B.P.R.D. Volume 8: Killing Ground TPB(2008).
© Dark Horse

Mania Grade: B+
Comic Trade: Hellboy: Killing Ground
Issue: Volume 8
Authors: Mike Mignola, John Arcudi
Publisher: Dark Horse
Pages: Full Color, 140 pages
Price: $17.95
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B.P.R.D. Volume 8: Killing Ground TPB

The Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense finally gets some down time and a chance to set up their new Colorado Headquarters in B.P.R.D Killing Ground. The team is still trying to find itself and function properly. A recent prisoner transfer will not only put the team to the test but turn their new headquarters into a slaughter house. All while its members are dealing with their ever evolving personal issues.

Mike Mignola and John Arcudi tell a tale where the B.P.R.D. isn’t even safe in their own house. Killing Ground brings several issues to the surface to pivot the team at its weakest point, forcing certain members to take their leadership roles to the next level. Abe Sapien and Kate Corrigan take second stage until the end of the story because Killing Ground features Johann Kraus, Liz Sherman and Benjamin Daimio.

Johann Kraus has recently been restored to human form and for the first time in years he is learning what food, wine and women taste like. His intoxication or fixation with experiencing the world that was once lost to him puts the team in danger. Mignola and Arcudi have a lot of fun, albeit brief, with Johann discovering the world again. We see how he uses that chance and where his priorities lie. Mignola turns Johann even more human by giving him a skin to live in and then takes it away as fast as he gets it. Humanity slipping away for the second time makes that moment sad and, thankfully, heroic.

Liz Sherman’s part of Killing Ground is really a foreshadowing of things to come. Her conversations with Panya, the 3,000 year old woman who they recently rescued from a deserted island, give Liz some much needed therapy sessions. Unfortunately these sessions are interrupted by visions of a potential Frog holocaust brought on by a mysterious stranger. This stranger speaks to Liz about giving her strength and being there for her. This is all ground work for what is in store for the B.P.R.D.. The stranger attempts to harm Liz but the threat is quickly eliminated by the return of Lobster Johnson. With little grandeur the Lobster appears, saves the day and is gone.    

The majority of Killing Ground deals with Benjamin Daimio and his terrible secret. His origin is finally revealed and so is the powerful secret he has been hiding. By the end of Killing Ground Mignola took Daimio to an even darker place and set the gears in motion for the next story arc in the B.P.R.D..

Guy Davis and Dave Stewart paint a softer side to the B.P.R.D., unlike the harsh brutal one that Mignola usually brings to Hellboy. That softer side is a smoke screen so we, like the B.P.R.D., can let our guard down. Davis and Stewart unleash the carnage on both the B.P.R.D. and the reader when the visitor and Daimio are set loose.

Killing Ground is a direct follow-up to the events in B.P.R.D.: Garden of Souls. It offers a great insight to the characters and their personal relationships for the non B.P.R.D. reader. With Johann Kraus being in the new Hellboy movie this tale was a great window into his character. However, it was Daimio’s final moments that left you wanting more.

Scene from B.P.R.D. Volume 8: Killing Ground

© Dark Horse