I know we say this all the time, but things are getting bad for the Bureau. Just how bad? Read on.
Written by Mike Mignola and John Arcudi
Illustrated by Laurence CampbellA spreading contagion in the Chicago wastelands turns the residents of the Windy City into vicious monsters. Will these creatures and the giant bat-faced monsters stop the B.P.R.D. from saving their missing agents?
David: Brian, it feels like forever since we’ve done a review. We’ve had one week off and I don’t even know what to do with myself. Let’s figure things out by reviewing the second part of Wasteland, B.P.R.D. #108, from Mike Mignola, John Arcudi and Laurence Campbell. The first issue was one of the best issues in recent memory from the series in my opinion, and I’m curious as to your thoughts on the follow up…which we actually originally read more than 2 months ago. How did the second issue compare to the first?
Brian: This issue is a beautifully illustrated, heartbreaking, inspiring, downright amazing piece of sequential art.
Sorry, don’t want to tip my hand so soon! It was aight, I guess.
David: Do you just want to skip to the grading and give it like…a 5 or something?
Brian: Might as well, I guess.
David: Just kidding!
This book is amazing Brian. It’s weird to think about how, at one point, they were nervous to put Laurence Campbell on a B.P.R.D. because of the realism he brings to it. But man, this guy is absolutely perfect for this story. This book is exponentially scarier in his hands than damn near anyone else’s. It’s remarkable.
Brian: There were a few panels in this book that literally gave me chills. Campbell’s artwork is an absolute revelation, and manages to take what is a fantastic script and bring it somewhere totally different than, as you said, anyone else could.
I wasn’t sure if it was my (relatively) recent journey into fatherhood that made the stuff with Lucas, the young boy, so heart-wrenching or if it was really as sad as I though it was. What do you think about Lucas’s journey?
David: I’m not a father, but man, yeah, absolutely. That whole sequence where his dad turns into a monster and, as they leave the campsite, you see his mother/monster standing in the background? That’s just heartbreaking. The storytelling in this book is off the charts amazing. You know I love the artists on this book, but Laurence Campbell is firing on all cylinders in terms of nailing these story beats.
Shout out to the first shot of Chicago we get! Holy shit man, I’ve been waiting a couple months for people to see that, and that is one of the most incredible pages I’ve ever seen. In case people were thinking, “you know, maybe the Earth is okay,” this issue confirms, “no, no it is not.”
Brian: That shot of Chicago might be the most depressing panel in the history of this book. As you said, it pulls the carpet right out from under you, and gives you pause. We know that world is messed up, but to see it messed up to this degree is still shocking. Campbell does just as spectacularly with his destroyed Chicago as he does his heartbroken little boy, and every panel is a lesson in storytelling.
So, here is the million dollar question: what, if anything, are they going to find in Chicago?
David: Agent Howards mowing bitches down with his Hyperborean sword!!!!!
Brian: Oh shit, son, he is in Chicago, isn’t he? I completely forgot about that!
David: Yeah, when we last left him in Abyss of Time, everyone else was dead and Agent Howards was still in his time travel coma. So who knows what’s going to happen there, but he’s hanging out down there. That’s the point of this mission Johann and the rest are on, and it’s going to be interesting to see how those two stories tie together and how they get out of Chicago once they get in.
Continued belowSpeaking of Johann, I think his handling in this arc so far has been very fascinating. They’ve focused so much on the grunts like Enos, Gervesh and Nichols that they’re – I assume deliberately – giving Johann a more robotic, otherworldly feel than ever. He sits up at the fire and watches, the horses fear him…it’s like they’re trying to underline the how he walks the line between human and monster. It’s tremendous work.
Brian: I’m glad you brought up Johann, because he is a character that has been building so much lately, starting really with ‘Russia.’ And here, I’m not going to say that his development has backslid or regressed, but you get a nice flash of “oh yeah, this dude isn’t quite human.” It’s a pretty nice piece of storytelling, and makes me wonder if Johann isn’t moving into another new place, in terms of his battle with his own humanity.
My last point I want to discuss goes back to Campbell’s art. The monsters and zombies (as they’re called by one of the grunts) that he drew in this issue are among the most terrifying we’ve encountered thus far. Obviously, each artist has their own style and way of presenting these creatures, but do you get the impression that the monsters are getting worse? That, perhaps, as the world devolves into chaos, the creatures are gaining power and are becoming even more ferocious?
David: Well, you have to think about it like this. This is really our first look at the world since Return of the Master (besides just a little bit in A Cold Day in Hell), and that’s when all hell really broke loose. So I don’t think it’s getting worse, I think that’s where we are.
I just think that everything is turning dark, and even amidst the dark, there are worse things than the ones we’d seen previously. This is a good look at that, and it helps that Campbell makes everything so nightmarish by painting it as such a bleak reality.
Before we move on, I just have to say I love the grunts. Gervesh is great with Lucas, I love Nichols and his gangster horse riding, and Enos feels like the Wild Card Charlie of the group. I wouldn’t be surprised if one if not all of them died in the next issue, but I really, really hope they don’t.
Brian: Agreed. Gotta love dem grunts. I wish someone would do a more in depth piece on those types of characters in the Mignolaverse…
David: Paging Mark Tweedale!
Look for an in-depth look at the “human” cast of B.P.R.D. tomorrow at Multiversity in the latest edition of Hell Notes. For now though, let’s get to the grade, unless you have anything else to add?
Brian: I just want to say again how this is a near perfect piece of sequential art.
This is an easy 9.5 for me. I almost want to go higher, but I’m not a real believer in a 10.0 grade.
David: I believe in the 10.0 grade, as I don’t view it as “perfect” so much as “one of the absolute best examples in comics you can find,” but I don’t think it’s a 10.0 anyways. 9.5? I can get behind that. This is a brilliant comic.
Brian: Settled. 9.5 is it.
Final Verdict: 9.5 – Buy, you silly, silly people.
