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| ONE FOR ONE: B.P.R.D. HELL ON EARTH: NEW WORLD No. 1, March 2014 |
Originally published in 2010
it is initially quite clear to see why “Dark Horse Comics” chose this
particular book from its impressive “B.P.R.D.” library as a reprint under its
“One For One” banner. Written by creator Mike Mignola and frequent collaborator
John Arcudi “Hell On Earth: New World” immediately captures the full attention
of the reader by having the sheriff investigating two seemingly unrelated
missing persons mysteriously vanish himself just seconds after talking to one of the absent men’s worried daughters.
However this enticing intrigue is then superseded by the almost suffocating
sense of suspicion, intrigue and distrust which permeates the relationships
between the core members of the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense. For
whilst former Cambridge professor Andrew Devon makes his dislike of Abe Sapien
abundantly clear, other team members such as ancient Egyptian mummy Panya is
far more sinisterly subtle about her strong misgivings concerning Johann Kraus.
Fascinatingly current field director Kate Corrigan stands smack in the middle
of all these uncertainties but soon starts to manifest her own about the fish
man Sapien when she learns the Victorian scientist has lied to her and driven out alone to scrutinise some strange happenings in British Columbia.
The somewhat
kooky artwork of Guy Davis is equally as captivating, despite the vast majority
of his characters, both male and female, seemingly having nasally suffered some
boxing injuries in their time. The American cartoonist’s drawings are clear,
sharp and manage to contain plenty of movement despite the majority of the
twenty two pages being conversational pieces. Dave Stewart’s colours are also
nice, clean and bright, despite predominantly consisting of simple base and
shade layers.
Unfortunately though, all is not quite as it seems with this
magazine, and it sadly is not the “jumping on point” title for the exploits of
the B.P.R.D. which the user-created comic book enthusiast encyclopaedia “Comic
Vine” believes it is. True the first page does contain a detailed summary of
each of the five members of the now United Nations marshalled fictional
organisation… and this is a reissue of the first comic in the ‘new series’ named
“B.P.R.D. Hell On Earth”.
But what is not clear, having ‘cunningly’ replaced the
“1 of 5” wording on the original publication’s front cover with the “One For
One” logo, is that this "Dark Horse Comics" periodical is only the opening instalment of a
five-issue story arc. As a result it finishes with Abe Sapien facing down the barrel of an armed woodland game hunter during the middle of the night. Hardly a satisfactory
conclusion to what by all accounts appears to be a one-off ‘title taster’…
especially considering the current second-hand prices of B.P.R.D. related back-issues.
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| Story: Mike Mignola and John Arcudi, and Artist: Guy Davis |
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