By Mignola, Arcudi, Crook & Stewart
Publisher: Dark Horse
ISBN: 9781616551933
This Hell On Earth run of B.P.R.D. hasn’t quite lived up to the lofty heights achieved by the preceding series. That’s not to say that it’s no good, but it continually just feels OK, possibly because so few people appear to be reacting to living in such a messed up world in the manner you’d expect them to, and partly because the original core characters have been sidelined or disposed of. It’s lacking a central character to identify with so becomes a bit of a miss-mash of smaller stories that you’re not given the opportunity to emotionally invest with.
This is a story on a grand scale, with big events affecting the entire globe, and it’s quite an audacious move on behalf of the creators, and although it’s not failing, it’s not achieving the same level of intensity and drama that the earlier tales were.
The book begins in Scotland where at least there’s a strong suggestion of a country going to the dogs (pun intended – you’ll have to read it) where we meet a man trying to get into the country while all others are attempting to flee. This, we soon discover, is the beginning of the possible reincarnation of Rasputin, although the preparations for that return are ongoing.
Meanwhile Agent Kraus is shown the possibility of regaining a body, we get to follow a bunch of agents investigating deep into troubled Scotland, Fenix is throwing a teenaged strop, Abe’s still out for the count and Nichayko’s having to deal with internal politics. This is all intermingled with threads going right back to Hellboy: Seed Of Destruction, so there’s an awful lot to follow. Oh, and we get set up nicely for a clever twist that you don’t see coming, too.
It’s an ambitious undertaking, but it does require more of your attention than many comic reads (nothing wrong with that), and a little forgiveness too. On the whole this is still an above average series, but it does need to feel less fragmented and slightly more personal if it’s to get back to its former glory.
And if you like that: Get yourself a copy of Hellboy:Seed Of Destruction
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