This is a review of B.P.R.D.: The Black Flame, the fifth volume of this series. Read my reviews of the first, second, third, and fourth volumes to catch up. B.P.R.D. stands for Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense, and its members consist of Liz (firestarter), Roger (golem incubated in horse manure), Johann (friendly ghost), Abe (fishman), and Ben (dead man walking).
In this volume, the war on frogs continues. By frogs, I mean enormous frogmen. Roger the golem has become a tough guy, just like his idol Captain Ben Daimio. Both have heads hard as rocks, so they have a lot in common. Liz meets a mysterious figure in her dreams who stuffs cryptic warning notes down her throat, which she spits out upon awakening. Abe Sapien mopes about his undead wife, and then rejoins the team. Not a lot happens with Johann in this volume, but his time is coming. Oh, and a team member dies.
However, the star of this volume has to be Landis Pope, a corporate CEO who dons a cape and tights – a fantasy of corporate CEOs everywhere, although it’s unclear if they’d be superheroes or villains – and starts referring to himself as The Black Flame. He trains a pair of captured frogmen to talk and releases them into the frogs’ lair in the hopes that they will worship him.
Or something like that. Mr. Pope is out of his mind, so it’s tough to tell what he wants. Why would any sane human being want to wipe out humanity and rule over a bunch of frogmen? The Black Flame’s plan works, sort of. The frogs tell their frog friends, who use him to summon a creature that looks like it’s out of Pink Floyd’s The Wall movie (art courtesy of the great Guy Davis). Afterwards, the Frog Men keep the Black Flame alive as their prisoner, just in case the monster he’s just summoned wants lunch.
I suppose there’s a lesson to be learned from this, but I’m unsure what it is. Frogmen are smarter than you think, maybe? Anyway, another great entry in a great series, and as such highly recommended.
Abandoned Places 