“B.P.R.D. Hell on Earth” goes to Hell.
Written by Mike Mignola and John ArcudiCover by Duncan Fegredo
Illustrated by Laurence Campbell
Colored by Dave Stewart
Lettered by Clem RobinsLiz and Johann try to fend off the Ogdru Hem while Kate evacuates BPRD headquarters before the towering Ogdru Jahad can flatten it—and Varvara leads Iosif deeper into Hell
Mark Tweedale: This is the kind of issue I never thought I’d get. The series is called “B.P.R.D.,” but there isn’t a lot of the B.P.R.D. in this issue. Virtually the whole issue is set in Hell with Iosif and Varvara. There’s even some a sequence where Laurence Campbell’s art morphs into Mignola’s style. We’ve seen a bit of this in “Abe Sapien” to great effect, but here it’s a very surreal effect. I got chills looking at it.
Brian Salvatore: This is an interesting issue for the final arc of “Hell on Earth,” as it slightly furthers the story (only the last few pages really push the action forward), and it focuses on characters that, while important, aren’t exactly center stage. This is something that television shows have been doing a lot in the past few years: think of LOST‘s third from last episode, “Across the Sea.” It was a story about the history of the island and the powers that control it rather than the characters we knew and cared about.
That’s not to say that this isn’t a fun issue, or that I didn’t enjoy it, because I did. I really enjoyed, as you said, the way that Campbell’s art took on some Mignola qualities the deeper they went into Hell. That was a lot of fun to behold.
Mark: Yeah, it pauses the main thrust of the narrative to explore Iosif and Varvara. I’d argue that the stuff with Varvara is moving the story forward though. I know you’re a bit skeptical, but I think she’ll be the big bad in the story cycle after Hell on Earth, and this issue seems to be laying groundwork for that.
As for Isoif’s plotline, it didn’t further the overall plot, like you said. It was a much smaller and more intimate story than you’d expect four issues away from the end of “Hell on Earth.” But I did like it. It showed a different side of Hell than we’ve seen before. It seems odd to say it, but Hell is a place of torment and until now we haven’t really seen that side of Hell. We’ve seen Hell from Hellboy’s point of view where it’s all emptiness. His experience of Hell is very different from Iosif’s. So everything’s familiar, but different.
I think the Campbell-Mignola art merge kind of pushed that feeling further. It was unsettling.
Given that most of this issue is a conversation between Varvara and Iosif, I think we should probably dive into spoiler territory.
Brian: I’m starting to come around to your line of thinking about Varvara being the big bad of the next cycle, and so, yes, I understand why there needs to be some attention paid there. But, for me, the Iosif stuff was far more satisfying, for the reasons that you mentioned. It was personal and important to his essence; hell, Varvara essentially lays it out for him: if not for me, you’d be dead. And so Iosif needs to examine his life: is it better to be alive, plundering Hell with Varvara, or at peace with his wife?
Those are the types of questions that really interest me from a storytelling perspective, so I’m glad we are getting that — well, that and the end of the world.
And yes, let’s dig into those spoilers.
Mark: The sequence with Iosif’s ‘wife’ was a highlight for me too. There was a panel at the end with the wife-mannequin in a chair, Iosif on his knees at her feet, swirling autumn leaves filling the room. It was a beautiful and tragic moment.
The latter half of the issue has Varvara learning that she truly is the last ruling demon of Hell. I don’t know about you, but I got the sense that when she licked Satan’s blood off Hellboy’s knife, she was assuming Satan’s role.
Continued belowHer quote at the end from Dante’s Inferno (from Courtney Langdon’s 1918 translation) is:
…thus o’er the margin which surrounds the well
with one half of their bodies towered up
those frightful Giants, whom, when from the sky
he thunders, Jupiter is threatening still.
I find it amusing that she quotes Dante, the ‘lovesick Italian’ that she scoffed at in the opening pages.
The giants she summons were referred to as Titans by Iosif, though I wonder if that’s what they are. The Titans is a term in the Hellboy mythology used in reference to the original Watchers, the ones that brought the Ogdru Jahad to life, and who later murdered Anum. The were cast into Hell for this.
In the comics, we’ve seen a modern Titan: the Fisher of Souls in “Hellboy in Hell.” The giants rising out of the water in this issue certainly look like kin to the Fisher of Souls. Furthermore, in “Hellboy in Hell #10: For Whom the Bell Tolls” it was said that the Titans were beaten and chained… and the giants here certainly fit that description.
Seems to me Varvara’s bringing the original Watchers to fight the Ogdru Jahad.
Brian: I thought of the Titans, too, and yes, I could see these fellas being related to the Fisher of Souls in some way.
I have sort of a big, messy question for you before we get to our grades: This issue picks up threads that were started years ago, back in “B.P.R.D.: 1946” #1 from 2008, but we don’t meet Iosif until “B.P.R.D. Hell on Earth: Russia” in late 2011. I’ve been thinking a lot about Iosif, as well as the arc of the Mignolaverse in general, and pondered this thought.
Is “Russia” where “Hell on Earth” really started moving towards the endgame? Is that the place where it all starts to really come together?
Mark: Actually, we first met Iosif in “Abe Sapien: The Abyssal Plain” (which came out in the gap between the “Plague of Frogs” cycle and the “Hell on Earth” cycle in 2010, and also picked up threads from “B.P.R.D.: 1946”). But in terms of the ending… I don’t know. I think Arcudi and Mignola must have laid out a plan some time before “B.P.R.D.: King of Fear” though, because that book had this flash of the future, and everything we’ve seen since has been slowly moving towards it. It was where we got our first glimpse of Abe’s new form, and a bearded and muscular Devon, and Iosif’s giant flying ship (though bearing a B.P.R.D. banner).
Except in that future Hellboy was back with B.P.R.D. It’s the one hiccup that doesn’t align with the way things are now. But then, we never really knew what we were looking at either.
But I do think these guys started “Hell on Earth” knowing where it would end. And it really concerns me that Johann was missing from that flash forward in “King of Fear.”
Brian: Oh yeahhhh… I totally forgot about that Iosif showed up there. Thank goodness you’re here to keep me straight with all of this.
I know what you mean about “King of Fear”, but I meant more in terms of “Russia” being the domino that started really knocking everything else down. It seems to me like that was when the speed went from cruising to racing. After “Russia,” it has just been non-stop.
Mark: I think that may also have been because that was when the series shifted to double-shipping through the first half of 2012. We got the fourth and fifth trade collections in the blink of an eye and right on the heels of that the Black Flame returned and everything went nuts. But I guess “Russia” was the Bureau’s last big win. Since then, it has just been a series of huge losses with occasional tiny wins. The Bureau’s been fighting the long defeat ever since.
Brian: That is an excellent point — “Russia” was the last time things seemed (maybe) hopeful.
So, what do you give this issue, rating wise?
Mark: This is a solid 8 from me. It was a quiet one, though—a lot brewing, but not too much happening. Iosif’s moment with his wife was certainly the high point for me. And Campbell’s rendition of Pandemonium was such a surreal thing to experience. The “Hellboy in Hell” finale gave such simple moments—such as Varvara walking down the stairs into Lucifer’s chambers—a grand weight.
Brian: I’m going to weigh it slightly less, at a 7.5. That’s not really a knock on the issue; I love the Iosif stuff in particular, but I feel like the issue was more interested, in parts, in setting up the next big thing, rather than winding down “Hell on Earth.” I get why that was done, but I would rather see them lock this up first.
Final Verdict: 7.75. A surprisingly quiet issue for one so close to the end.
