B.P.R.D. Hell on Earth: The Long Death

[thwhtGuardian]

It's crazy how much I've been thinking about this story for almost a whole week now, and the subtle complexities of these two characters and their relationship. The man hiding a monster inside of him, and the monster with the soul of a man. There's so many stories that could be mined here. Someone could base their thesis on these two.

I'm not sure exactly what Daimio meant when he said "There's nothing left!", but it doesn't really matter. The fact that we're left scratching our heads (even if it is miniscule) means John, Scott, and Mike aren't holding our hands through everything and talking down to their readership. Respect.

Indeed, it really was an emotionally complex story and what was beautiful about it was just how much of it was conveyed through the art. If you had told me before reading this that a whole story could be told through the subtle look of Daryl and Ben's eyes I wouldn't have thought it possible, but really those tiny details were what told the story here. The action was nice, but the quiet before that storm was really beautiful, and I don't think they could have told this story any other way.

Definitely no hand holding here, so much of it was up to your own interpretation.

[TheBranMan788]

well, James Harren can make a bloody fight to the death look crazy .
It was physically hard watching two of my favourite characters rip each other apart, but it was amazing.
loved the series.

[Jr. Wormwood]

So I'm having one of those weekends where the little lady is out of town for a few days. My way of relaxing/celebrating? Geek out on all things comic book related!

I've spent hours seeking out and listening to podcasts on comics, writing down titles that I haven't checked out but that sound interesting, and I'm shocked by the complete lack of attention this series (and particularly issue three) has received. It's sad. Even if BPRD is mentioned at all, it's usually by one person on the show, and you can tell the others just have no interest really at all. Kind of upsets me.

Anyone know of any podcasts that are friends of this title? I love hearing people talk comics, it's just a bummer when they don't mention the best thing going.

[Middenway]

3 Chicks Review Comics did a podcast that included a review of issue 3.

[Jr. Wormwood]

3 Chicks Review Comics did a podcast that included a review of issue 3.

Thanks, Middenway!

[BrotherUnitNo_4]

Loved the end to this. Harren is amazing. He really captured the visceral nature of this showdown between two monsters, but the emotional build up really helped to sell it.

[Jason Abbadon]

This was awesome and tragic.
Harren's work here was possibly the very best BPRD stuff yet (and that's a huge compliment!).

Johann's unreadable face at the end...as open to personal interpertation as anything can be- leaving the reader as conflicted by Roger's actions as he would be over Ben's...and his own.
It's telling that Johann did not attempt to communicate with Ben's spirit....and that none was obviously present either. The annointing of Ben's head with water was not lost on me- the man revealed only in death.

But...is Ben dead and gone or trapped in the Wendigo? Did no one think to search for that knife?!? We all want to know these things!

Was the thing inside Ben preventing him from killing himself or was it just the...wrongness...of it for such a fighter?

Throughout this series I kept thinking that Johann would be killed with the knife by the wenndigo- trapping him inside it. Kinda as karma/punishment for his killing the monk in Snakeboy's tibetan city back in King of Fear.
Poor Kate- Abe's transformation, Liz's disappearance (presumed dead?) her getting dumped, Johann's continuing distance and now the death of Ben....I think she's going to snap. Where has Manning gone for all this time? It's like Kate is the defaco head of the BPRD!

Abbadon's series rating 100/100- only The Island and Isle of Souls got that perfect score. When this hits trade, it'll be the perfect winter story.

SPOILERS



The way I read the issue... Daryl was still human inside the Wendigo, even if he couldn't tell anyone about it. That's why he chose to hunt and eat things, and maybe why he reacted the way he did a long time ago when Ben made the offhand comment that "Nobody thinks about ol' Daryl anymore"...

So if Daryl was still there inside the wendigo, he must have made the conscious choice not to kill Ben at any point before. He could've easily done it while he was asleep or weak or at any other point in time. At the end, he seemed really, really reluctant to engage in that fight with Ben--but why? He had to have known that if he succeeded in killing him, his own spirit would be free (at the price of Ben's). Maybe that's why he never did it... he didn't want to trap Ben the same way he was trapped.

I have no idea if I'm right about this, but I think the most likely course of events here is that Daryl managed to kill Ben, freeing himself and trapping Ben's spirit inside the Wendigo. In which case, Ben is either still "here" (like Daryl was) or lost (like Daryl was supposed to be). Maybe this depends on whether the "rules" of Wendigos still actually apply or were ever valid in the first place and not just myth...

I hope the knife shows up again, that's a pretty powerful thing to just lost in the snow. (Do you really think Ben would hunt down Johann and try to kill him with that knife?? He has to understand Johann's point of view...)

First, I think what was left of Daryl was much less than when abe and Hellboy encountered him- as evidenced by the discarded photo in the snow- kept more like a dig keeps a toy than a cherished photo.

That being said, I think Daryl was reluctant to kill Ben because he was all he had- the only companionship. I think that shack was Ben's, not Daryl's shelter.

I dont thik Ben would go after Johann- it would be more likely he'd use the knife on himself. And he was really sorry for how he'd wronged Roger.
I do hope the agents find the knife though- it's loss would be the second major artifact the team had and lost- Liz's talisman being the other.
It's funny how after HB left the team, there's no one sporting talismans or blessed items or what have you...but that's true of the Jetpacks as well- John has brought the BPRD series into a more realistic setting- doubly so as far as equipment goes.

Man, I loved Ben as a character!
BPRD is engrossing because you know that anyone can get killed- by some crazy bitch with a gun or some ancient horror- Mike and the gang dont go for that "valueable property" crap the big companies are stuck on and it's ballsy as hell.
Because of this, when Ben died, I was not thinking "You bastards! you ruined my favorite character!" like I have with Marvel, I was thinking "That was an amazing story".


I agree with ThwtGuardian that this was an incredible fight- I feel it's something we've never really seen in any HBverse comic before- usually we see HB having already swung and someone flying back or a chop from a sword but never this level of old-skool storyboarding between two opponents where each move is shown and several pages dedicated to their battle.

[Middenway]

Here's a random Johann sketch from Harren's blog:

[Phantasos]

If anything, James Harren proved himself to be the most visually entertaining artist in the Mignola universe in terms of visceral fighting. This was beyond brutal.

[Storey74]

More confirmation that Mr. Harren will be back on BPRD soon... this quote is from the comments in his DevantArt page in regards to his CONAN work.

*JHarren Jun 15, 2012
wow, thank you very much. I'm really glad you dig it. To be honest I felt like I was intruding on a vision that was more Becky and Brian's. I got offered some more issues but I had to turn it down for more BPRD. That's not to say that I wouldn't return to some kind of Conan book in the future. I love the Barbarian!

and then an earlier post confirming two stories...

*JHarren Feb 23, 2012
Glad you're back on BPRD! I will return for another run later this year and than another one after that First, I have to finish Conan.

[Middenway]

Joe Querio does a pin-up: