I am truly a sucker for comics that marry epic supernatural storytelling with small-scale dramatic beats. Constant cosmic destruction quickly can get boring while long sequences of characters talking, runs the danger of becoming stagnant and ignoring the visual side of the medium. But if you can successfully combine the two, as BPRD #145 does, you end up with a thrilling adventure that manages to remember just why we care about the giant lizard stomping his way towards the BPRD's Colorado base. There's a lot going on at this point in BPRD. The base is being evacuated by a reasonably stressed out Kate Corrigan who realizes Panya is up to something. Liz and Johann are stalling for time, fighting a losing battle against the Ogdru Jahad, but Liz is falling apart from exhaustion and Johann is being tempted towards oblivion by forces beyond his control. Last of not least, Valslskjlkdjkfj and Ioseph have returned from Hell with some friends familiar to those who know Mignola's lore (no not Hellboy, sadly). While this last point does feel like a bit of an afterthought (though a pretty cool one and no, it's still not Hellboy), the issue is generally very successful at balancing its stories while progressing them each.

This last arc (and to an extent the entirety of BPRD Hell on Earth) has been about sacrifice. As the earth comes closer and closer to extinction, the cast of BPRD doesn't consider giving up but instead grit their teeth and fight forward, losing friends, family, and in some cases, their humanity in the process. Roger is dead, Abe and Hellboy are missing, Kate is alone, Panya is old and tired, and Liz is near death. Unlike every other superhero book on the market, the apocalypse of BPRD hasn't been avoided. Despite the best efforts of the Bureau's best agents, the world is cracked and broken as an elder God rampages across a brutally changed world.

And in the midst of this brutal, large-scale destruction, this issue takes some time to quietly focus on a couple of characters who have been quietly developing for over a hundred issues. Kat Corrigan who has, over the course of BPRD gone from a bit Hellboy backup character to a realistically developed leader and mother to the team, confronts Panya about her increasingly erratic reclusive behavior. Panya finally let’s go of her secret and, surprisingly, it's not one based in mythology but characterization. She is old and wants to die. In a small parallel to the team as a whole, Panya, in the face of overwhelming exhaustion, wants to give up and let it all be over but Kate can't let her go. It's a wonderful little moment earned both by this issue and those that came before.

By the end of the issue, there are a couple of larger plot swerves I won't spoil here, but that little character moment remains my favorite part. Entering its home stretch, BPRD Hell on Earth is proving itself to be a worthy finale in terms of mythology, spectacle, and heart. There's a lot of ground left to cover, but BPRD #145 proves Arcudi, Mignola, and Campbell are more than up to the challenge.

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B.P.R.D. - Hell on Earth #145 Writers: Mike Mignola and John Arcudi Artist: Lawrence Campbell Colorist: Dave Stewart Publisher: Dark Horse Comics Price: $3.50 Format: Ongoing; Print/Digital

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Comic Bastards has always focused away from superhero comics. Yes, we review some when we are sent them, but the idea is always that we are a site that provides coverage to the other half of comics. With publishers like Image and Boom! putting out creator-owned books from A-list creators, it can be tempting to write off superheroes as a juvenile exercise in basic pulp storytelling--something you are glad helped get you into comics but which doesn't add much to the medium anymore. I love capes and cowls as much as the next guy, but crossovers, constant deaths, and shifting creative teams have been overused to the point of cliché and certainly hard to apply any rigorous examination to. And then you have BPRD, a shared universe 144 issue mega series, with about twenty artists, a giant cast of superhero style characters and a constantly expanding mythos which somehow turns the style of superhero storytelling to its advantage. BPRD #144 is in many ways nothing more than a reminder of where each of the major players as a setup to the coming climax of Hell on Earth, but it works surprisingly well by using the history of the series to build melancholy and stakes. Most of the issue is set in Hell itself (which is ironically looking a lot more peaceful than Earth at this point, hence the series title). Ioseph and Varvara tour the underworld looking for possible allies but finding only the shattered dystopia last seen in Hellboy in Hell. Without a knowledge of that Hellboy series, much of this issue might not make sense, but that's also part of its brilliance. The Mignola books occupy a small enough line that it's actually a fair assumption that everyone will understand why Hell is destroy and Satan dead. In fact, tying in with what has been, up until now, an insular cutoff part of the continuity is in its own way thrilling. It implies, as fans may have long hoped, that the original Mignola hero may be ready to make a return to the BPRD.

As for the BPRD themselves, things are looking bleak (well, even more bleak than usual that is). We only get a few pages set on earth, but they serve as a good reminder of why we care about what's happening elsewhere. The ogdru Jahad continues making its way to the BPRD base in Colorado with Liz and Johann doing their best to act as damage control. Kate meanwhile is attempting to evacuate the base which is proving more difficult than expected. It's fascinating to see a world that instead of treating apocalyptic disaster like a weekly occurrence in the manner of DC or Marvel, has come apart at the seams. The stakes seem real here because each issue of BPRD is willing to change the world entirely going forwards. It's rare to be able to enjoy these pulpy, continuity based adventures without knowing what can and cannot happen at the story's end.

And fundamentally, as dark as it continues to get, BPRD is fundamentally still a book about pulpy thrills. As Johann and Liz roast freshly spewed monsters like oversized shish kabobs and Ioseph the undead Russian soldier faces his personal demons (literally), it's hard not to enjoy the spectacle of it all. BPRD is not, by any means, highbrow (it doesn't ever reach the poetry or quiet beauty of Mignola's Hellboy), but it's effective, quality pulpy storytelling, and that's rare enough to celebrate in its own right.

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B.P.R.D. Hell on Earth #144 Writers: Mike Mignola and John Arcudi Artist: Lawrence Campbell Colorist: Dave Stewart Publisher: Dark Horse Comics Price: $3.50 Format: Ongoing; Print/Digital

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