B.P.R.D. (2002), Volume 5

September 1, 2006
The fifth entry in the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense series suffers from Hellboy's absence. Roger, a homunculus made from human blood and herbs and brought to life by fire-starter Liz Sherman, is killed by the villainous and monstrous Frogs from the previous B.P.R.D. stories. A CEO with an obsession for Nazi memorabilia and power has found a way to communicate with the Frogs and turns himself into the Black Flame to lead millions of the creatures into a war against everyone else. However, his belief that he controls the Frogs and the foretold apocalyptic Katha-Hem is unfounded. In the meantime, Liz mourns Roger while receiving cryptic communications from an Asian dream mystic; Captain Daimio takes his men into a seemingly unsurmountable fight. The ending tantalizes with the possibility of Roger's resurrection. Davis's illustrations are, as usual, coarse and of lesser quality. The women's faces are downright creepy, and many of the figures appear unfinished. Dave Stewart is a good colorist, matching colors to the moods of the characters. Over all, an interesting but not outstanding story. One wishes Davis would refine his drawings a bit more and Mignola would bring back Hellboy to the B.P.R.D. For larger collections.B. Allison Gray, John Jermain Memorial Lib., Sag Harbor, NY

Copyright 2006 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2006
The long story, begun in " Plague of Frogs" (2005) and continued in " The Dead" (2005), of the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense's battle with an ongoing eruption of frog monsters now goes ballistic. The catalyst for the scale to which the onslaught eventually balloons is a Nazi-philic CEO who believes he'll control not just the froggies but their leader, a humongous critter called Katha-Hem, after he dons an armored suit that terminates in a skull that bursts into black flame. He's rolling over everything the ace B.P.R.D. team throws at him for quite some time, even succeeding in offing, it seems, new team point-man Roger, the golemlike homunculus. Then Katha-Hem shows up. In the end, team member Liz, who can start fires psychically, holds what's needed to fight off Katha-Hem, but does she know how to use it? The saga attains to a climax, if not necessarily a conclusion, before the last page of Mignola and cowriter John Arcudi's Hollywoodish, Lovecraftian script and of Guy Davis' jaggedy art is turned.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2006, American Library Association.)