Four weeks of March, four Mignolaverse books – and they may have saved the best for last.
Written by Mike Mignola, Gabriel Bá and Fábio Moon
Illustrated by Gabriel Bá and Fábio MoonAfter the horrific events of B.P.R.D.: 1948, we follow one doomed agent’s quest for revenge against a clan of vampires and their Gorgon-eyed queen Hecate.
Brian: We are truly living in the best of times, David. Another week, another “B.P.R.D.” related comic to dive into. This week it is “Vampire,” by Mike Mignola, Gabriel Ba and Fabio Moon. This is a sequel of sorts to both “1947” and “1948,” with the focus being on Agent Anders and his history with vampires.
The issue begins with a beautiful, silent, multi-page sequence drawn (I think) by Moon that really sets the tone for the issue. That sequence ranks among my favorite sequences in a recent Mignolaverse book. What did you think of it?
David: I thought it was flat out amazing. That first page was one of the most beautiful pages I’ve ever seen in a comic, in its simplicity. It was like a ballet of blood, motionlessly yet rhythmically drawing you into this horribly haunting world. This issue is all about mood, atmosphere and that horribly foreboding feeling that permeates around Anders, and by god, it’s spectacular.
First thing I want to tackle though: this is the first time Ba and Moon have written with Mignola. What did you think of how how they handled this world, and how did they differ to say…a John Arcudi or a Scott Allie in your mind?
Brian: Well, we are still pretty early into their collaboration, so it is hard to tell just how things will shake out, but I will say this: I can’t recall a comic with “B.P.R.D.” on the front with this little dialogue in it. Even when Anders and Bruttenholm are talking, they are both speaking in very short sentences. Bruttenholm asks Anders “how are your dreams?,” which is such an incredibly loaded question, and in 4 words, he says all he needs . This is an economical book, dialogue-wise.
I also anticipate this being a relatively humorless book, which isn’t always the case with Mignola stuff, but this subject doesn’t lend itself to too many shenanigans, nor the characters,
What about you? Did you notice any real difference thus far?
David: One thing really stood out, and that was in the open when the vampire sisters and their “brother” were walking through the forest and the raven said “Hecate.” That’s bar none the most Hellboy like B.P.R.D. has ever been. That is a tried and true thing that shows up in the Hellboy side of the world, but it was the most Mignola specific thing I’ve ever seen in a B.P.R.D. book. Interesting, if only for that.
But yeah, I think you’re right in that there was a real sparseness to the dialogue. It was elegant and fitting though. Anders is a hammer, and a rather humorless one at that. If he was dropping pop culture references and talking all zippy like, it’d be weird as hell. It’s a great marriage of script and topicality/script. In short, I think the twins did a phenomenal job in working with Mignola.
I’m curious: where do you place this? Is this a story that will eventually have importance in the modern story, or is it going to just be the story of Anders and his next steps?
Brian: Elegant is the perfect word, thanks for being my thesaurus, friend.
Well, we’ve seen vampires in “1947” and “The Pickens County Horror,” and nothing for the 65 years in between; I think this story might tell the reason why. So, I don’t see it having exact ties to any current “B.P.R.D.” arc, but I think it will reveal why vampires have not been too much of a concern.
David: I could definitely see that. Why they went into hiding. Maybe Anders is a secret vampire hunter like Blade?!?!?! Okay, that might be a bit of a reach, but I like the idea of him driving them into hiding. Here’s a wild idea: The Abyss of Time heavily features vampires, as well, and Agent Howards fights them in the form of Gall Dennar. Maybe when Johann and his team goes on a rescue mission for him, he comes back to the present, mentally, and becomes a new force against the returning vampire forces? Eh?
Continued belowOkay, that’s enough speculation there. Let’s talk art. You’d think a book from Ba and Moon would be pretty, but wow.
Brian: I don’t think we’ll be seeing too many vampires in the pages of the main B.P.R.D. title just yet, but I do think that their role in the grand scheme of the Mignolaverse is expanding.
Yes, wow is the only word to use. This book is downright gorgeous. I don’t exactly have eagle eyes for this, but I think that all the vampire sequences are Moon and the Anders stuff is Ba, but I could be totally wrong about that.
If we’ve gleaned anything from all of our Mignolaversity work, it would be that Mignola himself acts as the creative director of the line, but he is happy to let his collaborators really take the baton and run with in, wherever they see fit. And yet, as you said earlier, this is the most Hellboy/Mignola-ish B.P.R.D. has been in quite some time. I think that Mignola and the Twins fit together so well that the seams between just about every aspect of their collaboration are not seen. The only thing you can say for sure is that Dave Stewart handled the colors.
David: Yeah, I can dig that. Their work was truly spectacular on art, whichever was doing whatever, and in concert with Dave Stewart, it was all the better (we’ve seen Ba with Stewart before though on Umbrella Academy). This book kind of exists somewhere in between the world of Hellboy and B.P.R.D. in styles, and it feels like it’s a side story in the most true way it can be. It’s a side quest, and it may not pay off into anything big in the future, but whatever it is just happens to be a really great comic.
Honestly, I don’t know how many more superlatives I can cover here. Do you have anything else you want to say/ask before we get into grading?
Brian: Without gushing all over the art, or describing pages panel by panel, I don’t know what else I could do to keep going. I just want to say again, boy oh boy did I enjoy this. In the interest of full disclosure, I didn’t think I was going to love this, as I’m not the biggest vampire guy, and because I am, currently, much more excited about the present tense B.P.R.D. stories. This is one time I’m glad to be proven wrong.
I really can’t grade this lower than a 9. What a debut. Good grief.
David: I’m going to give this a 9.5. This is the B.P.R.D. story I never knew I always wanted to be told. It’s somehow different than the rest of the Mignolavese, yet steeped in it in a way that makes it feel like it belongs still. Incredible.
Final Verdict: 9.25 – Buy, or really, you hate comics.
