Customer Reviews

B.P.R.D., Vol. 6: The Universal Machine

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This continues the years-long story arc of the post-Hellboy BPRD.
If you haven't been reading the previous graphic novels, this
will be almost unintelligible to you. But if you have. . .

we learn more, much more, about Captain Daimio (puzzling, if
intriguing), get some distressing backstory of Dr. Kraus,
get a painfully small reminisce of Abe and HB on assignment
in the Canadian woods, and a touching vignette of Liz's
past.

The main story, so to speak, is Dr. Corrigan in the French Alps,
trying to obtain one of those impossibly rare and eldritch tomes
without which this genre of fiction would seem incomplete. I won't
get into spoilers here, but the moment at which she triumphs over
an adversary is easily the most satisfactory single panel I've
seen in a Hellboy story in quite some time.

And if you want to know what finally happens to Roger - this is
the one to read.

Kate Corrigan goes to a French town with a strange past of werewolves and mad princes to meet with an antique dealer who might have the answer to bringing back Roger. Meanwhile at BPRD HQ Abe, Liz, Daimio, and Krauss share stories of their past including wendigos, giant jungle hybrids, and ghost loves.

The Corrigan story is the best part of the book possibly because Mignola originally wrote it years ago for a Hellboy story and substituted Hellboy for Corrigan. Myths and legends blend into the Lovecraftian fantastique in this story with caged demons held in thrall by bat nosed vampires and a powerful wizard with a closet full of golems. Corrigan proves her mettle in this book which is great as she's usually a side character at best, but we see why she's in the BPRD here.

Some of the stories told by the other characters as a reprieve from the main story are good. Hellboy pops up in Abe Sapien's story of sad wendigos in the Canadian wilderness while Daimio's Rambo-esque tale of jungle fighting is cool and is similar to future books in the series particularly Vol 12: War on Frogs.

One of the best books in the BPRD series, we bid farewell to a stalwart from the earlier books and Mignola even illustrates some of the final pages. Great fun for those who like the supernatural in their comic books.

This has been a good series up til now. Now it is a great one and the turning point is this book. Arcudi's contributions to the writing are special. The characters are now truly characters with concerns, lives, etc. The action is still top otch ad Guy Davis' art continues to be excellent. His work shuffles along just telling the story and then some creature or other appears across a two-page spread and the reaction is, "Wow!" When I get the newest book in this series, I find myself going back to book one and starting over each time enjoying the whole saga.

As a longtime Mike Mignola fan (I've been collecting the single issue Hellboy since the beginning, as well as Mignola's other works), I'm slowing coming to the belief that BPRD is currently the better than the current Hellboy title. I was very disappointed that Mignola wasn't illustrating BPRD when it first got going. But I've been seduced by Guy Davis' artwork. The more I look at Davis' compositions the more I like it. The stories here in BPRD seem to be consistently a bit stronger than the current Hellboy story lines. The collaborative effort in this title seems to be it's strength. This is a fine collection that recounts the teams effort to save a team mate from death. Excellent all around. Strongly recommended.

Mike Mignola writes very differently from the vast majority of comic artists today. His stuff reminds me a lot of H. P. Lovecraft and Edgar Alan Poe. Very rich, detailed stories - -plus the artwork is like looking at a woodcut print.