B.P.R.D., Vol. 8: Killing Ground

B.P.R.D.

by Mike Mignola, John Arcudi, Guy Davis (Illustrator)

Something deadly is loose in the halls of the B.P.R.D. The B.P.R.D. will need all of its new resources - from Johann's new body to Panya, the team's newest (or maybe oldest) member - to handle the deadly forces that have wormed their way into the heart of the its headquarters, as the line blurs between the hunters of the supernatural and their prey. Killing Ground returns the B.P.R.D. to its roots in visceral supernatural horror that will leave the Bureau forever altered.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Horror, Fantasy, Comic Book, Graphic Novels Comics, Fiction

140 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Mike Mignola was born September 16, 1960 in Berkeley, California and grew up in nearby Oakland. His fascination with ghosts and monsters began at an early age (he doesn't remember why) and reading Dracula at age 13 introduced him to Victorian literature and folklore from which he has never recovered.

In 1982, hoping to find a way to draw monsters for a living, he moved to New York City and began working for Marvel Comics, first as a (very terrible) inker and then as an artist on comics like Rocket Raccoon, Alpha Flight and The Hulk. By the late 80s he had begun to develop his signature style (thin lines, clunky shapes and lots of black) and moved onto higher profile commercial projects like Cosmic Odyssey (1988) and Gotham by Gaslight (1989) for DC Comics, and the not-so-commercial Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser (1990) for Marvel. In 1992, he drew the comic book adaptation of the film Bram Stoker's Dracula for Topps Comics.

In 1993, Mike moved to Dark Horse comics and created Hellboy, a half-demon occult detective who may or may not be the Beast of the Apocalypse. While the first story line (Seed of Destruction, 1994) was co-written by John Byrne, Mike has continued writing the series himself. There are, at this moment, 13 Hellboy graphic novel collections (with more on the way), several spin-off titles (B.P.R.D., Lobster Johnson, Abe Sapien and Witchfinder), three anthologies of prose stories, several novels, two animated films and two live-action films staring Ron Perlman. Hellboy has earned numerous comic industry awards and is published in a great many countries.

Mike also created the award-winning comic book The Amazing Screw-on Head and has co-written two novels (Baltimore, or, the Steadfast Tin Soldier and the Vampire and Joe Golem and the Drowning City) with best-selling author Christopher Golden.

Mike worked (very briefly) with Francis Ford Coppola on his film Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992), was a production designer on the Disney film Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001) and was visual consultant to director Guillermo del Toro on Blade II (2002), Hellboy (2004) and Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008). He lives somewhere in Southern California with his wife, daughter, a lot of books and a cat.

Reviews

[Sam Quixote · Rating 3 out of 5]

Darryl the Wendigo is brought into BPRD HQ for some reason and then somehow escapes his cell. Shortly after, mutilated corpses start appearing everywhere. BPRD are baffled.

Killing Ground is a bit of a disappointing follow-up to the excellent Garden of Souls but it’s not a bad book. The main Alien-esque storyline (BPRD hunting a monster on the loose through darkened corridors) isn’t as straightforward as it seems especially after Daimio’s haunted past is revealed. There’s also a mysterious silent killer lurking within the compound – the book’s basically a whodunit – though how he was able to just walk right up to the gates and get in without anyone seeing him feels like lazy plotting.

Liz is still having nightmare visions which is getting tiresome now as is seeing the overused trope of having the mystery revealed towards the end in one big infodump. It’s repetitive and formulaic to read.

It was kinda funny to see Johann inhabit one of the Hyperborean vessels from Garden of Souls. It was like that Futurama Anthology of Interest episode where Bender briefly becomes human and indulges in excess – stuffing his face with too much food, hooking up with lots of women, going overboard with smoking and drinking. Johann is suddenly gifted sensations and something similar more or less happens.

Guy Davis’ art is fine – at this point in the series, you know how you feel about his style and I’m not crazy about it but I don’t mind it either. I did like how Daimio’s Chinese mystic acupuncturist appears after being summoned through magic smoke. Dave Stewart’s colours are great though we’re back to the usual blacks and dark reds of the series visuals after the last book’s unexpected and welcome colourfulness.

Killing Ground has some decent parts here and there but it’s not as exciting or compelling a read as I’d hoped after the last volume. Still vastly better than most of the Hell on Earth books though!

[Chad · Rating 5 out of 5]

Things get really bad for the BPRD as some things about Daimio come to light. Meanwhile Liz is wasting away from her visions while Johan is living high on the hog in a new body. Plus, the Wendigo returns. There's a lot of craziness in this volume. It reminds me some of Alien or The Thing with everyone trapped in the headquarters with a monster on the loose. The thing I really like about this series is that Arcudi and Mignola aren't scared to have bad things happen to the cast in order to further the story. They take it where it needs to go instead of worrying about protecting their I.P. value.

[Artemy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ben Daimio's darkest secret is out, and it has a devastating effect on the entire team.

BPRD winning streak continues with Killing Ground, yet another standout volume. So many hanging plot lines are finally coming together, and the story takes yet another turn towards darker themes. Daimio's development is handled brilliantly — the first time I was reading the series, I was genuinely shocked by this volume, because I didn't see that coming at all. All the foreshadowing in previous books really pays off here. Meanwhile, Liz is still going through some mysterious unexplained stuff, but little by little, we seemingly start to understand what's going on with her. I also really liked Johann's storyline about him enjoying his new body, that was probably the lightest subplot here — although, of course, it didn't end well for him. Overall, Killing Ground is an excellent addition to the series.


First read: November 13, 2015
Rating: ★★★★★

Second read: October 28, 2017
Rating: ★★★★★

[Oscar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love the series

[Wing Kee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh Daimo you be so interesting!

Oh man, it took a while but it's finally here, Daimo and his story, oh and others too! Character filled awesomeness:

World: Guy Davis, comic artist God. A lot of world building this time around, mainly character driven as it dived into Daimo (more below) but there was also an expansion of the world and the grander arc that has been the Plague of Frogs. I don't want to ruin anything for you, but expect heavy world building that will lead towards something bigger.

Story: Wonderfully balanced. A lot of stuff happens at the same time for this arc and there are a lot of moving parts. Some that have been in play for a while and finally comes to a head, and some that is still building towards something far more bigger. Liz, Johann, Abe, Daimo and Kate all have extensive stories that they are dealing with and it is awesome. As I said, this arc is mainly character driven, the BPRD series has been like that for a while and this is why this series is so amazing. I absolutely loved how Daryl was used this arc and the framing of it made for a wonderfully fast and action packed read that was also so full of details...just awesome.

Character: This is the bulk of the focus this arc. It's dense, it's deep, it's meaningful. Daimo of course has to be mentioned but Liz's grander arc is also being pushed forward. Let's not forget about Johann and Abe and even Panya. I don't want to get into details but this series has been built on the characters and I think Arcudi should be commended on the focus. Mignola for all his awesomeness has a specific style but since Arcudi has come on board the characterizations and time we spent and the pacing of their stories has been awesome.

This series just keeps getting better and better. If you've been reading since Hollow Earth, you know what I'm talking about. If for some reason you are reading this out of place, GO BACK and read Hollow Earth and read in sequence.

Onward to the next book!

[Sesana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well. That's a lot of threads brought together, if not entirely resolved. Daimio's jaguar experience, the wendigo, the tank-grown bodies from the last issue, to name a few. Maybe I'm mistaken, but this might be the first actual cliffhanger ending to a B.P.R.D. collection, and it leaves off in a very good, and very natural place.

[Himanshu Karmacharya · Rating 4 out of 5]

The series has been on a home run for quite a few volumes now and I think Mike Mignola has done a phenomenal job for writing these consistently high quality stuff.

After getting Abe Sapien's backstory, we get to see Ben Daimio's and it isn't any less crazier than Abe's. A lot of dark secrets are unveiled and we lose a characters or few, making me believe that nobody is safe in this series.

[Martha · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this one for the most part. Not as much as Garden of Souls, but still fun. Lots of action, and as much gore as the title implies.
A few things didn't work for me, mainly Johann whoring it up and the feeling that a lot of previous plot pieces have been mushed together for convenience.
What else negative can I say about a book with a jaguar-demon, a wendigo, and a 3000-year old Egyptian who loves cats? I like Panya and hope she'll stay on for a bit.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cranks the crazy up a couple more notches in an already fantastically insane story

[Canavan · Rating 4 out of 5]

✭✭✭✭

[Spencer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this quite a bit and the art as ever was brilliant, my only problem was that they should have made the collection bigger, so that the many lose ends weren't left as they were.

[Garrett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Daimio is a werejaguar and Liz still has apocalyptic dreams. Also Johann acting like an idiot with his new body

[Alex · Rating 2 out of 5]

This volume's story was too far-fetched and sloppy to enjoy, the jaguar-spirit idea was rushed and badly executed. Art started to get to me but still, Davis won't be my favorite.

[Little Timmy · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you want to know more about the support characters or the agency in the Hellboy storyline here is where to start. Great reads, Very recommended

[Jiro Dreams of Suchy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Captain Daimo is a jaguar god / human hybrid, who must destroy any nonmembers of the jaguar cult. There is some kinship between this beast and the Wendigo. Johann gets to party and live it up in a superhuman body until he faces the jaguar god.

Overall an interesting story that helps make Ben more interesting and helps flesh out his story. Not the best BPRD story but still engaging and full of great designs. I really enjoy Johann as a hedonistic beefcake.

[Julio · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enemies directly in the BPRD quarters. The beginning of the end for the Plague of Frogs?

[Augusto Bernardi · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Killing reminds me of the red wedding or that volume of the walking dead where Glen gets his eye ball bashed out of his head. It's one of those that has those plot twists that turn your stomach as shit hits the fan hard. Ironically, the killing grounds actually starts off with a high note and a bunch of improvements have been made to the BPRD. First, they have a new memeber of the team as Panya is taken in and actually makes good friends with Liz and her new Kitty. Abe is back leading the team and is fully committed in the team. A big difference is Klaus now in one of the big bodies from the island that Abe found so he is indulging in all sorts bodily sins. The only downside is Daimio. Daimio turned out to be this giant red jaguar monster thats half jaguar and demon and that think wrecks havok inside the BPRD killing several guys brutally, including the new body of Klaus as he rips his throat out. But the major blow isn't actually Klaus but rather the fact that Daimio is the monster and things won't be the same again.

[Brendan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a dynamite book for this series, I honestly couldn't believe where the characters end up by the conclusion. The last few books had been building a lot of backstory for the characters and this book delivers. I was very shocked, it was in the same league as the red wedding in the game of thrones books, I had to flip back to make sure I caught on to everything. Mignola delivers a cliffhanger that won't be solved until 2 books, the next book is a prequel book. This series has grown on me and I really wished I grew up on these books, this is a book worth the previous 7 books in the series.

[Bill Coffin · Rating 5 out of 5]

The problem with a group like the BPRD, which uses monsters to fight evil, is that sometimes, you get monsters in the house that you never expected. And monsters in the house never, ever behave. This is a great horror story with plenty of viscera, but more importantly, sets an air of distrust within the BPRD when they must lean on each other the most.

[Skjam! · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the alternate history of the Hellboy franchise, the United States government created a group called the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense. The title demon who does not in fact want to bring about the end of the world was for many years their top agent, fighting against monsters, evil wizards and Things Man Was Not Meant to Know. But eventually he left to seek his destiny. This series is about the other members of the team after that.

This is the eighth collected volume of the series. The Bureau has recently moved its headquarters from Connecticut to a more isolated base in Colorado. The Canadian government sends a monster named Daryl, once a normal human before being possessed by a spirit of winter hunger, to be imprisoned there. Daryl is somehow released from its cage, and horrifically mangled bodies start piling up. Efforts to contain it are complicated when it’s learned there’s more than one monster in the base, and there are two apparently human visitors that aren’t in the logs.

Various characters have their own subplots.

Captain Ben Daimio, a soldier who returned from the dead for no apparent reason with only some hideous facial scarring, must face the reason he didn’t permanently die the first time. Surprisingly, it has nothing to do with his war criminal grandmother.

Abe Sapien, the mysterious amphibian man, struggles with the expectations of leadership.

Liz Sherman, powerful pyrokinetic, bonds with revivified mummy Panya, but is sleeping poorly as the obviously evil Memnan Saa keeps contacting her in her dreams to warn her about the future but won’t allow her to discuss this in the waking world.

Johann Kraus, a disembodied medium who normally possesses an empty pressure suit, has finally gotten a flesh body (and a particularly awesome one) after decades of isolation, is exploring its fleshy potential. This distracts him at a crucial moment.

While there are some lighter moments in the storyline, this is a horror comic, with gruesome deaths, twisted monsters, and an ambiguous ending. Guy Smith’s art works very well for the tone and the monsters are impressive.

Since this is an ongoing series rather than an isolated story, not all the subplots resolve, and hints for future storylines are scattered throughout. However, the quick recap at the beginning of the volume makes it fairly easy to read this story in isolation without becoming confused.

There’s a big lump of exposition towards the end to explain what’s actually been going on and the presence of otherwise inexplicable characters. It’s a bit annoying, but works reasonably well in context.

Content note: Gruesome violence and mangled corpses. Johann abuses alcohol and has extramarital sex (off-panel) as well as hitting on his female teammates, though he avoids pushing too hard on the latter. Male rear nudity. One of the B.P.R.D. grunts is speciesist, which gets him chided by his teammates.

While this volume is enjoyable on its own, it might be better read as part of the complete series. Recommended to fans of action horror stories.

[Justin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I finally caught back up on this series, back where I left off so many years ago. I don't quite remember why I stopped--maybe I'd gotten to the last volume the library had or something. If so, they stopped right before one hell of a good story.

After the last volume, things have...changed at the B.P.R.D. Liz's nightmares are getting worse, Johann is...getting a chance to experience things he hasn't in quite some time (I don't want to spoil anything), and Captain Daimio is wrestling with a whole variety of old demons. Really, the only one who doesn't seem to be falling apart is Abe, as he's coming to terms with confronting his past in the last volume. But the others are more vulnerable, unfocused, and unstable than we've ever seen them, which sets up a perfect storm of things-that-could-go-wrong. Particularly when a familiar face makes an unexpected return to the fore.

Killing Ground is a tale of reckonings: of the past, of personal failings, of insecurities, and it paints the cast in a very human light. Even when they happen to be anything but. There's a good amount of action, a ton of suspense, some pretty game-changing revelations, and a solid cliffhanger at the end. I am so glad I'm getting back into this series.

[Aritra Dasgupta · Rating 2 out of 5]

Felt like more of a bloodbath than a real story. Just in the last review, I said I was growing fond of Damio. And now he has basically cut BPRD in half. This volume, more than anything, is kind of a return to status quo, as a lot of plot threads are closed, a lot of new developments are backtracked and the team is once again reduced to a helpless desperate state which will propel, I hope, action better because there will be a lot more intensity and things at stake. I didn't enjoy the constant gore here, I mean sure it wasn't just action, but none of the plots here really made an impression on me. They were brief and brisk enough to keep me reading but for example, Johann's night out or Liz's insomnia, none of them really came to their full potential here, and felt more like standard arcs I have seen variations of before. I enjoyed the BPRD run a lot though. Here's hoping the frogs come back and fuck me up. I'm gonna go back and read that sweeet Hellboy Vol 8 now.

[Pavel Pravda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Domácí zabijačka! Myslím si, že tahle kniha by vůbec nefungovala, pokud by ji četl někdo, kdo s Ú.P.V.O. ještě nepřišel do styku. Scénář předpokládá, že víte, co bylo v předešlých dílech, všechny postavy už znáte a hlavně k ním už máte vybudovaný určitý vztah. Potom teprve chápete Johannovu radost z nového těla a bavíte se jeho "neváznou jízdou", chápete hloubku depresí Elizabet a jste překvapení, co všechno se stane, když se Ben Daimio přestane ovládat.

Celkově je tento díl moc pěkně postavený. Na začátku se k již existujícím záhadám přidá pár nových, potom se to protřepe a zamíchat, vyteče z toho troška krve a mozkomíšního moku, aby se na konci většina věcí vysvětlila a mohlo se to zakončit úžasným celostránkovým cliffhangerem. Pár záhad zůstalo, zejména Liziny "noční můry", a já se moc těším, až se v dalších knihách dozvím více.

[Sean · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just like last volume readers get a look into the unknown past of a team member, this time Daimo. While his hidden history was interesting, I would have loved to see the horror element slowed down. This seemed to fly by and deliver the chills very matter of factly. Guy Davis continues to impress, especially his monsters. The book needed more substance by pumping the brakes. Overall, not up to the standards of these writers.

[Jack · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m still enamored with how great this series is at characterization. Every time it feels like it’s veering toward a “monster of the week” hangout groove it does something to shake things up while still feeling honest to the characters. I’m not sure how I feel about where this went with Daimio since there’s obviously a bunch more of this series to go. He’s a fun character and I hope they found a way to keep him around even if he’s a were-jaguar monster guy now.

[Iva · Rating 4 out of 5]

Щось я остаточно заплутався у хронології, бо волум це восьмий, але водночас - фінал третього тому, тож треба повертатися до онґоінґа Геллбоя.

Тим часом, в нас тут трохи південної та північної мезоамериканщини водночас, злам персонажа із складанням пазлів у виразну картинку та дуже скрипучий кліфгенгер.

[Scotty F · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although it's not my favorite volume from the series, I really enjoyed this one. It still asks questions and gives less answers. The art here seemed to be slightly less-than compared to previous volumes. Can't quite pin it, but it just felt muddier. The extended story for Daimio is really good! We'll see how the story unfolds in the next volume - unless it gets left unfinished!

[Pádraic · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's good enough, I suppose, tearing open the Bureau (and Daimo) at the seams, all with a nicely contained horror story, but it feels too much like a series of gorefests with the occasional portentous dream to have any sense of mood or drama.

[Storm · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another excellent character driven trade paperback by Mike Mignola and John Arcudi, I am happy and impressed the stories are flowing naturally and wonderfully. Not so impressed that it does end on a cliffhanger, now on to Vol 9 to find out more about Ben Daimyo.

[Robert Hudder · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sheesh, lots of backstories catching up to the crew. This time it is Daimio. The Lobster shows up too.