There’s something else there. I see a spark of… something in him. Something good.
Hellboy and the BPRD #1
Writer: Mike Mignola with John Arcudi
Artist: Alexander Maleev
On Sale: 12/03/2014
A bizarre series of murders and rumors of something worse lead Professor Bruttenholm to send a young Hellboy to a Brazilian village on his first mission. Hellboy and a small group of agents uncover something terrible in the shadows of a sixteenth-century Portuguese fortress . . .
The saying that death means nothing in comics is a lie. To DC, Marvel, and Todd MacFarlane’s Spawn; that saying is true seeing as how they will axe off a character and bring them back years later. To the Mike Mignola and his Mignolaverse, that saying is nothing but a lie. It’s fair to say the Mignolaverse is just as interesting as DC and Marvel’s universes. It’s 100% true that you could do a much more cinematic universe with the Mignolaverse then a Spider-Man cinematic universe but that’s a discussion for another day. The Mignolaverse for those of you that don’t know is the universe in which Hellboy, Abe Sapien, Liz Sherman, Lobster Johnson, the BPRD, and others reside. In the present day of the Mignolavere; Hellboy, Abe, and Roger The Homunculus are dead. Hellboy’s been dead for a matter of fact since 2010. Abe Sapien, who many know has Hellboy’s blue fish friend in the Hellboy films played by Doug Jones, has been dead since 2011. Roger The Homunculus, who many probably don’t know but still a fan favorite character in the Mignolaverse, has been dead since 2005. Death still holds true in comics but this isn’t about the end. It's about the beginning.
2014 marked the 20th Anniversary of Hellboy. It’s not hard for a character who isn’t with DC or Marvel to not only survive this long but to also be as popular as Hellboy is. There isn’t really another character in comics who’s managed to not only be popular without being a part of the big 2 but to stay relevant coughSpawncough. To celebrate Hellboy’s 20th Birthday, Mike Mignola announced a 5 part Hellboy miniseries taking us to the beginning of Hellboy’s career. His first mission with the BPRD to be exact. In 1952. With Mike Mignola if his frequent collaborator John Arcudi who is co-writing the plot with Mignola while writing dialogue for all the characters and Mignola writing dialogue to Hellboy. Alex Maleev, who is most well-known for doing the art to Brian Michael Bendis’s Daredevil run, is doing the art for this. If you’ve never read Hellboy before, there isn’t a better time to start then now with Hellboy And The BPRD 1952 #1.
The story is rather simple and easy to follow for the issue. The story begins with a flashback of Professor Bruttenholm, Hellboy’s father figure if you’ve only seen the movies, in the hospital likely recovering from likely a minor injury. He is greeted by Varvara. If you’re a Hellboy fan you will recognize Varvara but she isn’t all that important to the story. You don’t need to know her to follow along. All the sudden we see what looks like Hellboy causing a mess. It’s likely something went wrong on a mission with Hellboy and a town is burning. Bruttenholm wakes up then gives the BPRD agents a mission. Bruttenholm has heard that people jimmies are rustling in Brazil and sends the BPRD out but there’s a twist! Professor Bruttenholm requests they bring Hellboy. They do, they travel to Brazil where they are greeted by the woman who called. She told them they must be tired from the long travel and tells them that she will talk about the rustling in the town’s jimmies in the morning. The agents go to sleep, end issue.
Yea, first issue the story is very easy to follow. Now on to the good and the bad.
The Good
Great Place To Start If You Haven’t Read Hellboy
If you have never read any Hellboy comic and only know the movies and want to read Hellboy comics, this is a good place to start. You will recognize Hellboy and Professor Bruttenholm. There is Varvara who shows up in a flashback but you don’t need to know who she is if you’re new. Everyone else is new characters created for the miniseries. The best place to start is Hellboy Vol 1: Seeds of Destruction but this is also a good place since it takes place before.
Alex Maleev’s Art In This Is Beautiful
Alex Maleev’s art is beautiful. Amazing in this. Completely fits Hellboy and his world. I can’t praise it enough. Him and the colorist, Dave Stewart, did a fantastic job with the pages.
World Building
This issue spends most of its time building the world it’s in. There are only 3 characters in the story who are involved in previous Hellboy stories which are Hellboy, Professor Bruttenholm, and Varvara. You see very little Hellboy in the story. The issue mostly focuses on the 4 other BPRD agents who will be with Hellboy on this mission and introduces them. I don’t at all mind this. In fact I like it. We all know we are going to see Hellboy take center stage so rather than showcasing him in the first issue, they showcase the 4 BPRD members who will be babysitting Hellboy.
The Bad
Not A Lot Happens
All that really happens is a flashback from Bruttenholm, Bruttenholm telling the agents about the mission, telling them to bring Hellboy with them, and them arriving in Brazil. That’s all but again, this is a 5 issue miniseries so we know stuff will go down. It’s not like a monthly Bendis comic where you see Peter Parker and Norman Osborn are back from the dead and then after 6 issues, you still don’t know why and how Peter Parker and Norman Osborn are back from the dead and Peter Parker just up and leaves with MJ while the reader never received any answers to why are they back from the dead.
Closing Thoughts
Overall it’s good to see Big Red back in a series when he's alive or older. I say that because last time we saw Hellboy in a monthy series, we had Mignola's Hellboy In Hell series which dealt with Hellboy in the afterlife. Before that, we had the graphic novel, Hellboy And The Midnight Circus which dealt with Hellboy as a kid. Even though this series's start is slow, I have no doubt it will pick up steam in the next couple issues. I’ve brought the issue 2 which has been out but for some reason I haven’t received mine in the mail yet. Hopefully soon. If you guys want me to review the whole series, I would love to.
I give Hellboy & The BPRD #1 a 8.8 out of 10.
I would also like to say thank you to MrNateBest for letting back on ComicBookMovie. I would also like to thank both nailbiter111 and DCMarvelFreshmen (reached out to both of you) for giving me Nate’s email to reach out to him.
And to cipher, where ever you are my beautiful drunken bastard brother.
To everybody else, what do we have tomorrow Robin?