This issue is all about firepower – and fire powers.
Written by Mike Mignola and John Arcudi
Illustrated by Tyler CrookAs Liz and a police squad ambush the mad doctor and his Moreau-like experiments, Fenix takes on a group of cultists and by killing their god!
Brian: David, David, David – after last week’s rocky “Abe” adventure, this is exactly the Mignola comic we needed. Full of action, full of forward momentum, full of foreshadowing, and some crazy explosions. What was your initial reaction to this issue?
David: My reaction is hellllllll yessss!!! Liz bringing the FIYAH!, Fenix’s awesome foreshadowing moments – her in New York? very curious – and her bringing the thunder, and then the battle for Howards? This is some fantastic comic booking Brian, and Tyler Crook? Pretty much the perfect guy to bring it all to life.
B.P.R.D. is back and it is on fire. Yeah, that’s right.
Brian: Where did David go? He was replaced by that Fall Out Boy song they kept playing during the MLB playoffs
Light ’em up up up ON FIYAH!
Anyway, yes, this was a very, very good issue of “B.P.R.D.” – it accomplished the rare task of moving the story forward and foreshadowing future events without feeling like it was skimping on today’s action.
Let’s start with Fenix. Here is a character that I have grown increasingly more fond of in each issue thus far, and here she is positively bad ass. What did you think of her in this issue?
David: I loved her in this issue. Honestly, she’s a character I strongly disliked for some time – at least partially because she gunned down my boy Abe – but this arc has given her a lot more to work with. We know where her powers come from to a degree, she’s been positioned far more sympathetically, she behaves a lot less like a scorned child and she is more prone to badassery than we’d seen previously.
In short, “Feeny” has been the breakout character in this arc, and I like the tease they gave us of what her and Liz’s relationship might be. I’d be onboard for that, Brian.
Brian: It’s interesting, we’ve had her paired up with Panya so much that I didn’t even think of Liz as a potential mentor/partner until it was thrown in my face this issue. So cool.
But yeah, Fenix is the start of this arc, and she is positioning herself to be quite important to the overall gameplan. Let me ask you, do you think her torching the egg will have consequences, or is that a pure win for the Bureau?
David: There has been a lot of time spent in The Salton Sea layering the importance on what is going on there, so part of me thinks yes, but then I realize what are the ramifications of what could happen? Can things get worse? So, yeah, pure win right there. What do you think?
Brian: I’m not sure – I’d like to think it is a pure win, but things are rarely that cut and dry here. The one clear negative is that it has angered a large gathering of people against the B.P.R.D., although there is no way that they could ever figure out who it was that torched it. But angry people are rarely a good thing, and in this world of very few rules and sketchy morality, an angry mob is even worse.
Let’s talk about the dream/vision Fenix had. Bruiser is gone (if he dies, so help me God), Fenix is in NYC, where Zinco is trying to fight the monsters, and where she is with two men who are expecting her to protect them by seeing danger ahead. She’s saved by Liz, who knows who she is and absolves her of any guilt for not seeing this coming.
Is this a vision? Is this a dream? Is this something else altogether?
David: I hate to say it, but an angry mob would probably be pretty damn low on B.P.R.D.’s worry list right now. I think it’s the last we hear of them.
Continued belowThis is a vision, and we know the answer. We know that Liz and Fenix are back with the B.P.R.D. for Reign of the Black Flame, thanks to the new roster we premiered not that long ago, and we know they’re going to NYC in that arc. Where Bruiser is has a simple answer: he’s back at the base. I think the main question isn’t whether or not its a vision, it’s what Zinco’s role is, especially given the questions Johann had about what they were purchasing before NYC was closed off. As for who the two men are, Jorge and his friend, I’m not sure, but I’d wager we’ll find out in the next arc. Did you have different thoughts in that regard?
Brian: Again, I don’t see this being so cut and dry. I agree that it is a vision, but we don’t know enough about Fenix’s visions to know how accurate they are. Is this a potential future? Is this the actual future? Is it a facsimile of what will happen?
I do think that both of these ladies are going to be huge players in the next year or so of the book, if not for much longer. Their skills and their willingness to put themselves in the line of fire (no pun intended, in Liz’s case) will mean that they will be vitally important to the Bureau’s ability to handle the problems facing New York.
As for Zinco’s role, it seems to me that they knew what was happening, and even with that preparation are still up shit creek. They are fighting these monsters, just like Fenix and Liz, so I don’t think that they are on easy street in this world. But I do think that Johann is onto something here – we’ve seen enough shadiness out of Zinco to not be too surprised.
David:: Well, I’m not saying that exact thing is going to happen. I’d wager some variation of that set up will happen though.
I disagree with Zinco though. I think they’re living like fat cats in NYC. I mean, the Black Flame is there, and we know he’s basically the Vice President of Monster World. Ain’t nobody gonna fuck with him, Brian!
Brian: I think Zinco, in the present of the book, is living high on the hog, but that will all be changing soon enough.
And I would argue that the Black Flame is the Secretary of State of Monster World, its emissary to the rest of the globe.
Anything else you want to focus on?
David: Tyler Crook is a badass! Super catdog monster thing getting lit up by Liz was the bee’s knees in the hands of Crook and Dave Stewart!
Brian: Oh yeah, Crook has been a fucking beast in this. Each issue he does, his characters get more expressive, the monsters more terrifying, and the storytelling more and more clear. These issues are so well laid out that they could appear sans dialogue, and you’d know exactly what is going on. His pacing and panel composition are second to none. I’m bummed we only have one more issue of him for the foreseeable future.
David: I was going to say, I didn’t know about that until I read the letters page here. That, for me, is a huge bummer.
Last thing I wanted to note: I loved EVERYTHING about Liz asking those badass cop guys for a cigarette. I love having Liz back!
Brian: Every time Liz is on the page it is great. That sequence was fantastic.
This gets an easy 8.5 from me – what about you?
David: 8.5, for sure. With 2013 in Review coming around very soon, this only enhances its chance at finishing high on my list.
Final Verdict: 8.5 – Buy you fools!
