Review: B.P.R.D.: Plague of Frogs 1
B.P.R.D.: Plague of Frogs 1 by Mike Mignola
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
BPRD: Plague of frogs, is an anthology of tales, set in the Hellboy universe, focusing on his team, and how they function when he is away on a long sabbatical.
The team, composed of Hellboy’s second in command, Abraham Sapien the Icthyo- Humanoid, Liz Sherman the troubled pyrokinetic, The Homunculus Roger, Johann Kraus the deceased ectoplasmic psychic medium. Joining them are the non enhanced human agents of the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense, as they track paranormal phenomena across the globe with the aim of investigation, containment and as need arises, neutralization.
Plague of Frogs was my first foray in the world of Hellboy comics, having been acquainted with the character and universe thanks to Guillermo Del Toro's engaging yet haunting duology of movies starring Ron Pearlman, which even after 15 years or so, still stay fresh. It was a travesty that we never got the intended third movie in the series; less be said about the 2019 soft reboot of the character.
But this particular title seemed to be on top of everyone’s must read order for Hellboy. Having finished it, I can see why.
Seeing as how the Hellboy series, steeped deep in mythology and the paranormal, was largely associated with its titular namesake, a spin-off focusing on the other ‘less’ interesting characters had all the trepidations of turning into an unwanted undertaking. Yet, from the very first story Hollow Earth, we are thrown head first into the world of these somber, troubled yet ultimately well intentioned people who act as the watchmen for civilization against the ‘monsters’.
In that and the subsequent stories, narrated in a case of the week format, and often focusing on one particular member of the team, we learn the past and motivations of this misfit group, who have come to care for one another as a formed family, with the ever absent Hellboy as the titular patriarch. Hellboy, Red as he is called, casts a huge shadow of comfort even in his absence, having influenced each member of the team, and often being the motivation as to why they took up this perilous trade. The same characters, who in his absence, have to take up new roles and mantle to move forwards.
But at the same time, we also learn what makes these people tick, their inner thoughts, fears, anxieties and convictions.
As anyone who has read my other reviews would know, I’m a sucker for good world building. And BPRD has quite a lot of excellent world building, as well as exposition that isn’t just filler and bloated. Either is hard to do on its own, but here you barely feel the panels flow through, filled with text and details, as you take it in, while being lost in the rustic, gothic, grimy artwork which makes up the world.
You see panels, which contain the exact sentences as if required to convey the narrative, not one world more. Oftentimes, the panels are devoid of any dialogues at all, choosing to speak through its simplistic yet beautifully contrasting artwork. Which is placed front and center as we near the final book of the anthology, focusing on the titular ‘Plague of frogs’ storyline.
The previous two books ‘Hollow Earth’ & ‘The Soul of Venice’, are a standalone collection of stories, dealing with the isolated cases which the team have to face. Vengeful slave Spirits, Medieval vampires, ghost trains, subterranean Moloch like invaders, monsters under your bed (looks under bed); you know the usual retinue.
While the stories themselves are straightforward, their lore is deep and engaging. Plus their true intention is to be background noise; the foreground action is background noise, which allows us to enter each character’s mind and learn bits and pieces of their past. And throughout the anthology, is the prerogative for us a readers to piece together the fragments to come and understand the characters. This is not to mention the countless nods, Easter eggs, and unresolved threads which lead back to, or arrive from earlier or future stories, or other Hellboy tie-ins.
Main focus is given to Abe Sapien and Roger the homunculus. The fish man is struggling with his alienness and lack of belonging to the world in general, while also dealing with the mystery of his origin, as well as recurring sinister nightmares. The latter is dealing with much of the same, while adding in a crisis of identity, conscience, and trying to ascertain if he fits into the box designated as a ‘person’ and not a doll.
One aspect I liked is that most of the tales don’t have some world ending consequences. Oftentimes cases involve some paranormal entity which may be haunting a simple town or family, slated for neutralization as a routine part of the job. Not everything needs to be changing the status quo. Sometimes you just need a good old haunting, with the monster of the week.
Book 3 is where things start to get serious. The remnant of an ancient entity, which was being grown in one of BPRD’s research facilities, got loose, and is now turning the inhabitants of a sleepy town into frog creatures. All the while Abe is being plagued with mysterious nightmares of a distant world and time.
With the cult-like townspeople, an ancient entity turning people into frog creatures and the general moodiness of the panels, the story bears a strong resemblance to Shadows over Innsmouth by Lovecraft. The open-ended conclusion to the story, sets up stakes for future events in the world, such as ‘Hell on Earth’.
This panel right here, it gave me vibes from the cult gathering scene from The Call of Cthulhu. Strong stuff.
For entrancing lore, and masterful character building, I’m rewarding this story 4 out of 5
View all my reviews
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
BPRD: Plague of frogs, is an anthology of tales, set in the Hellboy universe, focusing on his team, and how they function when he is away on a long sabbatical.
The team, composed of Hellboy’s second in command, Abraham Sapien the Icthyo- Humanoid, Liz Sherman the troubled pyrokinetic, The Homunculus Roger, Johann Kraus the deceased ectoplasmic psychic medium. Joining them are the non enhanced human agents of the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense, as they track paranormal phenomena across the globe with the aim of investigation, containment and as need arises, neutralization.
Plague of Frogs was my first foray in the world of Hellboy comics, having been acquainted with the character and universe thanks to Guillermo Del Toro's engaging yet haunting duology of movies starring Ron Pearlman, which even after 15 years or so, still stay fresh. It was a travesty that we never got the intended third movie in the series; less be said about the 2019 soft reboot of the character.
But this particular title seemed to be on top of everyone’s must read order for Hellboy. Having finished it, I can see why.
Seeing as how the Hellboy series, steeped deep in mythology and the paranormal, was largely associated with its titular namesake, a spin-off focusing on the other ‘less’ interesting characters had all the trepidations of turning into an unwanted undertaking. Yet, from the very first story Hollow Earth, we are thrown head first into the world of these somber, troubled yet ultimately well intentioned people who act as the watchmen for civilization against the ‘monsters’.
In that and the subsequent stories, narrated in a case of the week format, and often focusing on one particular member of the team, we learn the past and motivations of this misfit group, who have come to care for one another as a formed family, with the ever absent Hellboy as the titular patriarch. Hellboy, Red as he is called, casts a huge shadow of comfort even in his absence, having influenced each member of the team, and often being the motivation as to why they took up this perilous trade. The same characters, who in his absence, have to take up new roles and mantle to move forwards.
But at the same time, we also learn what makes these people tick, their inner thoughts, fears, anxieties and convictions.
As anyone who has read my other reviews would know, I’m a sucker for good world building. And BPRD has quite a lot of excellent world building, as well as exposition that isn’t just filler and bloated. Either is hard to do on its own, but here you barely feel the panels flow through, filled with text and details, as you take it in, while being lost in the rustic, gothic, grimy artwork which makes up the world.
You see panels, which contain the exact sentences as if required to convey the narrative, not one world more. Oftentimes, the panels are devoid of any dialogues at all, choosing to speak through its simplistic yet beautifully contrasting artwork. Which is placed front and center as we near the final book of the anthology, focusing on the titular ‘Plague of frogs’ storyline.
The previous two books ‘Hollow Earth’ & ‘The Soul of Venice’, are a standalone collection of stories, dealing with the isolated cases which the team have to face. Vengeful slave Spirits, Medieval vampires, ghost trains, subterranean Moloch like invaders, monsters under your bed (looks under bed); you know the usual retinue.
While the stories themselves are straightforward, their lore is deep and engaging. Plus their true intention is to be background noise; the foreground action is background noise, which allows us to enter each character’s mind and learn bits and pieces of their past. And throughout the anthology, is the prerogative for us a readers to piece together the fragments to come and understand the characters. This is not to mention the countless nods, Easter eggs, and unresolved threads which lead back to, or arrive from earlier or future stories, or other Hellboy tie-ins.
Main focus is given to Abe Sapien and Roger the homunculus. The fish man is struggling with his alienness and lack of belonging to the world in general, while also dealing with the mystery of his origin, as well as recurring sinister nightmares. The latter is dealing with much of the same, while adding in a crisis of identity, conscience, and trying to ascertain if he fits into the box designated as a ‘person’ and not a doll.
One aspect I liked is that most of the tales don’t have some world ending consequences. Oftentimes cases involve some paranormal entity which may be haunting a simple town or family, slated for neutralization as a routine part of the job. Not everything needs to be changing the status quo. Sometimes you just need a good old haunting, with the monster of the week.
Book 3 is where things start to get serious. The remnant of an ancient entity, which was being grown in one of BPRD’s research facilities, got loose, and is now turning the inhabitants of a sleepy town into frog creatures. All the while Abe is being plagued with mysterious nightmares of a distant world and time.
With the cult-like townspeople, an ancient entity turning people into frog creatures and the general moodiness of the panels, the story bears a strong resemblance to Shadows over Innsmouth by Lovecraft. The open-ended conclusion to the story, sets up stakes for future events in the world, such as ‘Hell on Earth’.
This panel right here, it gave me vibes from the cult gathering scene from The Call of Cthulhu. Strong stuff.
For entrancing lore, and masterful character building, I’m rewarding this story 4 out of 5
View all my reviews
Comments
Post a Comment