We continue with my deeper re-read of the B.P.R.D Omnibus series, which is part of the Hellboy universe. I won’t repeat everything I said about the B.P.R.D., so read the first posting.
The B.P.R.D. comic series changed, now being called Hell on Earth, with the new phase in the approaching Ragna Rok happening. We moved out of the “war on frogs” to new and deadlier threats from more awakened Ogdru Hem. This was especially seen in the last volume as more Ogdru Hem have emerged, and an old foe has returned, now more powerful: The Black Flame.
There have been a lot of shake-ups for the B.P.R.D., though they have new allies with the Russian S.S.S. and their super aircraft. Captain Daimyo is dead. Abe is still in a coma; Liz is injured and AWOL. Fenix showed up and soon left. What about Ted Howards and his sword? And the other regular B.P.R.D. agents?
Omnibus Vol. 7
In “Wasteland,” Johann leads a team including agents Nichols and Gervesh to Chicago in search of a missing team (see the last volume). But their helicopter is hit by an emerging Ogdra Hem that spews a red mist that turns people into zombie monsters. The remaining group has to make its way by foot, dealing with such monsters as well as hammerheads. Along the way, they pick up a kid whose parents got hit by the mist. But they do make it to Chicago and find the team. But all are dead but Howards, who is in some kind of trance. But when they are threatened by a horde, Howards goes “Captain Caveman” and wipes them out with his Hyperborean sword. The B.P.R.D. now has a new “hero.” This story has a sort of Walking Dead vibe before the TV series.
We go back to Russia in “A Cold Day in Hell” as Director Nichayko and Agent Giarocco head to a mysterious location inland in an ekranoplan. BTW, it’s a real thing built by the Soviets. The location they are heading to is a broadcast station sending out a radio signal that allows them to imprison Varvara. We learn that she was imprisoned during the Cold War, thence why she stopped showing up in the Hellboy and B.P.R.D. stories from that point on.
Oh, and Abe awakens but then disappears. He’ll now appear in his own series, which I’ll now need to review.
“Lake of Fire” shifts our focus on two we haven’t seen in a while. In one storyline, Liz is recovering in a hospital and working to re-establish her control of fire. She’s with some ghostly visitors, we’ve met before. At the same time a mad scientist is experimenting on animals at the hospital, creating monsters. Thankfully Liz takes care of it all.
In the other storyline, we see Fenix traveling to the Salton Sea, where she spent some of her childhood. In flashbacks, we learn her story and the source of her abilities. In the present time, she has to deal with the local cult that is growing around the “egg” laid by the Ogdra Hem. She comes to grip with her past and present, and before heading out, takes care of the egg.
Both Liz and Fenix rejoin B.P.R.D. at the end.
So what about ZinCo? We learn that things have gone south in New York City, and they seemed to have taken control thanks to the re-emerged Black Flame and his associate Marsten. So the B.P.R.D. and the S.S.S. are sending in two teams to NYC in “The Reign of The Black Flame.” We get all the heavy hitters like Liz, Howards, Johann, Fenix, Director Nichayko, and more like Sergeant Leonid, Giarocco, Nichols, and Gervesh. Liz takes on The Black Flame directly. Leopold gets captured by the B.P.R.D.
They face a lot of horrors, including a new one: “crickets.” Director Nichayko takes a beating but ends Marsten. But his assistant, Evelyn, is still around. Liz doesn’t end The Black Flame. Several are killed. And ZinCo remains in control of New York City.
At the end, we see Kroenen leave with a certain head in a jar that was among Pope‘s collection.
Omnibus Vol. 8
“The Devil’s Wings” is a story of possession set in the B.P.R.D. headquarters. It centers around a now-dead air force officer who made a pact with evil. Sadly, our resident crazy guy, Professor O’Donnell, is at the center of things. Oh, and please notice the suit of armor. We’ve seen it before, and we’ll be seeing it again real soon now.
A B.P.R.D. team heads to Japan in “The Broken Equation,” led by Agent Enos. There they find a strange group doing some weird experiment with a dimension doorway. through it a strange giant monster emerges who then fights and destroys the two Ogdra Hem nearby, before dying. Was he friend or foe? What was the connection to the research team?
A shorter tale, “Grind” is set in East LA. A B.P.R.D. team, including Liz and Johann, are there to take care of the Ogrda Hem. But we also get a glimpse into the average lives of the folks there. Yes, Liz does take it out. Word of advice, if your next-door neighbor’s corpse is now part of a fungus creature, it might be wise to move. And get it destroyed. Just saying.
In “Flesh and Stone,” we focus on both Howards and his past life as neolithic warrior Gall Dennar. In the present, Howards is with a B.P.R.D. team that includes Johann and Enos. In the past, we see Gall Dennar fighting against fungal creatures summoned by a madman. He and his tribe are able to put an end to it, while in the present, Howards is able to destroy the monster they are tracking. This makes him a kind of hero to the other agents.
Meanwhile we get some glimpses of what is going on in New York City and how Marsten’s assistant Evelyn has pretty much taken his place. The Black Flame is doing something. And what happened to Director Nichayko after the last volume, as he gets a new and more powerful containment suit. Varvara is still trapped, though.
Finally, “Exorcism” and “The Exorcist” brings back Agent Ashley Strode, who first appeared way back in vol. 1.
In the first story, Strode is present at an exorcism when the demon gives a task for her to do: free a demon from its cage. She looks up Ota Benga who has been an exorcist since 1890. From him, she learns about being an exorcist, and from there becomes the resident B.P.R.D. exorcist traveling around.
In the second story, she deals with a long-imprisoned demon who has been using the ghost of a girl to attract victims for him. Now a much more experienced exorcist, she puts an end to him. We’ll see more of her in the next volumes, of course.
Now I think I need to move to the Abe Sapien series before we move onto vols. 9 and 10, which were originally B.P.R.D.: Hell on Earth omnibus vol. 5 and B.P.R.D.: The Devil You Know omni. Ragna Rok is coming…
