In Review: B.P.R.D. Hell on Earth: The Long Death #1
The covers: The regular edition features art by Duncan Fergredo with colors by Dave Stewart. Johann Kraus, a living ectoplasmic projection, tromps through a forest in his new containment suit he recently got from the Russian B.P.R.D. The cover is both gorgeous, for its setting, and unsettling, for its out of (any) place character. This cover captures the spirit of the B.P.R.D. well. The variant cover is by Hellboy and B.P.R.D. creator Mike Mignola (with colors by Dave Stewart) and features this month’s Year of Monsters cover. Each month a different Hellboy related title will have a variant cover by Mignola featuring one character fighting a monster. This month it’s Kraus encountering a serpent in a lake. This scene is nowhere in the comic, but who cares? It’s just cool! Overall grades: Both A+
The story: Kraus walks into the B.P.R.D. commissary and encounters Captain Daimio. But this can’t be, as regular readers know, as Daimio transformed into a wendigo and left the Bureau over a year ago. Anyhoo, after a brief exchange and the Captain’s exit, Kraus begins convulsing. Some type of flesh is trying to take control of his suit–from the inside! The creature continues to grow inside him until…I won’t say. The creature’s origin is touched upon, but the story is more about a mission that Kraus goes on. A “new” agent is introduced and gets some face time with Kraus. The story then has a separation of characters and things go very, very badly quickly. One of the big draws for the B.P.R.D. are the characters. Everyone is essentially on the same team, but then someone’s motivations go in a different direction than that of the mission’s, and “stuff” happens. I want to know what Kraus is doing, I want to know what happened to Giarocco, and I want to know why this is happening in Canada, yet again! Mike Mignola and John Arcudi tell great stories. Overall grade: A
The art: James Harren was the artist on a previous B.P.R.D. tale, Abe Sapien: The Devil Does Not Jest, but–Wow! He was good before, but this is outrageously good! Kraus is just a funny sort of suit, but when the flesh battles him it’s monsterously gross. Not so gross you’re disgusted, but so gross you can’t look away! You have to know what is happening. And the scene in the cabin puts every version of “Beowulf” to shame! So, yes, Harren can do action and violence, but even the quiet scenes, the dialogue scenes, Pages 7 – 11, are great. Each line in a face, in a suit, brings these two dimensional images to life better than any 3-D projector could. Harren is one to watch! My favorite scene? Page 22, panel two. Wow! Overall grade: A+
The colors: This comic is a showcase for why colorists are important, because in these pages Dave Stewart makes the art more dynamic and the story more intense with his colors. I haven’t seen flesh so frightening or red so energized before. The reds are unforgetable on Pages 16 – 19 and 21 & 22. Again, wow! Overall grade: A
The letters: I was really happy with Clem Robins’ work. The scenes in the commissary and in the cabin have lettering that increase the horror, just as Stewart’s colors rev things up. Sure, there’s the usual dialogue, which is good, but without the right font, the right style, these scenes would be laughable. But they are not, they are, in fact, so far from it. If you just looked at these sounds in isolation, you’d know that they mean business. Overall grade: A+
The final line: Creepy horrific fun. Nothing scares you so well! Overall grade: A
