Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Review: B.P.R.D.: Vampire #1

B.P.R.D.: VAMPIRE #1 (OF 5)
DARK HORSE COMICS – @DarkHorseComics

STORY: Mike Mignola, Gabriel Bá, Fábio Moon
ART: Gabriel Bá and Fábio Moon
COLORS: Dave Stewart
LETTERS: Clem Robins
COVER: Fábio Moon
28pp, Color, $3.50 (March 2013)

Mike Mignola, Gabriel Bá, and Fábio Moon unleash a hellish side story to the main B.P.R.D. comic book series. It is entitled B.P.R.D.: Vampire.

In the world of the Hellboy comic book series, the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense (the B.P.R.D. or BPRD) protects America and the rest of the world from the occult, the paranormal, and the supernatural. The B.P.R.D. first appeared in the debut Hellboy comic book miniseries, Hellboy: Seed of Destruction (1994). The Bureau received its own title with B.P.R.D.: Hollow Earth (2002).

B.P.R.D.: Vampire is a direct sequel to the previous series, B.P.R.D.: 1948. The new five issue miniseries follows an apparently doomed agent’s quest for revenge against a clan of vampires and its queen.

It is the year 1948. B.P.R.D.: Vampire #1 opens as a trio of vampires enjoys the last of a feast of (alleged or apparent) virgins. Is this a dream or a memory?

In Fairfield, Connecticut at BPRD headquarters, Agent Simon Anders informs Professor Trevor Bruttenholm that he is leaving the organization. Not sure of what he is becoming, Anders begins his quest for revenge against a particular group of vampires and their Gorgon-eyed queen, Hecate. But first, he will have to find them.

It has been at least two years (if not more) since I last read a B.P.R.D. comic book. B.P.R.D.: Vampire is a helluva comic book in which to return to the series. The basic plot, by Mike Mignola, Gabriel Bá, and Fábio Moon, is straightforward and simple.

The actual comic book story, as told through art and graphics (which I often call graphical storytelling), is as emotional, psychological, and figurative as it is linear or even literal. Gabriel Bá and Fábio Moon offer some stunning images and striking sequences of images. This story is going to be a good read, but the graphics side of this is going to be hella good read.

Fans of Hellboy will want to try at least one issue of B.P.R.D.: Vampire, enough to get hooked.

A

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux


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