“The Broken Equation” is in the books. How does the sojourn to Japan wrap up? Read on to find out!
Written by Mike Mignola and John Arcudi
Illustrated by Joe QuerioA giant monster unlike anything the BPRD has seen yet battles the Ogdru Hem for dominion over Japan!
David: In a flash, the Japan arc is over, as this week’s #123 from Mike Mignola, John Arcudi and Joe Querio brings the latest from B.P.R.D. to a close. We were both big fans of this first issue, but Brian, do you feel like this issue brought the arc to a satisfying climax?
Brian: I just saw a kaiju do a belly to back suplex on another kaiju. Am I satisfied? Hell yes!
David: Brian, that comic kicked ass. Enos was a perfect proxy for the readers, as he rooted for AbeKaiju to win out over to two Ogdru gentlemen, and I have to admit, with the way it rolled, I raised my arms up in celebration Enos did a couple times. Hell. Yes.
Brian: I agree, this was the most fanboy-ish I’ve gotten over a comic in awhile. This was as close as “B.P.R.D.” can get to Pacific Rim, and I am totally cool with that.
So, let’s talk about the story itself: the Professor comes out of his trance state, and seems somehow tied to the life of the Abe-looking kaiju. I don’t get the sense that he had any control over it, but rather that his life force was somehow tied in to the survival of the kaiju. Is that how you read it also?
David: As someone who strongly disliked Pacific Rim, I for one am glad it wasn’t TOO much like that movie.
And yeah, I totally read it the same way you did. I think the monster was born out of him and his ideas. I mean, it was a drawing he had made, and I think there was a connection there that led to his demise when it died. That was a really cool section, and I liked his moments of prescience even if he was simultaneously speaking Japanese and crazy scientist talk, which are two languages I don’t understand.
I don’t really think this is ultimately going to be an important arc from a plotting standpoint, unless there is some way they can manufacture mega monsters that can just eat the Ogdru Jahad, but more of a big action character piece. And I’m sure we can both agree on this: Enos was the man in this issue. How much do you love that guy right now even though he’s a very new character?
Brian: I thought Enos was great – he is, as you said, a great proxy for the audience, and allowed us to cheer like little kids at giant monsters destroying a city. And I agree – this is an arc to better inform us readers about what the state of the world is, and what sorts of terrors are out there, but I don’t see too many ramifications coming out of the arc.
Let’s talk briefly about Joe Querio – he rocked his first “B.P.R.D.” arc, crushed it, even. His Enos was a dead-ringer for “Young Americans”-era David Bowie and and his kaiju were primal and terrifying. But he really shone when handling the professor – he nailed the woozy reality of the near-somnambulist, just now shaking off the cobwebs after decades asleep, I don’t know what else you could ask for from a debut arc.
David: I really like Querio’s art. He’s a great fit for the book and for the arc itself, and man, one of the things I think he excelled the most with in this issue was capturing the scale of the kaiju battle without losing the level of detail to the characters. Most artists would likely show very little detail when depicting elements as large as the battles he depicted, and you can even see that in Hellboy in Hell #1 when Mignola basically depicted Edward Grey as not much more than a stick figure in the scale of the monstrosities he was fighting in hell. Querio? The dude was nailing details on specific characters no matter the camera distance and angle.
Continued belowThat’s not a swipe at Mignola, or any other artist. That’s just saying this guy has some serious attention to detail.
My only issue with his art in the issue was some of his faces – particularly Enos’ – were a little overly spastic. Faces change for different emotions and what they are saying, but his were going to an entirely different level.
Any other details you want to cover before we wrap this up? It was a pretty straightforward but great arc and issue.
Brian: Nah, I’m good with grading. This is a solid 8 for me – what do you think?
David: I’ll give it an 8.5. It was a really, really well done issue that was a whole hell of a lot of fun to read.
Final Verdict: 8.25 – A short but sweet arc comes to a slobberknocking conclusion
