Vol 1: New World
Written by Mike Mignola and John Arcudi
Art by Guy Davis
2011
Available now from Islington Libraries
You can reserve this item for free here:
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Vol 2: Gods and Monsters
Written by Mike Mignola and John Arcudi
Art by Guy Davis
2012
Available now from Islington Libraries
You can reserve this item for free here:
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Vol 3: Russia
Written by Mike Mignola and John Arcudi
Art by Tyler Crook
2012
Available now from Islington Libraries
You can reserve this item for free here:
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Vol 4: The Devil's Engine & The Long Death
Written by Mike Mignola and John Arcudi
Art by James Harren and Tyler Crook
2012
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You can reserve this item for free here:
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"This is a changing world."
Used to be stories in comics didn't tend to move much. Your favourite superhero character might have all sorts of crazy and wacky adventures - but by the time it got to the end of the issue - the status quo would be restored and everything would be back in the same place it began. That way you could stop reading for years at a time - but still know exactly what was going on the next time you picked up an issue. In fact: that's not even something that's unique to comics - television shows used to be exactly the same. To take an example of a show whose influence can be felt in B.P.R.D. [1] - whenever you turned into The X-Files - you knew that Mulder was going to be that believing in crazy stuff and Scully was going to be wearing her skeptical face (at least before it all got rubbish and the T-1000 took over from Mulder and everyone stopped watching/caring/paying attention).
Nowadays instead of the same scenarios playing over and over and over again we expect our stories to all be one big thing: constantly changing from week to week mutating themselves new arms and heads in strange places.
All of this is to say that if you've previously read an issue (or volume) of B.P.R.D. here and there: then Hell on Earth is going to be a little bit of a jump. Trotting out an X-Files analogy - it'll be like tuning in only to find that the world was ending - several major cities had already been destroyed [2] - Scully was a wanted fugitive and Mulder had turned into a white werewolf-monster-thing and was living wild off in some forest somewhere.
Basically - yeah - (to say the least) things are a little weird.
But I liked it. In fact - this all suited me down to the ground. One of the things that I always disliked with the first - I dunno - several volumes of Hellboy (yeah - yadda yadda: B.P.R.D. is a spin-off from Hellboy - although at this point it's like how Fraser is a spin-off from Cheers - it doesn't really make all that much difference if you're reading one and not the other (I mean - hell - you could even read both of them if you really wanted: knock yourself out)) always seemed (to me) to be locking into the same never-ending cycle like old comic books and old TV: Something strange happens somewhere - they send Hellboy in - he has a fight with a monster. End. (Rinse well and Repeat). And what's so beguiling about B.P.R.D is that - well - actually I've quote what Mike Mignola says in the afterword of Vol 1: "One of the things that separates our little B.P.R.D./Hellboy world from some of the other comic-book worlds out there is that when we break stuff it often stays broken, or, if it's fixed, it's just never quite like it was before." So yeah - that.
I mean I have at one point or another read all the books leading up to these - although it does feel at points that I didn't pay enough attention to all the underlying mythology stuff - places and people are mentioned or glimpsed - and my reaction isn't so much "but of course the Ogrdu Hem!" and more like "oh yeah - that guy!" If you're gonna attempt reading these - I'd say start off with the previous 14 volumes first because that way not only will you be able to understand what's going on - but you'll have more fun with it too (it's better to read stories that you can understand - rather than just sitting there going "huh" all the time - right?).
And once you do start - keep going at least until the second book. I mean - the first book is ok: but all that it really has going for it is the realization that - woo - ok: so they're not going to reverse this whole end-of-the-world thing huh? We're in it for the long haul - well: cool [3]. But apart from that - I dunno - the whole monster thing that it builds up to seems a little - convoluted? (What can I say? I prefer it when the monster concept is simple and easy to get your head around). But then after that hurdle is passed and you get to book two: it's like the comic kinda pauses and catches it's breathe and works out that it doesn't need to be telling stories that are always about trying to up the ante all the time and - instead - it can just get more involved and deeper into who people are and what exactly they're doing: and - yeah - it's all much better as a result (that whole thing in the trailer park? I mean - nothing much really happens - but it's really interesting to read anyhow).
So yeah.
......................................................................................................................................................
[1] In fact in my tiny little write-up for the first 14 volumes of B.P.R.D. (which I really should update already) I described it (lazily) as "A satisfying blend between the X-files, Lovecraft and JLA." So - erm - yeah.
[2] If they ever release a B.P.R.D. official soundtrack then I think the lead track should be 65daysofstatic "The Major Cities Of The World Are Being Destroyed One By One By The Monsters"
[3] Ok - so I know I'm gonna sound like an awful pedant for saying this: but it's always something that's nagged me about long-running science-fictiony stuff (best example I can think at the moment would be Christopher Eccleston's run on Doctor Who - but there's loads of other examples out there if you start to think about it): I mean - if you're making something where all the crazy stuff happens in the shadows and the general public never find out about any of it - then fine - you can do what you want (like - well - the X-files). But if you're telling a story where things like this happen then - well - it doesn't make so much sense that in the next episode you then go back to a world where everyone acts like much as ever happened. I mean - I don't want to sounds too much like a crazy person: but if tomorrow an alien space-craft crashed into Big Ben then (I'm willing to bet) human society would become a very different place (I mean - we'll all read Watchmen at this point - right?) and really you can't have something like that happen and then still act like the world would be the same place (see also: Superman - I mean - come on: if you lived in the same world as Superman: society (at all levels) would be very very different - you can't have an alien being flying around and sticking his nose into everyone's business and still think that everything would stay exactly the same). But - yeah - ok: whatever.
[3] Ok - so I know I'm gonna sound like an awful pedant for saying this: but it's always something that's nagged me about long-running science-fictiony stuff (best example I can think at the moment would be Christopher Eccleston's run on Doctor Who - but there's loads of other examples out there if you start to think about it): I mean - if you're making something where all the crazy stuff happens in the shadows and the general public never find out about any of it - then fine - you can do what you want (like - well - the X-files). But if you're telling a story where things like this happen then - well - it doesn't make so much sense that in the next episode you then go back to a world where everyone acts like much as ever happened. I mean - I don't want to sounds too much like a crazy person: but if tomorrow an alien space-craft crashed into Big Ben then (I'm willing to bet) human society would become a very different place (I mean - we'll all read Watchmen at this point - right?) and really you can't have something like that happen and then still act like the world would be the same place (see also: Superman - I mean - come on: if you lived in the same world as Superman: society (at all levels) would be very very different - you can't have an alien being flying around and sticking his nose into everyone's business and still think that everything would stay exactly the same). But - yeah - ok: whatever.
Links: 4th Letter Article: Hell on Earth New World 04, Comics Alliance Article, The Comics Journel Review: B.P.R.D. Hell On Earth: Russia, Comics Bulletin B.P.R.D. Hell on Earth: The Devil’s Engine & The Long Death.
Further reading: B.P.R.D., Hellboy, Prophet, Crossed, The Unwritten, Neonomicon, X-Men: Astonishing X-Men, Planetary, Locke and Key, Wasteland, Sweet Tooth, The Walking Dead, Chew.
All comments welcome.
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