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magnetgrrl's review against another edition
4.0
B.P.R.D. carries on where Hellboy sort of stops, during the years when Mignola wasn't writing any more Hellboy stories. At first the collections are just shorts, but then with successive volumes an engaging and ongoing story (which seems to be leading back into a meetup with the main Hellboy story at some point now that Mignola is writing him again) slowly starts to develop. These stories seem to be Mignola's way of testing out new artists and writers for his characters, as well as a place for him to put some of his shorter one-off ideas. There are notes preceding each story from Mignola that are pretty interesting.
crookedtreehouse's review against another edition
4.0
A nearly satisfying widening of the Mignolaverse with a focus on characters from volumes three through five of Hellboy. It suffers from the terrible editorial choice of placing the main story, whose heart is dependent on a backup story, first. Had they merely placed the shorter story first, the narrative would have flowed much smoother. Instead, we're told an act of kindness happened that sets up our story, we finish our story, and then they show us the act of kindness. Show don't tell is a pretty basic storytelling premise, and I feel it should imply Don't tell, tell, tell again something that you will later show when you could simply show it at the beginning of the story.
bookwormali's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
ramonnogueras's review against another edition
4.0
Hellboy se ha ido, pero la AIDP debe seguir. Sólo Abe puede dirigir al equipo, pero hay que encontrar a Liz Sherman. Y ese es el primer reto, ya que Liz no quería ser hallada.
Una magnífica continuación de la historia de Hellboy, a la vez que un nuevo comienzo. Recomendable.
Una magnífica continuación de la historia de Hellboy, a la vez que un nuevo comienzo. Recomendable.
thewargrave's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
otherwyrld's review against another edition
3.0
This is the first volume of B.P.R.D. (Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense), the spin-off series to Hellboy. As such it is an introduction to the main characters of this new series. Hellboy himself does not appear except in flashbacks, which is fine because this is the story of his friends and what happens to them after he leaves. Whilst you don't have to have read previous volumes of Hellboy it does help to have some knowledge of what is going on, though this volume does a pretty good job of getting to know our main cast.
Abe Sapien the Fish Man and Roger the Homunculus (told you you needed a bit of knowledge) are planning to leave the B.P.R.D. as they no longer feel comfortable there, when they get a psychic distress call from Liz Sherman, a pyromaniac and former part of the team who has been missing for two years.Travelling to a remote monastery, they and new companion Johann Krauss (a bodiless being now living in a containment suit after an accident destroyed his body but left his spirit intact), go in search of Liz in a mysterious underground realm. There they encounter pre-human creatures who have enslaved Liz and who plan to use her energy to start up ancient machines that will rise up and conquer the world of man. Needless to say, this doesn't go down well with our heroes, and they set about freeing Liz and destroying the creatures and their machines (by the way, the machines look a lot like the ones that appeared in the Hellboy II film, and this story may be where the idea came from). At the end, all the the team decide to stay with the B.P.R.D. and thus their adventures continue.
There are a couple of backup strips, which are okay but don't really add up to much. Lobster Johnson is intriguing but needs fleshing out a bit. The final strip didn't really work as I disliked the artwork on it.
All in all, a good start to the series, 3 1/2 stars.
Abe Sapien the Fish Man and Roger the Homunculus (told you you needed a bit of knowledge) are planning to leave the B.P.R.D. as they no longer feel comfortable there, when they get a psychic distress call from Liz Sherman, a pyromaniac and former part of the team who has been missing for two years.Travelling to a remote monastery, they and new companion Johann Krauss (a bodiless being now living in a containment suit after an accident destroyed his body but left his spirit intact), go in search of Liz in a mysterious underground realm. There they encounter pre-human creatures who have enslaved Liz and who plan to use her energy to start up ancient machines that will rise up and conquer the world of man. Needless to say, this doesn't go down well with our heroes, and they set about freeing Liz and destroying the creatures and their machines (by the way, the machines look a lot like the ones that appeared in the Hellboy II film, and this story may be where the idea came from). At the end, all the the team decide to stay with the B.P.R.D. and thus their adventures continue.
There are a couple of backup strips, which are okay but don't really add up to much. Lobster Johnson is intriguing but needs fleshing out a bit. The final strip didn't really work as I disliked the artwork on it.
All in all, a good start to the series, 3 1/2 stars.
wraithofbooksandbones's review against another edition
dark
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
onceandfuturelaura's review against another edition
3.0
The Drums of the Dead: much more chilling in retrospect. All those nails in the monster's flesh . . .