A review by otherwyrld
Mike Mignola S B.P.R.D. Collectio, by Mike Mignola
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.