And we continue with more series based in the Hellboy universe after the last set. I’ve organized these by where they fit in chronologically.
Panya: The Mummy’s Curse
Set thousands of years prior, in 1339 BCE, we learn of Panya‘s history before she became the mummy we know and love in the B.P.R.D series. Much later in the late 1800s, she would be awoken by the Heliopic Brotherhood of Ra, then she would be taken by the Oannes Society and kept almost as a prisoner on their South Pacific Island before being found and freed by the B.P.R.D., which she joined until it all ended.
We see her as a little girl, during the rule of Akhenaten, who replaced the traditional belief in the Egyptian pantheon with worship of Aten, the Sun. Yet she is being taught on the side about the traditional beliefs and she is having dreams (or are they visions?).
It appears her father is Meryra, one of the leading priests of the new religion. But things go wrong, maybe something to do with vril. We then see her journeys afterward that lead to her knowledge and how she became a mummy.
Miss Truesdale and the Fall of Hyperborea
This one takes us back to Victorian times and our old pals the Heliopic Brotherhood of Ra. It’s 1893, toward the end of the group’s golden age. One of their female members in London, Miss Truesdale, somehow finds herself pulled into the final vision of Heliopic Brotherhood leader Tefnut Trionus, before she stepped down. (We “met” Tefnut in the first Frankenstein series in flashbacks.)
Somehow she finds herself as Anum Yassa, a young female gladiator in ancient Hyperborea. But this is Hyperborean after its golden age, after the death of Thoth. And she has to change the future by altering this bygone past. We also get a brief return of our old “pals” Mr. Jenks and Mr. Dean before they went to Hell.
Castle Full of Blackbirds
This series, set in 1967, focuses on Sara May Blackburn, who had been introduced in the story “The Return of Effie Kolb” that ran in the Hellboy and the B.P.R.D. series. In that story, she was encouraged to head to New York and find Miss Brooks at the Linton School for Girls.
This school is one that trains witches, and we see Sara’s experiences at the school. We also see Morgan Le Fay and Queen Mab, characters who would appear later in the B.P.R.D. series as Ragna Rok approaches.
So how does Sara fit in with that? Especially at the end when she leaves the school, for reasons you’ll see, to go with Mab. But to what future considering what we know happens later on?
■ ■ ■
Now, the next two series tell us what happens in the Hellboy Universe after the events shown in the final B.P.R.D. series, the cleaning of the Earth and the final end of Hellboy.
Koshchei in Hell
So last year, we got an interesting one-shot, Archeron in Hell. This tells us what happened to Sir Edward Gray in Hell after the end of Hellboy and the wiping out of most of the demons in hell. And it reveals a new threat that is emerging: Pluto, the last of the Watchers who ruled in Hell before Satan and his crowd of fallen angels came and took over. And Gray’s emergence into becoming an embodiment of one of the rivers of Hell: Archeron. This led to the Koshchei in Hell series, which is also a direct sequel to the prior Koshchei the Deathless.
Gray finds Koshchei in Hell and convinces him to prevent the emergence of Pluto. After which Gray goes on to an unclear future in England, itself no longer on Earth. Koshchei winds up encountering several characters we’ve seen before in the series — such as Mr. Jenks and Mr. Dean who are exploring the new Hell, Hellboy’s wife, and Hellboy’s half-sister, deals with witches (and Igor Bromhead from a long past Hellboy story). Koschei gets betrayed by what maybe the last demon in Hell, and finally meets up again with Vasilisa. The story for both Koshchei and Sir Edward Gray ends, and we get another brief visit to England (last seen toward the end of the Abe Sapien series).
I do have to wonder about Pluto, Hellboy’s wife, and that last demon…
Frankenstein: New World
When we got Frankenstein Underground, we learned that Victor Frankenstein had brought his creation to life via vril. At the end of that series, he had a mission to prepare the Underworld for humanity, which was revealed at the end of the final B.P.R.D. series. There, mankind retreated into this Hollow Earth, lit by Frankenstein. The surface world was cleansed in fire by Liz Sherman, and Abe Sapien brought forth the new race of men. But what happened next?
In this series, a thousand years have passed. Frankenstein is seen as the Oracle, meditating in silence. Humanity seems to be living a pastoral life. But what about the surface world? A new darkness has come. And Liz, now sealed in a crystal, has somehow reached out to a young girl, Lilja. Despite the elders trying to prevent her, she is able to reach Frankenstein and awaken him, who decides to travel to the surface world, finds the Sword of Hyberborea, and is soon followed by Lilja. There they, and we, learn of this New World.
Strangely, there are at least two intelligent species. There is the frog-like Bonji, and their faith of the Ughdra-Hesh who brought rain and new life to the burned world. But there is the lizard-like Vargu, and their Hem-Ka-Nu that has a corrupting touch. The Bonji seem the new race of men spawned by Abe Sapien, but what are the Vargu? And their Hem-Ka-Nu seems like one of the Ordruh Hem. And the new darkness has a name: Murk.
At the end, this is just the first chapter of what will hopefully be more. I certainly hope so. We’ll have to see what comes next.
At the time I write this, there are no new Hellboy Universe titles scheduled. There is just the Giant Robot Hellboy series and another Winter special for 2023. I hope we get more, but have no idea what or when.
