Hellboy and the B.P.R.D.: 1954

Hellboy and the B.P.R.D. #3

by Mike Mignola, Chris Roberson, Stephen Green (Illustrations)

iZombie co-creator Chris Roberson teams with Mike Mignola and a team of artists to explore the horror and intrigue of Hellboy's early Cold War years.
No longer a rookie, Hellboy is joined by other Bureau agents in a series of far-flung mysteries that take them searching for yetis terrorizing an Arctic research team, into the American suburbs where a family is haunted by a phantom monkey, and to Hong Kong, where demons are drawn to a Chinese artifact.
This is the 3rd Volume in the Hellboy and B.P.R.D series, following 1952, and 1953. This collects Hellboy and the BPRD: 1954 - Black Sun #1-2, The Unreasoning Beast, Ghost Moon #1-2

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Horror, Fantasy, Supernatural, Comic Book, Urban Fantasy

144 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2018

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

[Chad · Rating 4 out of 5]

While I prefer the longer Hellboy stories, these are still fun. There just isn't a lot of depth. I do like the idea of the British version of B.P.R.D., S.I.M.

Received a review copy from Dark Horse and Edelweiss.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another nice little collection of stories from Hellboy's past. Anthologies like this tend to be a bit patchy, so I'm happy to report this one's pretty solid throughout. There's nothing amazing in here but it was enjoyable and certainly scratched my Hellboy itch in the absence of anything new from Mike Mignola himself.

[Drew Canole · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've been enjoying these short stories of Hellboy's early days at BPRD. It's a smart way to keep capitalizing on Hellboy's popularity without forcing the story to continue past Hellboy in Hell. I wish they were of a higher quality though. As it is most of the stories are enjoyable but forgettable.

Richard Corben has a short story featured in this volume. It's nice - Corben is one of my favourite artists - but again, pretty forgettable. I feel like the story has already been told in other Hellboy books. All of these stories are feeling too familiar at this point. Hellboy goes to investigate a mystery, stumbles into some crazy ghost/nazi/demon and punches them a bunch.

Fans only, for sure. --Check out the original run of Hellboy instead if you're new to this and only read Hellboy and the B.P.R.D. if you're desperate for more Hellboy (like me I guess haha)

[Marc Pastor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enyorava aquestes històries de Hellboy. En aquest cas: nazis, micos espectrals, ànimes atrapades en gerros xinesos i miralls maleïts.
Quina delícia.
La primera història, especialment, és la que m'ha entusiasmat més, amb en Hellboy desplaçant-se a l'àrtic per investigar la suposada presència d'una criatura que ha causat estralls en una expedició científica (La Cosa vibes).

[Artemy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hellboy and the B.P.R.D. is a filler series pretty much by definition, but it's also a compelling filler since it lets us see more of Hellboy on the job, outside of the whole world-saving he did in his main book. So it's expected that these stories are going to be hit or miss. For me, the 1954 collection was mostly a miss, unfortunately — I wasn't really feeling most of the short stories collected here, they felt like some half-baked bland horror story ideas that were reworked into the Hellboy universe. The only really good story in this collection was the 7-page 'The Mirror' illustrated by Richard Corben. He had illustrated some of the most iconic Hellboy short stories during the original HB run, so I was happy to see him drawing a new one even if it was so short. And the story itself was really good, too — that creepy, fable-esque tale felt like classic Hellboy, and it almost made the entire collection worth getting through. Almost, but not quite, though — overall this was a really underwhelming collection that is entirely skippable.

[Ill D · Rating 2 out of 5]

***Spoliers 'n' STuff***

***Thou has been warned***

1954 boilers down to a lump a filler than left me salty more than anything.

Even though titled Hellboy and the B.P.R.D. the titular organization that, "bumps back," really only factors into these stories marginally at best. Nope, no Abe Sapien, nor Liz Sherman, just ancillaries of ancillaries; just Susan Xiang and some other tangentially tied characters that act more as plot devices than actually fleshed out characters appear here. As forgettable as the newly introduced heroes and villains are, so too are the stories themselves which adding nothing really to the Hellboy over-story which when boiled off reduce to a compendium of filler so than another comic book can be sold.

Story #1 starts off with some promise. Hellboy lands in the Arctic to follow-up a sighting of an illusory SuperBeast. Following a thin helping of suspense and the foreshadowing it entails, devolves into a breadth of predictability that is disappointingly expected. Nazis, plans for world-domination, and the all too hackneyed evil genius exposition of his analogously evil plan splash across the pages. In fact, the Gruppenführer spends far more time waxing eloquent than does it take Hellboy to undue his captivity and save the day. Good guys win, bad guys lose, and as always, the ending is wrapped with a pretty pink bow for all the (neophytes) to enjoy.

The next two stories follow a roughly similar (and dull) format. The call goes out, the B.P.R.D. (and more importantly) Hellboy show up and stuff happens. Whether its a demonic simian jacking people's bodies (story # 2) or larger scale spirit possession (Story #3) there is a curiously vast length of filler applied. Hellboy punches people, the supernatural fights back, and (well) Hellboy punches more until brawn triumphs of brains.

Story #4 irritated me the most though. Reducing to nothing less than a troll job (which includes for Hellboy too, not just us readers), of eight pages of vacuous dialogue, action, and more pointless dialogue (well) just 'cause. It has the veneer of horror but none of the substance that (would) make it (otherwise) matter. It doesn't make any sense to boot.

So what are we left with beyond a stale taste? The art, while enjoyable and well detailed, doesn't exactly reward further inspection. This low-level eye-candy is compounded by lame-O stories that flash before our eyes sans a scintilla of emotional resonance. With nothing to tie us into the story (beyond the shekels we might (hopefully not) have doled out) your eyes will rove across the narratives at the speed of light. However, instead of ending up in another galaxy at the end, you'll still be stuck in your seat (and probably out some shekels).

Sucker!

Two granite-encrusted thumbs down!

[Wing Kee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful collection of stories that builds HB’s world and mythos.

World: The art is fantastic, it’s moody, it’s beautiful and the colors are just perfect. That being said, I was somewhat irked by the art of Churchilla in the Hong Kong story. Being Chinese, I found the art done by someone who didn’t really take the time to study Chinese culture and just mashed Asian cultures together (as is the norm in the West). Mignola and Roberson were wonderful and accurate in their detail, from the lore to the history of Hong Kong to the supernatural and religious beliefs of Southern China, that I commend them. However Churchilla needs to do his homework (it’s not that hard, it’s 2017 you can google). The world building as I said is fantastic overall, it not only further builds HB and the BPRD’s world. I like little pieces like the S.I.P. are interesting and thought weaving them into the Mignolaverse is a difficult and rewarding endeavor. I love the mythos the lore that Mignola uses throughout the world, I just love the Mignolaverse.

Story: The four tales are all unique and fun and feel both familiar and also different from the many many stories that Mignola has written for the Mignolaverse throughout the years. The Black Sun story is pretty fantastic and calls back to the Vril but also with the UFOs it was awesome! The Ghost Moon story though the art is a bit off for Chinese culture (as is common in many Western artists who don’t do enough research) is an interesting and fun story that dives deep into Chinese beliefs and myths, I mostly liked it. The other two were more wonderful little tales of building the world and little character moments.

Characters: HB is solid here and pretty much fully formed, he is still at this point in time suffering from the finding his identity and this of course will be his main drive for many years to come. The rest of the cast were solid little characters that as I said above make the world denser and the BPRD more than just a faceless group. The myths here are tied very much to world building but also characters and I love that, Horse Face and Ox Face have scared me since I was a child and having them here as characters made me smile.

I love this series and I love this soft stepping on point series since it was announced a couple of years back, it’s good to see HB in the BPRD during his prime before all the Roger stuff happened.

Onwards to the next book!

[Tom Ewing · Rating 2 out of 5]

In these difficult times it's heartening to know that at least one comics hero who got his start punching Nazis is still upholding that grand tradition. In most other respects, sadly, this is a lacklustre Hellboy collection. Three stories, the first of which starts promisingly but abandons its cast and setting halfway through for genetic Hellboy brawling. The second is a done-in-one ghost story, with decent visuals but a flat script. The third is sub-par, one issue of heavy exposition about 50s Hong Kong, one issue dealing with a moustache-twirling villain. When your baddie admits on the page he doesn't really have a motive or goal it's probably a sign things need a little work. After some promising early volumes this series is spinning its wheels and becoming less worthwhile by the issue.

[Melissa McShane · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't remember any of the titles of the individual issues collected here, but I enjoyed all of them--though the middle one with the phantom monkey was a bit obvious I mean, the woman is all broken up over her husband's brother's death, the husband is a jerk...all this needed was evidence that the kid wasn't the husband's son. As with the previous volume, I liked the final story best. It had some great action and interesting mythology, and I would love to see that lore revisited.

This one seemed to have more than the usual share of illustrators, all of whom did an excellent if not particularly standout job, which sounds more critical than it is. Mostly I mean that aside from Richard Corben, who I'd heard of but hadn't seen his independent work, these weren't names I recognized--but they captured the Hellboy look-and-feel beautifully.

[Orrin Grey · Rating 3 out of 5]

So far I've really been enjoying the Hellboy and the B.P.R.D. titles, and while I love the cover on this one, I didn't dig the stories quite as much as the two previous volumes. The opening story with its Nazi flying saucers and all is pretty great, and the last one has fun art and sets up a bunch of threads that will, presumably, be further explored in future installments, but the total package feels a bit less than the sum of its parts, when compared with the other Hellboy and the B.P.R.D. installments we've gotten to date.

[Amverbo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Siempre está bien echarle un ojo a Hellboy. Al ser cuatro historias cortas, la calidad es variable, pero tienen buen nivel. Por la parte del dibujo, se echa de menos a Mignola, pero el estilo más realista encaja muy bien con las historias, en este sentido me quedo con el Mes de los Muertos.

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lot of great art on display in this volume.
A return to the classic case-by-case Hell oy that I love. I really hope we get more Hellboy and the BPRD outside of the 50's, I want more HB solving mysteries.



Where my Scooby Doo/Hellboy crossover, already?

[Koen Claeys · Rating 2 out of 5]

Excellent artwork to instant-forgettable short stories. It seems this is pretty much the case with most of the Mignolaverse titles in the past years.

[Rick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mike Mignola's Hellboy remains one of the most entertaining comics year after year and incarnation after incarnation. This latest series has been going back and revealing untold tales of the early days of the B.P.R.D. and Hellboy's youth. The stories are fun, light and reminiscent of Mignola's early work with the character. Good stuff! 

[Pop Bop · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mmmm, That's Some Good Hellboy

This is the third "Hellboy and the B.P.R.D." collection, following on the 1952 and 1953 editions. I favor the 1953 collection out of the three but this one is a close second.

We get three longer tales and one mini-tale. There is "Black Sun #1-2", "The Unreasoning Beast", "Ghost Moon #1-2", and a very short "Mirror". SOME MILD GENERAL PREMISE/PLOT SPOILERS follow.

"Black Sun" is a Nazi nutsy tale that consists mostly of Hellboy making wisecracks while the villain engages in the longest monologue I've read in a while. Since the monologue is interesting in a classic nutsy Nazi way and the wisecracks were amusing enough I was happy. The drawing had some nice "big" scenes loaded with detail and atmosphere, and that actually supported and backed up the villain speech quite well.

"The Unreasoning Beast" is a domestic haunting story that has Hellboy pretty much never leaving a suburban living room. It's character and dialogue driven and is one of the few Hellboys I've read in which the drawing, which is restrained and realistic, actually sort of upstages Hellboy. (That said, the drawing is technically very accomplished but might strike some as too understated.)

My favorite tale was "Ghost Moon", which mixed in Chinese mythology, demons, a powerful artifact, shadowy operatives, and action, although Hellboy was almost on the sidelines for chunks of the story. This adventure had the best mix, I thought, of dialogue, plot, action, backstory, exotic setting, and demon creepiness and struck me as the most satisfying and complete of the tales.

The final story, which is only a few pages, is an atmospheric and suggestive mood piece, which I always like to find sprinkled into these collections.

This isn't Hellboy in Hell or Hellboy in Mexico but the 1950's throwback stories are fun and if you like early Hellboy and the B.P.R.D. team and are willing to just wander around with them punching stuff then I imagine this collection will go down just fine.

(Please note that I received a free advance will-self-destruct-in-x-days Adobe Digital copy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)

[Adam Stone · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of the frustrating things about reading Hellboy is that most of the main collections are not organized chronologically or thematically. It's just that the writers decided to tell a particular story or set of stories, and in order to release them to the trade paperback/hardcover market, they package them as the five or six issues that came out around the same time, whether or not they make sense as a single story.

With the Hellboy & The BPRD stuff, everything is arranged chronologically, even giving the year the stories took place on the cover, which is a nice change of pace.

Because I didn't invest myself in the Hellboy universe when it started, and I read more traditionally narrative comic series, I'm not used to the "Now we're over here! Now we're over here!" nature of some of these collections. I tend to find some of the short stories paced strangely. And that's very true for this volume. Until I got to the main story, I thought this was going to be a two star review. Ben Stenbeck, and Paolo Rivera's art is top of the line Hellboy, and Michael Walsh's art is less detailed than I enjoy but not distractingly so, but I just wasn't invested in any of the first five stories.

The sixth story, "Beyond The Fences" brings it up to three stars by having the story take a little more time to breathe, and tying it into BPRD 1948. It also has some fun misdirects.

I would recommend this to Hellboy enthusiasts, Mike Mignola fanboys, people who enjoy incredibly short stories about haunted dismembered limbs, people who never trusted Mr. Ed, people who think Bojack Horseman should commit more murder, and people who like snappy action movie patter to go with their demon hunting.

[Zare · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unlike 1956 issue which was rather slim and not that interesting (story of Hellboy in Mexico was told so many times) this volume gives us new adventures more in vein with X-Files and Indiana Jones adventures.

We follow Hellboy as BPRD special agent on missions across the world. First story takes place in the deserted parts of Arctic after mysterious creature starts killing people off in remote science station. What they come across is completely unexpected and Hellboy will need to use all of his wits to overcome his old enemies.

Second story looks like adventure that came off Edgar Alan Poe's pages. This was most X-File-like story in the volume. To say more is to spoil it so will leave it at that.

Final story is Ghost Moon. This brings in British occult investigation agency and search for a mysterious urn that has devastating effect on the population around it. This one has some of that Indiana Jones vibe to it.

All in all interesting volume. Art is great as it is case with all Hellboy comics so far.

Recommended to fans of paranormal and Hellboy in particular.

[Storm · Rating 4 out of 5]

The stories have not all equally good

The Mirror -3 *

A simple short story about a haunted mirror. One of the times Hellboy went "off reservation" to search for an artifact that Professor Bruttenholm told him about.

The Black Sun - 4*

Reports of a strange beast in the Arctic have Hellboy and another researcher, a lore master in undiscovered Ice Beasts, heading there. Shades of John Carpenter's The Thing permeate this story. They discover the mutated monster, near a flying saucer! Hellboy climbs in and it takes him to their base, full of ... Nazis. Who have a whole hanger and an evil plan. Oh no! Very enjoyable, very pulp Hellboy.

The Unreasoning Beast - 3*

Hellboy and another agent are sent to investigate a "haunting" by the ghost monkey pet of the complainer's brother who died in a fire. Pretty interesting story, this would have shined with better art.

Ghost Moon - 5*

Maybe I am biased but I thoroughly enjoyed this story set in Hong Kong and steeped with Chinese mythology. Given how rich the mythos is, ripe for Hellboy stories, it's surprising this is the first Chinese mythos Hellboy story. Asians really celebrated the hungry ghost festival, where people would burn items and "Hell" money for their ancestors to spend in Hell. (Given how much money is burned inflation must be terrible in Hell.

Those who have done bad things are taken to the various levels of hell to pay for their sins. For those interested, there is a depiction of the 10 levels of Hell at Singapore's Haw Par Villa Theme Park. The entrance even features the Horse and Ox Demons from the story.

[Rex Hurst · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Hellboy and the B.P.R.D. series are filler incidents making up Hellboy's past. By their nature they are designed to be fun little bits and stories featuring everyone's favorite paranormal investigator. In this book, there are four stories:

Black Sun - Where Hellboy goes to the Artic and has to face mutated Nazi flying saucers - I kid you not.; The Unreasoning Beast - where our hero and company faces off against a ghost monkey, back from the dead for unknown reasons. Ghost Moon - Hellboy takes a trip to Hong Kong, which was still under British control, and deals with an mysterious spirit urn and two guardian demons just doing their jobs. The Mirror - where Hellboy deals with a magic mirror in an abandoned French town. This last one was drawn by the late, great Richard Corben and might be the last thing he produced commercially before dying - but don't hold me to that.

While these are filler stories, the are still fun, and do what they were intended to do - give us more Hellboy.

[Cale · Rating 3 out of 5]

They grow up so fast, don't they? Although only a few years in, Hellboy is already turning into the grizzled investigator we meet in the original series. This volume features alien spacecraft, a spirit monkey, and an Asian spirit stealer. In general, the stories are interesting, with the setup of "Black Sun" and the resolution of "Ghost Moon" being my favorite parts. The art style has gone far afield from Mignola's iconic look, but honestly that doesn't bother me - the characters are spot on in their characterizations, and I actually appreciate the more detailed art style we get here - it works to very good effect in Sue's visions especially. All the stories have some heft to them, matched with a lot of punching, and some better humor than the previous volumes have displayed. This series feels like it's coming into its own at about the same rate Hellboy is.

[K De · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enter the early period of Hellboy in Mike Mignola's "Hellboy and the B.P.R.D 1954" through a set of four stories. The first story "Black Sun" has echoes of the 1950's film "The Thing" but then veers into the familiar of Nazis and spiritual "Viril and Shakti" energies to power their spaceships for world conquest. The second story "The Unreasoning Beast" is a minor note on Hellboy and a avenging monkey in a murder-adultery story. The third story "Ghost Moon" is having Hellboy in a Chinese secret scoeity-mythology story as Hellboy actually plays a secondary role. The final story "The Mirror" is a very short and has the punch of Richard Corben's artwork and Mike Mignola story in which the future of Hellboy is echoed within.

This collection is for hardcore Hellboy fans.

[Mykhailo Gasyuk · Rating 5 out of 5]

Чергові місії Геллбоя та агентів Бюро. Арктика та монстри - це класика, яка перетворюється у ще більшу класику, коли знаходять дуже характерну літаючу тарілку (спойлер - ні, знову обійдеться без прибульців). Є і трохи актуалочки, яка врешті ні на що не впливає, але передає дух часу. Історія про мавпочку аж надто стандартна, там є кілька цікавих поворотів, але не більше. Китайська місія масштабна, але лиходій довго не протягнув, продовження не буде, вимикайте світло. Історія про дзеркало - це історія з пророцтвом, цікава, дуже геллбойська.

Малювали різні художники, будьте до цього готові.

[Dakota Morgan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another terrific entry in the Hellboy series. 1954 consists of three short Hellboy adventures, each uniquely fascinating and fun. There's an Arctic monster, ghosts in the suburbs, and crazy Hong Kong demons. High adventure! In true Hellboy fashion, the main character is gruff and prone to punching while his BPRD sidekicks are happy to offer explanations for the various mysteries. None of it appears to tie into some larger storyline, but that's all fine. Hellboy is always a good time.

[Sohan Surag · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was fun reading Hellboy and the BPRD 1954 but I have to say it's the weakest among the four that released. I absolutely loved 1953, 1952 and although 1954 had some good stuff it never reached the heights set by its predecessors. Perhaps this is the only title I have rated 3 stars so far. I usually devour any Hellboy material, be it prose, comics, celluloid or videogame formats and I am always in search of newer Hellboy stuff so even if something turns out mediocre its still worth it.

[Bill Coffin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another volume of short stories that cover the early adventures of Hellboy as a budding young BPRD The stories are a;l light fun for the most part, but collectively they begin to tell a larger tale of a supernatural Cold War within the actual Cold War, with suspicions and divisions between the United States and the United Kingdom on what threats need to be addressed. Meanwhile, we begin to dive deeper into some of the BPRD agents working alongside Hellboy.

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent enough stories filling in Hellboy's early days fighting monsters, but there's little distinctive about them. Hellboy brawls with Nazis and demons, relying more on his right hand of doom than any special ingenuity.

The book does introduce an interesting mystery/back story around new character Susan Xiang, and the art is solid throughout. Good for fans but not something you're likely to return to.

[Абрахам Хосебр · Rating 4 out of 5]

Історія про те, як одного разу Геллбой відпрайився на Північний полюс і знайшов там велетенську літаючу тарілку, провалився з нею під землю і побачив там кого? Інопланетян? Хрін там! Звісно, що ж лігво техно-нацистів-окультистів! Потім підірвав це зборище і пролетівши крізь центр Землі впинився у Південному полюсі. (Затравочка на теорію порожньої Землі, котра розвивається в BPRD Hollow Earth і в кінцівці BPRD Ragna Rok.
А вкінці є прикольна міні-історія з артом Корбена.

[Tiffany Lynn Kramer · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is something about the unforgiving cold that pairs so well with things of the supernatural and horror sort so I loved the first half of Black Son. The second half however was a tad to predictable and felt like a wasted opportunity.
The other tales had their high and low points as well but I didn't feel as let down by them and I'm interested in seeing where Sue's story goes.

[Lacee · Rating 4 out of 5]

1954 was my least favorite in this series so far but it was still pretty entertaining. Much like with 1953 this trade was a collection of shorter stories. For me the art was a little off at times and not every story landed. There's more good here than bad however and I would still recommend checking this out if you're a Hellboy fan.

[Luke Shea · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm really into this anthology approach. I feel like I've already gotten what I want out of a grand Hellboy arc from the main series, and the more one-offey this series is, the more I like it. This one has a nice variety of classic hellboy fodder, presented by an array of delightful artists, including a splash of Corben and a STAR TURN by Brian Churrilla, whom I was unfamiliar with. Mvp on this book, for my money.

Also this was book 99 out of 100 for the year! Almost there!!