Review: ‘Hellboy And The B.P.R.D. 1957: From Below’ Does ‘The Job’
by Anton Kromoff
Summary
Where Hellboy and the B.P.R.D. 1957: From Below shines is in its ability to give newly arriving and longtime fans of the Mignolaverse a B.P.R.D. story that is equally something they love, while being something totally unexpected and fun at the same time. You know there is going to be a threat worthy of Hellboy and the B.P.R.D. but finding out what that threat is and getting to be along for that ride is the reason that fans keep coming back to this franchise time and time again.
Overall
10/10Welcome to the table,
I would join the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense if given the opportunity. If our world had some clandestine organization of agents comprised of researchers, occultists, and the oddities the world had to offer, and somehow some way I got an invite to join their ranks, I would do it with no hesitation. I would for sure have issues if any kind of frog monsters came looking for me, but hey, those are the risk when you are the last line of defense between humanity and the unknown.
All daydreaming aside, that beautiful intersection between the mundane and the magical is one of the things I love so much about the Hellboy Universe and the B.P.R.D. stories. Those who have followed the series since the beginning know how it ends. You know where some of your favorite agents fall. You know what comes after the world ends.
What continues to be endlessly fascinating to me, is knowing full well the fate of our beloved Anung Un Rama (Hellboy) and his father Professor Bruttenholm (Professor “Broom”) all these stories about what came in the moments we have not yet been told about continue to be just as fun and entertaining as the stories that showed us the fire and brimstone beginning and the bloody end.
Hellboy and the B.P.R.D. 1957: From Below jumps off with Hellboy, Professor Bruttenholm, and B.P.R.D. agent Archie Muraro getting word of strange happenings at an abandoned sawmill that is rumored to be haunted. What seems like something that is going to be a ghost story with our favorite Right Hand of Doom wielding agent, his dear old adopted dad, and a charming and frankly loveable agent turns into something I was not expecting, but was totally entertained by.
Where Hellboy and the B.P.R.D. 1957: From Below shines is in its ability to give newly arriving and longtime fans of the Mignolaverse a B.P.R.D. story that is equally something they love while being something totally unexpected and fun at the same time. You know there is going to be a threat worthy of Hellboy and the B.P.R.D. but finding out what that threat is and getting to be along for that ride is the reason that fans keep coming back to this franchise time and time again.
Mike Mignola and longtime collaborator Chris Roberson team up with artist Mike Norton, colorist Dave Stewart, and letterer Clem Robins for a story that is fun and strange, and action-packed in all the ways that make Hellboy stories some of the best told in comics.
There is this beautifully humorous melancholy message that the book ends on. Wry wit laced with an understanding that there will never not be a need for the B.P.R.D. and the fact that this book keeps me coming back time and time again speaks to that not only in an in-universe sort of way but in a real-world way. Because sometimes you just need to read something that has some good old creature combat combined with those who stand against the darkness with a grin rather than gloom.
Until next time, it is indeed “the job” and we are glad you do it.
