Book Review: Hellboy and the B.P.R.D. 1955 by M. Mignola et al.

Hellboy and the B.P.R.D. 1955 stories by Mike Mignola and Chris Roberson with art by Shawn Martinbrough, Brian Churilla, and Paolo and Joe Rivera

This volume collects three stories from Hellboy's earlier years at the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense.

Secret Nature--Hellboy visits a midwest farm with Woodrow Farrier, a black B.P.R.D. agent with a Ph.D. and an interest in cryptozoology. The local farmers have lost livestock to some vicious night predatory. One farmer is racist toward Dr. Farrier, a weirdness that's flagged up by Hellboy who asks if Farrier is annoyed that a red-skinned, horned and tailed demon guy gets a pass but not an African-American. They don't get too deep into the issue because they find a cabin in the woods with some torn up teenagers, a chalk pentagram, and a book of witchcraft. A little translating by Farrier draws the summoned hellspawn back to the cabin. Hellboy does hand-to-hand combat while Farrier figures out from the book how to despawn the demon. A mostly happy ending ensues.

Occult Intelligence--Hellboy and a crew of B.P.R.D. agents stop off for refueling on the Marshall Islands, only to discover a covert agency is working on some new type of weapon. All they find is a bunch of mutated animals who attack the base and a mysterious Soviet agent who claims to have run into Hellboy several times before. Meanwhile, Prof. Bruttenholm discovers a British covert agency that is tracking occult activities in other countries, including the USA, so he is not welcome. B.P.R.D. Agent Susan Xiang does get help with her paranormal abilities (mostly visions of the future) while in England, inspiring Bruttenholm to get more resources from the Feds since it looks like they'll be dealing with a lot more paranormal stuff in the future. This story has a couple of action sequences; the plot just seems like set-up for future stories and is not that interesting in and of itself.

Burning Season--Hellboy, Susan, and Bruttenholm investigate the latest in a long series of spontaneous human combustions in Port Orange, Florida. The debate over whether the fires are supernaturally or scientifically caused ends pretty quickly when psychic Susan uses her powers to see what's causing the problem--the long history of violence and horror in the area. The story was surprisingly short to me, consequently lacking any real depth or excitement.

The first story has the most Mignola-esque art, with black shadows giving a menacing feeling to the story. The other stories have the more cartoony B.P.R.D. style which works well enough. The stories are a bit disjointed, more of a random set of adventures than an overall story arc, which is unfortunate since Occult Intelligence really suggests a bigger story arc that doesn't get developed. Maybe in future stories.

Recommended for Hellboy fans.