B.P.R.D. Hell on Earth: Russia #4
Written by Mike Mignola and John Arcudi
Illustrated by Tyler CrookWhile Johann is locked in spectral combat with the spirit of a possessed prisoner of Russia’s Special Sciences Service, Kate learns about the deserted town of Rampayedik and its mysterious zombie looters.
Dark Horse Presents #7
Mike Mignola’s Hellboy is the centerpiece for the 7th all-star issue of Dark Horse Presents!
Whenever there is a new release by Mike Mignola and crew, David Harper and Brian Salvatore take a look at it and let you know what they think. This week, we have two stories that fit the bill: a Hellboy story in Dark Horse Presents #7 and B.P.R.D. Hell on Earth: Russia #4.
Click the jump to see what we thought of them, but be warned, spoilers are discussed, so proceed with caution.
David Harper: This week brings the release of two Mignolaverse stories, as Dark Horse Presents #7 features a short Hellboy in Mexico story with words and art from Mignola himself AND B.P.R.D. Hell on Earth: Russia #4 from Mignola, John Arcudi and Tyler Crook. With me to talk about it as always is Brian Salvatore. Let’s start with the Hellboy story – how sweet was it to see Mignola on art for the first time in a while?
Brian Salvatore: It was really nice – although he is not my favorite Hellboy artist, it is always nice to see him return to Hellboy territory now and again. Was I the only one surprised at how slight the story was?
David: Well, I knew it was going to be really slim. It was only an entry into Dark Horse Presents so we knew it would be pretty thin. That said, I’ve noticed that when Mignola is scripting for himself – rather than say, Duncan Fegredo – I feel like he relies more on his visuals for storytelling than words. Also, Hellboy tends to be a little more visuals based generally than B.P.R.D., more than likely because it’s just Hellboy rather than a band of paranormal defenders. But yeah, it was a tiny, tiny story. A solid one, but definitely a fun interlude in the Mexico adventures rather than a bigger story. Sort of a dessert or appetizer rather than an entree.
Brian: The main reason that I was expected more was because of our conversation with Scott Allie, who said that the reason that Hellboy in Mexico wasn’t included in the House of the Living Dead OGN was because of this story. So, in my mind, I was expecting something more substantial than this, because, completionist though I may be, if this story wasn’t included in a trade, I wouldn’t get weepy over it. Which, I suppose, is saying that you enjoyed this story more than I did?
David: Well, that wasn’t exactly what he said. He said the story will be ongoing in other places, just one of which is this story. Mignola is going to go back to Mexico for a good while longer it seems. I liked it because I like Hellboy fighting crazy things, and I enjoy some good Quetzacoatl action (although it just makes me think of Final Fantasy), but yeah, it’s definitely not a chart topper for Hellboy’s history. It was a fun short story, but not an all-timer in the vein of “Pancakes!” or anything like that.
Brian: Agreed. I think part of my problem was how much I absolutely adore Hellboy in Mexico/House of the Living Dead, so anything set in Mexico not to those levels is bound to disappoint on some level.
David: For sure. I agree entirely. This story is just too slight to be much of anything, but it’s still a nice window into this time and a fun episode for those who read Dark Horse Presents/Hellboy generally.
Brian: Yeah, I can agree with that. So, let’s move on to the other Mignolaverse release this week, B.P.R.D. Hell on Earth: Russia #4. We have both expressed a pretty strong admiration for this series thus far. How did #4 stack up for you?
Continued below
David: I really liked this mini before but I LOVED this issue. I thought it was the best one yet by a good measure. It was a great blend of action, big moments, monster creation by Tyler Crook, and just straight up good storytelling. I was a big, big fan. What about you?
Brian: I agree. This issue did a couple of things really nicely, which I want to get into in a few minutes, but most of all, I felt that this was the issue that solid from frame one, and didn’t have a bit of wasted opportunity. It was a lean, well-paced issue.
David: Absolutely.
Brian: My first point I wanted to talk about was how important the setting of Russia became in this issue. Besides the first issue, with some fish out of water moments, this was the first one to really use the setting to its advantage. Do you agree?
David: I definitely agree. The biggest thing for me was in the opening scene between Kate and Iosif when he drops that line. “Doctor, they’re Russian Soldiers. They expect to die.” Not only did it say a lot about what Russians are all about, but it just sets up this awesome, eerie feel to the rest of the issue from that point out. Did you have something else in mind?
Brian: That was exactly the line that I was talking about – it triggered a real sense of dread, and made you empathize with the soldiers in a much different way. But that continued throughout the talk of a military strike taking out the area as well – something like that could only happen quietly in a few places on Earth. This went from being a story that took place in Russia to a story about Russia.
David: Yeah, absolutely. And I continue to love Iosif’s presence in this story. His addition to this group, becoming sort of Russia’s answer to someone like Johann Kraus or Abe Sapien, is a great mirror image to everything that goes on with the team that we know and love.
Brian: That is one of the reasons I keep coming back to B.P.R.D. – it is this ever-expanding universe of people that you hope may pop up again in the future. Even the dead characters tend to show up again, so there is this sense of a near-infinite universe of characters that we, as readers, get to encounter in the books.
Let’s talk about the art for a second – vagina monster aside, this was a very character driven issue, and I thought that Crook did a nice job of telling the story visually, even without too much to work with.
David: Yeah, I think this was Crook’s best issue yet. It was kind of a coming-out party for him for those that haven’t read Petrograd. I thought it gave him a real chance for awesome monster creation while also giving us powerful character moments. Plus, his depiction of Johann running away in the Captain’s body at the end was straight up hilarious and awesome. You can kind of see him getting more and more comfortable in this world of Mignola and Arcudi’s with each passing issue.
Brian: Yes, he has certainly gotten stronger throughout the series, and I look forward to him being the new regular artist on B.P.R.D. His style has a certain elegance to it that really works when drawing absurd things – his art grounds some of the more out there elements, and makes everything look like it belongs, if that makes any sense.
David: Things like vagina monsters.
Brian: Yes, things like vagina monsters.
David: Yeah, I’m totally onboard with all of this. I’m really looking forward to the fifth issue. Predictions? Is Johann really dead now? Double dead?
Brian: Well, on one hand, I wouldn’t be surprised – and, if he is gone, he went out in pretty much the most bad ass way that he possibly could. But, he is a character that it is sort of hard to prove dead. I could see him being MIA for a while, only to return in a future book. What do you think?
Continued belowDavid: He’s not dead. He’s the leader of the cast in the next mini-series. Spoiler alert! Sorry! I’m a terrible person, but that’s a good comic.
Brian: BAH Haperrrrrrrrrrrr!
David: Sorry. My bad, cap.
Brian: It is okay, it means I can stop saying that novena for the repose of his soul.
David: What rating would you throw down on this issue?
Brian: This is a solid 9 for me, but I really can’t think of a good reason to give it a 9.5 or even a 10, as there was literally nothing I can say i disliked about it.
David: True story. I’ll go with 9 as well. What about the Hellboy story from this week’s Dark Horse Presents?
Brian: Well, I enjoyed it, but I wouldn’t say that I loved it. I did dig seeing Mignola on pencils again, so I’ll give it a 6.5, and look forward to reading it again one day as part of the Hellboy’s Mexican Adventures Omnibus.
David: I was actually going to give it that as well. As much as I liked it, I can’t give it a super high rating because it’s a story that exists in a very expensive comic that most Hellboy fans might not buy otherwise, which is kind of a burn.
Brian: I think next time we have a book to review together, one of us needs to do some sort of drug ahead of time, so we can have truly divergent opinions on it. Then our fine readers can read me say things like “Johann’s spirit cries cherry flavored ambition,” or whatever mescaline does to your speech.
David: I love it. Let’s do it. I’ll get wasted next time. It will make it easy. Or your plan works too.
Brian: If only there was a video podcast where people drank and reviewed comics…
David: 4 Color, back this week! Yeah!
