Reviewer: Kevin S. Mahoney
Title: N/A
Written by: Mike Mignola and John Arcudi
Art by: Guy Davis
Colored by: Dave Stewart
Lettered by: Clem Robins
Editor: Scott Allie
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
It’s almost getting repetitive. Every issue of this B.P.R.D. miniseries is more dire and catastrophic than the last. The finally freed insane looking monstrosity Katha Hem isn’t causing some sort of climate change or sneakily snacking on the citizenry. He’s vomiting over whole cities and electric sliding them into rubble! There is a host of dead or traumatized heroes. The government is calling for a nuclear strike on native soil, and no one can sensibly disagree. It couldn’t get much darker without several hundred gallons of ink or black paint.
The plot’s freefall is nimbly counterbalanced by the upswing in characterization. The B.P.R.D. agents began this story in a sort of heroic steady state, and this humongous peril has forced all of them to develop. Stoic and inexplicably alive USMC Captain Ben Daimio is feeling guilt and regret. Liz Sherman is proactively trying to solve the crisis. Abe Sapien has been lured outside of his lab cocoon. And of course Roger may never be the same again. The criticism may seem untimely (since House of M is over and Infinite Crisis is still ongoing) but this is how a watershed event ought to affect the characters in a mythos.
The art in this issue seems to fit the bizarre scope and tone of the plot quite well. The scenes at headquarters have a distractingly clear and sterile quality. It’s tough to see the team puzzling out what to do in such modern and antiseptic quarters while Midwestern towns drown under the weight of otherworldly slime. The layouts for the action sequences may be pedestrian (bordering on cliché) but the sheer amount of detail saves them from being limp or boring. The color palette used for this issue is very well balanced. The bright colors found in Liz’s dream reality are especially involving. The letters may have lost their obtrusive plonk, but the scale of this tale certainly brooks no distractions. This issue has a snazzy appeal without resembling anything else on the stands.
There is not much else to say about this book. Yes, it has thrills and real repercussions for the Hellboy cast and imprint. Sure it has monsters, government intrigue, personal struggle, and mysteries galore. The world probably won’t end, but the team can’t be the same by the end of this tale. That’s enough to keep this fan reading.
