Catching up on Hellboy (#SFWApro)

And I’ve already added these to the Hellboy Chronology page, in case you were asking.

HELLBOY AND THE BPRD: 1952 is an account of Hellboy’s first field mission, as written by Mike Mignola and John Arcudi and illustrated by Alex Maleev. The mission involves a string of mysterious deaths in Brazil, which leads Hellboy and his human companions to a secret laboratory, killer apes, leftover Nazis and a traitor in the BPRD’s own ranks. I hope we see more of this—I really do miss the old days of Hellboy working for the agency. And someday I want to see Varvara and Hellboy meeting.

ABE SAPIENS: A Darkness so Great by Mignola, Scott Allie and Max and Sebastian Fiumara has Abe and Grace arrive in a small Texas town miraculously untouched by the horrors swarming over the country. Wouldn’t you know, it’s because the local preacher has been praying to something that is not Jesus … Good, though it shows the problems of the Chronology that according to the first chapter here, all of Abe Sapiens: Sacred Places took place within a two-week span (I’d figured on a couple of months at least—and in terms of publication, it’s five months of Abe’s series). Like Hellboy in Hell, this presents the netherworld as being plunged into chaos by recent events, forcing demons to stake out new turf in our world, something I’m sure will pay off more as time passes.

BPRD HELL ON EARTH: Flesh and Stone (Mignola, Arcudi and James Harren—cover illustration by Laurence Campbell, all rights with current holder) has Johann and Howards (the BPRD agent who got plunged back to the stone age) lead a monster fighting mission into a small town. Meanwhile the Black Flame prepares to strike again and in the most interesting plot thread, Russia’s Nichaeyko and Varvara debate whether letting her lead the forces of Hell against the monsters would be a net win. The main plot feels like a routine installment in the overall arc rather than a standalone story, but the Nichaeyko stuff is good (I love Varvara).