Comics / Comic Reviews / More Comics

BPRD 1946 #1 (of 5)

By Patrick Bérubé
February 9, 2008 - 11:25

Berlin 1946. The war is over and the Germans are defeated. The city is in ruin and everyone tries to scavenge whatever they can. In all this chaos, Professor Bruttenholm, of the newly formed BPRD is sent to recover whatever is left of the Nazi’s occult experiment and personally hope to find more clues about the origin of Hellboy, his adoptive son. With the “help” of a ragtag band of soldier, he will soon discover that the Russians’ own occult team is also looking for the same thing as he is. But what he will find might not be what he was looking for…

With this first issue of a miniseries of five, Mignola and Dysart dig deeper in the BPRD mythos. They do a great job at establishing the historical context in which the story takes place. They also succeed very well at creating an atmosphere of mystery and fear by showing only a few element of a larger tapestry.

Azaceta fully respect the visual feeling of the Hellboy universe. His choice of page composition, angle of view and the use of close up really help to establish the mood of the book. It was the first time that I saw his work and I’m really looking forward to see more. Also, Nick Filardi’s bold ink line is a very good choice to complement Azaceta’s pencil.

The only thing that bothered me with this book was the color palette. After seeing Dave Stewart beautiful job on the last miniseries, this book seemed a little bland to me. With the exception of a few scenes, the choice of a single color to establish a mood was not a very good one. Some nuance would have been appreciated by this reader.

Overall, this book shows a very promising start to the miniseries. Even if I’m looking for the return of the regular team of Mignola, Arcudi and Davis, it’s always a pleasure to discover new talent. A new Mignola cover isn’t bad either.

I rate this book 8.5 evil occult scientists out of 10

Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12