B.P.R.D., Vol. 1: Hollow Earth & Other Stories (Hellboy) [Paperback]

Mike Mignola (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 3, 2004

This collection of 2003's Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense one-shots kicks off with a goddess imprisoned in a story by Bastard Samurai creative team Miles Gunter and Michael Avon Oeming joined by series creator Mike Mignola. Guy Davis, artist of the new B.P.R.D. series, teams with Brian Augustyn (Gotham by Gaslight). The Flash creative team Geoff Johns & Scott Kolins team for the first Dark Horse work, and Joe Harris, screenwriter of Darkness Falls, and his X-Men collaborator Adam Pollina reunite for Abe Sapien's weirdest adventure yet. With a boost from the major talents involved in this book, and from the Hellboy film in which they were so prominently figured, Abe Sapien, Liz Sherman, and B.P.R.D. has become comics' greatest new team book. Also includes a brand new story by Mignola and Cameron Stewart.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This latest installment in the Hellboy series collects stories about the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense, a secret organization that investigates and combats paranormal threats. Hellboy, the hulking demon with the bionic arm, is usually the Bureau's star investigator. But in this book, he has left the Bureau after it tried to kill his friend and fellow agent Roger the Homunculus. Hellboy's absence gives formerly supporting characters a well-deserved chance at the spotlight, especially Abe Sapien, "the popular fishman," who appears in three of the four stories. The first tale, "Hollow Earth," is action-packed but still driven by characters. In it, Abe recruits Roger and Johann, a soul without a body, to rescue former teammate Liz Sherman from a spooky Nazi junkyard at the center of the earth, as Hellboy has show-stealing flashbacks to his first meetings with Abe and Liz that present their former mentor in his most endearing light yet. Another highlight is "The Killer in My Skull," which introduces the kitschy Lobster Johnson, a 1940s-style superhero who uses "the harsher justice of the lobster's claw" to fight crime. Ryan Sook's art on the title story has the dynamism and narrative sense of early Jack Kirby, with a distinctly modern edge. And Derek Thompson's art shines in the last piece, "Drums of the Dead," in which Abe and a psychic must put to rest the ghosts of slaves who died during the Middle Passage. Mignola's witty, appealing characters dash off one-liners as they battle paranormal phenomena while retaining their remarkably human qualities.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 120 pages
• Publisher: Dark Horse; Revised edition (August 3, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1593072805
• ISBN-13: 978-1593072803
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 6.7 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #478,131 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The BPRD Marches on, April 9, 2004

By 

Joshua Koppel (Chicago, IL United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: B.P.R.D. Volume 1: Hollow Earth & Other Stories (v. 1) (Paperback)

Hellboy has left the BPRD (Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense) but that doesn't mean they are gone. Now the BPRD have their own stories. This volume collects Hollow Earth and several shorter adventures.

Hollow Earth - Abe Sapien travels to the Himalayas and below to find and rescue Liz. The journey takes them do a world of darkness that threatens the surface. I really enjoyed the Journey to the Center of the Earth ending. Also touching were there Hellboy flashbacks and how he endeared himself to various characters (I loved the lollipop).

Hollow Earth Teaser - A three-page teaser that sets up one of the new characters at the Bureau.

The Killer in my Skull - This story stars Lobster Johnson, a hero who uses the lobster claw of justice. In this story he is confronted with some locked-door murders that lead to an unexpected killer.

Abe Sapien vs. Science - Having been the subject of scientific investigation in the past, Abe Sapien is against the use of "scalpels and microscopes" for advancing knowledge of living things. This time the subject is Roger.

Drums of the Dead - Another Abe Sapien adventure as shipping routes are being terrorized by sharks and drums.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars BPRD: Hollow Earth and Other Stories, October 25, 2004

By 

Doc Tarantula "Doc Tarantula" (Tempe, AZ) - See all my reviews

This review is from: B.P.R.D. Volume 1: Hollow Earth & Other Stories (v. 1) (Paperback)

Summary:

This is the fist collection of stories about the adventures of the Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense (BPRD) without Hellboy, who obviously dominated previous comics. BPRD is the government agency that adopted Hellboy and used him as an agent, and three of the main characters of Hollow Earth (Abe Sapien, Liz Sherman, and Roger the Golem) had their first appearances in previous stories (Seed of Destruction and Wake the Devil). The fourth, Johann Kraus, is introduced in a three page advertisement for "Hollow Earth," one of four stories reprinted here. All four stories deal with something resembling the supernatural: subterranean races, telekinesis, and primitive gods drive this anthology. The creator of Hellboy wrote two of these stories and helped plot "Hollow Earth." Three of the four stories look almost too much like Mignola's artwork, even though his artistic contribution includes only character sketches and inking one of the shorter comics. Beyond the four full stories and the advertisement, some nice sketches by Mike Mignola and "Hollow Earth" artist Ryan Sook.

"Hollow Earth"

The centerpiece of this collection is the sixty-six page title story written by Mike Mignola, Christopher Golden, and Tom Sniegoski and drawn by Ryan Sook and Curtis Arnold, both in mysterious combinations. "Hollow Earth" depicts an adventure story, the trek of three BPRD members, Abe, Roger, and Johann, to find the fourth, who, while meditating at a temple, is kidnapped by a race of subterranean engineers. Liz, who has some elemental connection with fire, has her soul stolen and used to power Giant War Robots, and the others must restore her essence to her before she dies. The plot is similar to a Hellboy story with slower pacing, but the story has two ulterior purposes: the first is to introduce the team and the second is to give brief origin stories for the members of BPRD. Abe and Liz each have a flashback sequence that shows why Hellboy was such an important part of their lives, and Johann has a normal origin story. This leads to some corny dialogue, "It sounds as if he was a good friend as well as a good leader." Roger's origin is only alluded to but can be found in "Almost Colossus" in The Chained Coffin and Others and "Abe Sapien versus Science," below. Most of the dialogue is low on emotion, and BPRD certainly lacks a personality with the bravado of Hellboy or some other interesting characteristic, but the script fits the characters and doesn't embarrass itself. Ryan Snook's art looks a little bit took much like Mike Mignola's, especially in the blocky figures and big lips, but has the appropriate tone for the story. On its own, it's a good if uninspired story and would earn four stars.

"The Killer in My Skull"

This is a Lobster Johnson story written by Mike Mignola and drawn by Matt Smith and Ryan Sook. "The Killer in My Skull" is a supernatural detective story set in 1938 wherein scientists are being mysteriously and systematically murdered by someone who can leave a room locked from the inside. The story is adequate for its ten pages, but feels a little hurried: there isn't enough time to raise doubts about the identity of the killer and there isn't enough action in the closing sequence. The art, again, looks too much like Mike Mignola's and the script has a low point coinciding with the ending, "Be glad you're not me, because I've seen worse than this." The overall effect weak, and alone it's worth three stars.

"Abe Sapien versus Science"

"Abe Sapien versus Science" connects the origin stories of Abe Sapien and Roger the Golem by analogy through the callous actions of BPRD scientists, who don't seem to learn anything from experience. The story has no action and carries a disturbing, anti-science message. Written and Inked by Mike Mignola and drawn by Matt Smith, this eight page story is the low point of the anthology, but is still worth two stars.

"Drums of the Dead"

A twenty-two page story by Brian McDonald and Derek Thompson, "Drums of the Dead" is one of a handful of stories where Abe Sapien's powers are actually used and the only one I've read where they are required for the resolution of the plot. Abe and a telepathic colleague are sent to investigate mysterious possessions in shark-infested waters. The art is looser than in most of these stories, but it doesn't look like Mike Mignola's and it has a 70s horror story feel to it. There are several corny elements, including a century-and-a-half out of date moral, but the story and its pacing hold up well. Because it's a little preachy and the sharks all have Sand Tiger Teeth, even when they have the bodies of other species, this comic loses a star and is worth only four.

Conclusion:

As a whole, the two longer stories more than make up for the shorter comics, and this comic book is fun reading, so I give it four st

15 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars For all the Ailments that Haunt You, March 10, 2003

By 

TastyBabySyndrome "Matthew Lewis, author of M... ("Daddy Dagon's Daycare" - Proud Sponsor of the Little Tendril Baseball Team, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: B.P.R.D. Volume 1: Hollow Earth & Other Stories (v. 1) (Paperback)

Is there something rending the fabric of time and space asunder above your newly furnished kitchen, or perhaps a society of bedeviled mermen taking residence in the lake outside your abode? Do you or someone you love find yourself bewitched by a troublesome necromancer seeking to call out the Seven-forms of Ogdru-Jahad? Well, if the shoe fits and you find yourself longing for the one tried-and-true method to cure that which ails you, perhaps you should enlist the aid of the B. P. R. D. The B. P. R. D. specializes in most forms of manifestation and malevolence, providing cure-alls that sometimes work in the most subtle of fashions and that sometimes provide the most groundbreaking of results, keeping Britain and much of the world free from the oppressive grasp of those who would seek to bind her.

Before I continue with explanations, the guides to our operations (comics) collected in this Trade Paperback include: "BPRD: Hollow Earth" from BPRD: Hollow Earth #1-#3, "BPRD"- the strip from Dark Horse Extra #42-#44, "Abe Sapien: Drums of the Dead" from Abe Sapien: Drums of the Dead, "Lobster Johnson: Killer Inside My Skull" from Hellboy: Box Full of Evil #1, "Abe Sapien vs. Science" from Hellboy: Box Full of Evil #2, and depictive illustrations in a Mike Mignola and Ryan Sook sketchbook.

So, you might be ask, what does B.P.R.D. stand for and who exactly are they? Well, the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense is composed of many individuals from the lowest operatives to field agents and beyond that strive to keep the world safe from those unclassified menaces, great and small. Within those ranks we have many people with special talents, including the currently inactive Hellboy (see the end of Conqueror Worm for detail), Abe Sapien, Roger the Homunculus, "Liz" Sherman, and newer agents that sometimes find themselves only temporary additions to the roster because of, um, unforeseeable circumstances. In the installment that directly deals with this agency and all the mainstays involved ("BPRD: Hollow Earth" from BPRD: Hollow Earth #1-#3), Liz Sherman finds herself with a dilemma of the soul because of her pyrotechnic talent and her inability to always control it, and is seeking remedies that the B. P. R. D. cannot provide. So, following Hellboy's lead and walking away, she heads for the solace of the Ural Mountains and a place where "dreams dwell." While there, she finds the peace she has sought, but only for a time before something comes seeking her and the aid of the agency is needed.

To understand another agent and his respective incorperation/the talents he bring to the Bureau, there is also additionally provided documentation on that as well. One of the pivotal cornerstone we use, Abe Sapien (Homo Aquaticus), has led to many contributions within the organization and is one of the finest stars ever forged in the detective sky. He found out that the "Roger" wasn't simply a mass of discarded science after the incident with the "incident" with the giant ("Abe Sapien vs. Science" from Hellboy: Box Full of Evil #2 - occurring after Almost Colossus), for instance, and, in an incident where madness and the cries of something within the depths of the ocean almost claimed he and one of our telepaths, he managed to thwart what was amounting to be the doom of many a sailor ("Abe Sapien: Drums of the Dead" from Abe Sapien: Drums of the Dead).

Also, to help one conceive of the blights confronting our agency, we've added in information on one of the mysterious cases that the reputed Lobster Johnson worked on, proving that sometimes it really is mind over matter ("Lobster Johnson: Killer Inside My Skull" from Hellboy: Box Full of Evil #1). We feel that, by opening case files of someone considered a mythological hero and combining it with who our bureau is and what we do, we can better protect the world and thereby protect you, the newly inaugurated, protect themselves.

And now you know.