B.P.R.D. Volume 13: 1947 TP [Paperback]

I was sold on "B.P.R.D.1947" from the very start, when I first heard the premise. Before the time when the time when the government had a slew of "Enhanced Talent" agents to throw at the forces of darkness, they had to do with average Joes. Pulled from the aftermath of World War II, these agents were not hulking red monsters who could shrug off a spear through the chest or amphibious gentlemen who could swim under the deepest waters; They were just fragile human beings who knew the horrors of war but were still not prepared to fight a battle against vampire countesses with zombie butlers, or giant snake women who fill the sky. And these you aren't going to find happy endings here. As someone who has played more than my fair share of Call of Cthulhu, I know from experience that regular humans tend not to survive when standing against creatures from our collective nightmares.

I am happy to say that Mike Mignola and his crew did not disappoint. "B.P.R.D. 1947" delivers a grand old adventure story set in the Hellboy universe, and even goes so far as to add some threat back to the monsters lurking in the corners. Those things that go bump in the night bump even harder when they are facing off against ordinary humans.

The action starts after the conclusion of B.P.R.D. 1946, when Trevor Bruttenholm is in charge of the fledgling Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense and is being faced with a bizarre case. Prisoners of war, specifically captured Nazi soldiers, are being torn to pieces across Europe. Many are willing to turn a blind eye to this, but Professor Bruttenholm insists on assembling a team of agents to investigate. Four men are plucked from the roster into active service; Normandy-survivor Jacob Stegner, Bomb-expert Frank Russell, Jungle warefare specialist Gabriel Ruiz, and Simon Anders, a merchant marine who spent twenty-four days in a lifeboat drifting in the South Pacific not knowing if he would live or die. All of them carry some scars from the war, and all of them selected further active service rather than to retire to civilian life.

Bruttenholm sends them to France to follow-up on his only clue. A vampire named Baron Konig once hosted a party in a chateau in 1771, which was attended by a poet named De Grigny who wrote an opera from the experience and was then condemned to a madhouse for his efforts. The four newly-christened B.P.R.D. agents are to investigate the chateau and hopefully locate Konig, who is believed responsible for the mutilations. Once in France, the studious merchant marine Anders gets caught up in a dream-world involving two vampire ladies, and the remainder of the team must fight their way into and out of the cabal in order to set him free.

The creative team for "B.P.R.D. 1947" was truly a "team," and one which merged flawlessly. Mignola provided the plot and over-story. Joshua Dysart filled in with the backgrounds, personalities and dialog of the agents, and the art was provided by two men, Gabrial Ba and Fabio Moon. The double-artists was Mignola's idea, who wanted the transition from "real world" to "vampire kingdom" to be a visual one as well as written one, and found just the right answer in Ba and Moon. The two artists share a studio together, and worked together to create a mixed style that captures Mignola's idea fluently. Continuity is maintained by the magnificent colorist Dave Stewart, who changes his own style from the more graphic colors of modern France to the more fluid and painterly colors of the vampire world.

The whole experiment works really well, and there are some magnificent moments here. Without giving too much away, there is a brilliant scene when an old, crotchety priest stands against the forces of darkness, while a glimpse at his true soul shows a magnificent warrior full of power and light. The scene was nothing less than cinematic.

And yeah, there is some cute stuff here as well. Aside from the heavy good-vs-evil (and I loved Baron Konig's rationalization for dismembering the Nazis. Great stuff there) "Lil' Hellboy is bopping around the B.P.R.D. headquarters as well, trying to drag a weeping Bruttenholm away from his desk to go play catch, or at least find someone to make him some pamcakes.

Dark Horse always delivers some good bang for the buck with their collected editions, and especially with "B.P.R.D. 1947." Because of the nature of the work, it was fascinating to see Mignola's original sketches, then see the two interpretations by Ba and Moon, and to go back and hunt for the scenes they collaborated on picking out their individual styles.

This collection also includes a Trevor Bruttenholm solo-adventure, "And What Shall I Find There?" that originally appeared as a promotion on MySpace. The art is by Patric Reynolds, and shows a young Bruttenholm on his first supernatural adventure.

I have almost all of Mike Mignola's books in this series, they tend to be addictive, and for me, they are best read late at night. B.P.R.D. 1947 is very much like the others, in fact there were times when I found myself thinking, did I read this already? But what sets this book apart is the art by twins Gabriel Ba and Fabio Moon; artistic genius... Their whimsical, kinetic line work applied to compositions of balanced detail create panels that build pages into a book that is a masterpiece. And the color by Dave Stewart is perfection: the glows of old fashioned lighting in 1947 Europe; the blue of a bright night sky; the diamond stars in dark night filled with sharp eyed cats in a leafless tree; the bright flashes and dark undertones of a D-Day beach, an omnious bunker on a hilltop, its dark slit of an opening punctuated by flashes of machine gun fire... Every page, every character has been crafted with: "We were so excited to be working on a Hellboy comic. We really put all our strengths into this... And working with Dave Stewart is always a delight. He is just the best." (Gabriel Ba and Fabio Moon). Their passion and dedication shows. 1947 is a book, with an interesting story, and Clem Robins lettering played a large part in making it such an enjoyable read. Even after finishing B.P.R.D. 1947, I find myself constantly going back to look at the panels and pages, again and again; I feel like I am being haunted by the artists, and of course the master: Mike Mignola.

BPRD #13 opens with the mass mutilation of a train full of SS officers. The tone is set right? The story involves centuries old vampires, malevolent spirits, an eternal ball of dead people, and how the BPRD made it through the rocky second year of their formation without Abe Sapien or Hellboy or Liz or any of the regulars to help them. Hellboy puts in a cutesy performance as the kid he was, asking for pancakes and reading Lobster Johnson, but essentially the story centres around a small group of former GIs who go out to do battle with the ghosties and the ghoulies.

Ace script from Mignola, some fantastic artwork from Gabriel Ba and Fabio Moon, and a haunting tale of an ordinary man magicked away to fairy land and somehow finding his way back. This edition also features a small strip about the Professor in his youth staying the night in a haunted church. A great addition to the BPRD series, roll on 1948!

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