We’re almost there! The end is nigher than it’s ever been! This seemingly sets up what will be the final showdown in the “Hell on Earth” cycle, as well as series writer John Arcudi’s big send off. There’s a lot going on here, so let’s get right to it.
Written by Mike Mignola and John ArcudiCover by Duncan Fegredo
Illustrated by Laurence Campbell
Colored by Dave Stewart
Lettered by Clem RobinsLiz and Johann run out of strength, unable to keep up with the Ogdru Jahad. In Colorado, Kate tries to evacuate BPRD headquarters before the monster can kill everyone.
Oh boy. There’s a lot going on in this month’s issue. I mean, we’re getting near the end so it’d have to be pretty packed, right? Things are moving at a relatively quick pace, as we’ve got a bunch of characters spread out all over the place. Liz and Johann are still out there trying to do something about the recently Earth-bound Ogdru Jahad as Kate oversees the evacuation of B.P.R.D. headquarters. All the while Panya’s off doing her own thing and Varvara may or may not still be leading Iosif around the ruins of Hell.
I want to unpack all of this, but before we wade into the spoiler zone, let’s talk about art. Campbell and Stewart are making these pages feel so inky and gritty, like they’re actually using the ash and debris the Ogdru Jahad is kicking up to create these pages. Reading these issues, you can feel what it must be like to be in this sort of environment, breathing it all in. Just thinking about it makes my lungs burn. The world is becoming inhospitable to human life, and these two artists are doing everything they can to put that into the art. Arcudi doesn’t have to devote a single word of dialogue to the change in environment, because you can see it right in front of you. It’s the sort of thing that, even if you don’t actively see it that way, there’s a part of you that understands it subconsciously. The scenes with Johann and Liz flying around are great examples of why I love comics so much: it’s storytelling that you read by feeling. When words and pictures are combined in the right way, the reader’s own intuition becomes a part of the experience because the visuals evoke feelings and emotions that just sort of live in the background. While the world’s end is in the foreground of our thoughts, Campbell and Stewart do everything they can to make sure we feel what that must be like to experience.
Now, don’t let me lead you to believe that Campbell’s work is built entirely on subtlety and intuition. For as nuanced as he can be, there’s a sort of bullish way about his art. His line work is bold and toothy, but nuanced. He can get fine with his line work, but then also make it look as if he spots black with a mop.
It’s this sort of range that, in my opinion, makes him so well suited for this title. The end of the world is messy business to be sure, but this book has never really been about that stuff, has it? “B.P.R.D.” is a comic about the people standing at the edge of oblivion and how they conduct themselves in that situation. It’s this sort of macro/micro balance that Arcudi’s always seemed interested in, and Campbell is able to match him on that every step of the way. Big monsters wreaking havoc? The art gets brushy and wild. A quick glance between two characters that adds context to a scene? The linework becomes refined.
One last interesting aspect of Campbell’s work I want to touch on is the amount of realism he works into it. In the impressive pantheon of “B.P.R.D.” artists, I’ve always found myself drawn more towards those who abstract and rely on gesture. Of course Guy Davis is at the fore of that, right? With his unique brand of character design and line style. But I also think of James Harren’s sense of motion, or Tyler Crook’s sad monsters. When compared to them, Campbell can come across as the most realistic of the bunch. Yes, he’s got his own shorthands and stylized sense of lighting, but there’s a literalness to his work that we don’t see to often in this series. It’s fitting though, that someone as blunt and literal as this would be chosen to close out this cycle of the story.
Continued belowAlright, what do you say? Spoilers? Let’s do it.
The issue opens with the evacuation of the B.P.R.D.’s headquarters coming to a close. It seems that folks have been on a steady stream of airlifts out, and now we’re seeing the last few to leave. Perfect time for someone to disappear, right? While rounding up the final bit of crew, Kate discovers that Panya has gone missing.
This is an interesting moment, as I can’t determine when Kate put it all together. It’s brought up that the elevator isn’t going to the lower levels, but she brushes that off as no big deal and indicates that everyone is out anyway. Then, when it’s time for her to retrieve Panya, she goes right for the elevator. Did she not want to hold up the airlifts? Was she avoiding letting anyone stay behind with her? Hard to say. It turns out that Panya was downstairs releasing all the little critters from their holdings. Creatures that’ve been rounded up from years of investigating weird situations are now set loose on the Colorado Rockies. And all that’s fine, it’s in line with the character. It’s what comes next that surprised me: she has no plans of leaving the headquarters.
Panya’s been one of the slowest burning characters in the “B.P.R.D.” stable. Most of her time with the bureau has been spent in the background, and has only recently come to the fore. Over time, she seems to have become more and more able-bodied, making the transition from bed-ridden mummy to older lady in a hoveround in just a few years. To make things even more impressive, she’s millennia old. At 3000+ years of age, she should be long gone. Instead, she’s standing up and overseeing the release of strange animals. And yes, I said standing up, on her own. It’s something that has seemed to be a long time coming.
For all of this big character stuff going on, Panya is more than ready to give it up. Kate pleads with her to reconsider, but before any decisions can be made, it happened. After a quiet, emotional moment between these two women, a blue bolt of light from the sky levels the mountainside headquarters. At first I though that this was the result of one of Johann’s Vril blasts, but after a re-read I can put that thought out to pasture. Johann’s energy isn’t the only blue light in this battle, plus, why would he even do that?
So what does this destruction mean? Obviously, we’ll be needing a new HQ, but will we be needing a new field director as well? Did we just witness the end of Kate Corrigan and Panya? I hope not! Who would that leave the bureau to? Abe? Let’s put that one in our pocket for now.
As mentioned, Johann is still out there fighting the good fight. He’s concerned for Liz and pulls her from the fight to get some much needed rest, which is good. We don’t want to go through the whole burnt-out Liz thing again, do we? I’m hoping that, however this whole thing shakes out, Liz isn’t left at the shit-end of the stick again. But, this is the end of the world, so maybe that’s the only way this can go?
I really like the way Arcudi and Campbell are playing Johann here. He’s faced with releasing himself to the great beyond, but doesn’t seem to want it despite threatening it in the past. He seems to be holding on for reasons even he doesn’t understand. It’s leaving him seeming more detached from humanity than ever before, saying things that read as appropriate, but feel hollow.
Take the panel above as an example. The way Campbell draws the Sledgehammer helmet gives Johann an almost empty, spaced out expression. Where most of this character’s history with us has been faceless, he’s suddenly sporting a vapid, expressionless mask that somehow feels less human than before. Sure, now he’s got eyes and a mouth, but it turns out that having facial details makes him more difficult to read than ever.
Meanwhile, Johann’s tank-suited brethren finds himself in a front row seat for what could very well be the battle that determines the future of humanity. Iosif has been led through Hell by his former captive, the last remaining nobility of Hell, Varvara. And they’re not alone. With them, punching their way through the Earth to emerge before us are the Titans we saw last issue. These guys were the world’s first inhabitants, sent by God to watch over things. One of the watchers, Anum, would eventually wind up as a creator himself, as he pulled fire from the air to create the Ogdru Jahad. This led to his own murder at the hands of his ilk, which in turn earned them banishment from the Earth as God cast them down into the pit. There they’d face torture and endless punishment for their role in Anum’s misdeeds. It was also here that Anum’s right hand, the key to the world’s destruction, would be grafted to a child. But that’s another story entirely.
Continued belowIt appears that Varvara believes that The Watchers, in a bid to earn their own salvation, will be the ones to stop the Ogdu Jahad. She led them to Earth with the bloody dagger that ended Satan’s life (thanks, Hellboy,) so my thinking is that she’s going on a little more than just a hunch. I mean, she’s hung around our world of so long, and has already declared an affection for humanity, so she probably doesn’t want to see all of us wiped out, right?
Though, there is one soul she’d like to see wiped from existence. It’s here that, and I say this with a heavy heart, we say farewell to Iosif Nichayko, director of the Russian SSS and friend to disembodied spirits everywhere.
I wonder about the symbology at play here, or if there even is any. Varvara slid into Iosif the same blade that Hellboy used to slit the throat of Satan. When a weapon takes the life of one so powerful, it automatically becomes a relic, right? It’s easy to imagine it becoming an object that will resurface again somewhere as a part of someone’s nefarious plan to do something terrible. But on it’s way to infamy, it took a route that led it between the ribs of someone who, despite appearances, is just a man. Does it mean anything to have your life taken by a knife that still has Satan’s blood on it? Is his soul as doomed as Varvara believes it to be?
Or maybe this isn’t as final as we’d think. Varvara tells him that his soul has been shattered, “into thousands of fragments flung across all the universe.” While that may have the ring of ultimate finality to it, I can’t help but think of someone nearby who has the means to help a friend out.
At the end of the issue, we’re left with Johann staring into infinity, three possible casualties and the return of a race of angels who started this whole mess in the first place. The end of “Hell on Earth” is upon us.
Final verdict: 8.5 – Heartbreak and devastation at every turn as Arcudi, Campell and company barrel towards the apocalypse. In the best possible way.
