B.P.R.D. (2002), Volume 2

September 13, 2004
Spun off from Mike Mignola's popular Hellboy
series, this second collection of weird investigations by the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense contains five tales concerning the fantastic encroaching upon the mundane world. The B.P.R.D.'s four seasoned field agents include a cynical gill-man; an alluring telekinetic; a disembodied psychic empath; and a hulking, childlike homunculus. This group's bizarre assignments propel them all over the globe to situations that only investigators of a paranormal nature could handle. This lushly illustrated volume finds the team involved with a twisted Italian vampire's plot to imprison the spirit of Venice for his own evil ends; the unrestful ghosts of three executed witches; a ghost train from WWII whose passengers relentlessly pursue an aged Nazi saboteur; a malevolent variation on Monsters Inc.
; and a possessed psychic with the power to raise the recently dead. As an added bonus, a sketchbook section reprints character designs by participating artists, including Michael Avon Oeming, Guy Davis and Cameron Stewart, offering a fascinating glimpse into the creative process. This compilation of five strong horror yarns brims with respect for readers' intelligence. (Sept.)

Forecast:
The book's inclusion of a new story written by Mignola and illustrated by Stewart (Catwoman) should boost sales.

September 1, 2004
Getting the Hellboy spin-off " B.P.R.D." off the ground in terms of interest and attractiveness has taken a while, and this second roundup from its pages is perhaps nothing special. But it ain't bad. The characters-- Hellboy's cronies at the Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense--include amphibious Abe Sapien; fire-starter Liz Sherman; Roger, the (humongous!) homunculus; Johann Kraus, the permanently out-of-body medium; and normal human Kate Corrigan, the B.P.R.D.'s consulting folklorist. Like the red demon with the sawed-off horns, they battle evil spirits, revenants, and monsters, mostly, and that necessitates travel to places that, if they aren't exotic to begin with, like Venice in the opening yarn, have become so on account of the eerie and eldritch things currently going on, like the suburb in which little kids who own the same toy monster are disappearing. Different hands have fashioned each of these five stories, and the resultant highly contrasting visual styles constitute one of the book's chief rewards: even when a plot seems threadbare, the story still looks fabulous.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2004, American Library Association.)