Tag: guy davis (artist)

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B.P.R.D.: The Universal Machine

This is a review of B.P.R.D.: The Universal Machine. Read my reviews of the first, second, third, fourth, and fifth volumes. The Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense consists of Abe Sapien, fish-man; Ben Daimio, dead man walking; Johan Kraus, ghost in the machine; Liz Sherman, fire starter; Roger, homunculus stewed in horse manure (R.I.P.). We also have Dr. Kate Corrigan, academic, who in this volume takes center stage.

The death of Roger the Golem continues to have repercussions. Dr. Corrigan travels to Ableben, a charming small town in France to meet a collector, who may have the obscure book needed to bring Roger back. The collector is an odd fellow, as collectors often are. He shows off his collection, including a stuffed baboon that people in the Middle Ages thought a werewolf, along with the replica of a magic ring that rests upon his finger. True to B.P.R.D. form, the town is full of actual werewolves.

While Kate travels to France, the remaining members of the B.P.R.D. do their version of sitting around a campfire telling ghost stories. Daimio’s story is the standout, a tale of blood and murder as he and his team are slaughtered in Bolivia by the minions of a jaguar god. Not to be undone, Krauss tells us how he fell in love with a female ghost, and used her grieving husband to keep seeing her. Interestingly, Daimio is the only one who correctly calls the story pathetic.

Meanwhile, Kate is stuck in the collector’s shop, which is bigger on the inside than the outside and which seems to have faded from our reality, leaving her companion stranded in a phone booth surrounded by werewolves. A dwarf and a group of aristocrat vampires join the party. The collector gets pushy, as collectors often do when arguing over prices. Kate cuts off negotiations – as well as the finger with the magic ring – and feeds it to the dwarf, who transforms into a demon, and that’s when the shit hits the fan.

Recommended for fans of occult comics, Hellboy, and the X-Files!

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B.P.R.D.: The Black Flame

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.