B.P.R.D 1946 #4(2008).
© Dark Horse

Mania Grade: A
Comic Series: B.P.R.D 1946
Issue: 4
Authors: Mike Mignola, Josh Dysart, Paul Azaceta
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Price: $2.99

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B.P.R.D 1946 #4

I had just finished reading the Spear of Destiny by Trevor Ravenscroft.  It is a book that deals with Adolph Hitler’s obsession with the Spear of Destiny and occult practices. It was eye opening and showed a darker side of history that is not taught in any classroom. With those thoughts and images fresh in my mind I happened to pick up Mike Mignola’s new B.P.R.D.: 1946 series at the local comic shop. Here Professor Bruttenholm is on his own (Hellboy is only an infant in 1946) and searching for Hitler’s occult collection. Of course this is a coincidence, but nonetheless I found the story to be completely captivating as Mike Mignola expanded his own character’s past as he brought history to life in his own monstrous way.

Thus far, Bruttenholm has come to Berlin to locate and catalogue all the Germans’ occult experiments and paraphernalia immediately after the Germans have surrendered. Unfortunately, the Russians have beaten him to the majority of the Germans’ collection.   Bruttenholm brokers an alliance with the Russians’ B.P.R.D. type team and the two teams are on the hunt for the missing subjects of Project Vampir Sturm. 

Project Vampir Sturm, as it turns out, was Hitler’s last effort to plague the world in darkness by creating an army of blood thirsty Vampires. Before he died, Hitler ordered it unleashed but one guilt-ridden General refused, sparing the world of the last Nazi horror. The two B.P.R.D. teams located cryogenic Vampir test subjects however all are not accounted for, leading Bruttenholm and the Russians to yet another atrocity created by the Nazis and their perverted science.

B.P.R.D.: 1946 has, so far, been a great read for someone that does not normally venture into the Hellboy universe. I’m not bogged down in continuity nor are there references to previous exploits that I do not understand. Four issues into B.P.R.D.: 1946 and I have found myself completely captivated by Mike Mignola’s work.   His story telling is harsh, unrelenting, brutal and heroic. The art by Joshua Dysart and Paul Azaceta reflect his words perfectly creating a gritty twisted world populated with all too real human monsters.

The Nazis might not be the only bad guys here so Bruttenholm handles the Russians with kid gloves knowing that they still have not revealed all of their secrets. The giant single page panel of the Russians storehouse revealed that all too well. Are the Russians to be trusted? What haven’t they told Bruttenholm and his team yet? What is the final horrific Nazi experiment? All these questions had me mad that I have to wait another month to read their further exploits of a young Professor Bruttenholm.

Mignola reveals a lot of answers to early questions in this series but more questions keep popping up. Building on the scares and real history the pay off of the Project Vampir Sturm delivered but their final three pages opened the flood gates for a whole new arch for B.P.R.D.: 1946. 

If you need a book to hold you over ‘till the new Hellboy movie (July 11),this is the one to do it.