

The art by Eleonora Carlini is dynamic enough, though one scene becomes extremely confusing because it’s unclear who a new character is meant to be—a future incarnation of Buffy? Another slayer? Buffy’s mom Joyce?—information that would be clear if the character design was stronger. The color by Mattia Iacono and the lettering by Ed Dukeshire are strong but do little to overcome the weak script.

The best thing that can be said about Hellmouth is that it has led to some fantastic issues of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. That’s not much of a recommendation for the Hellmouth mini, though, which just seems to be slouching along.

Grade: B-