B.P.R.D. The Devil You Know

[middenway]

The West Coast of the US got screwed on distribution, so we don’t get it ‘til next week. Looks like I’ll be downloading a digital copy this afternoon.

For the love of god, avoid spoilers. You want to open this book not knowing a thing.

[Abe]

The West Coast of the US got screwed on distribution, so we don’t get it ‘til next week. Looks like I’ll be downloading a digital copy this afternoon.

My regular LCS which gets the books from UK Diamond got screwed too... so I went to the one across the street which gets them from US Diamond. Mysteries of French distribution...

Both covers are cool, so I'm happy I'll get both: one of my pull-list, a bit late, and today's extra.

Great issue. And I'm so glad to read "Next month" at the end. I've really missed my monthly dose of BPRD!

Kudos to the artists on the book! Wow!

[Junior Wormwood]

Holy crap!!

Just downloaded and read it. Can’t wait to talk about this! Seems there’s quite a bit to unpack...

[Matt Strackbein]

I also got hosed on delivery. Woke up, read the last issue, got excited, drove 15 miles to the comic shop and it wasn't there. I rarely feel that enraged. Thank god for digital...I drove home, downloaded the new issue and read it a dozen times in a row. It was worth the wait, (but I'm still mad, though, if I'm being honest). Not really spoilers, but more below...

We all know a single issue of a comic from the Hellboy universe could contain things we've waited years and years to read about. I think every issue going forward could have some major moments and some huge payoffs. Anyway, I'm also excited that the lettercol is back!

[Joker]

Thankfully I'm all digital now. (Not a choice, just circumstance.)

I'll post some thoughts tomorrow. I'll wait until the Mignolaversity review is up.

[seusilva]

I started to crying after the end of the issue - and this kind of thing just happened to me one time before with comics. Brutal.
The art from the Fiumaras and Mike amazing as always.

[Joker]

So I'm sort of realizing I need to read Abe Sapien. Seems like it dovetails into this book pretty heavily.

[Junior Wormwood]

So I'm sort of realizing I need to read Abe Sapien. Seems like it dovetails into this book pretty heavily.

I recently reread the whole Abe series in one sitting, and it reads much better that way. I hate to say that I wasn’t much of a fan as it was coming out and reading it monthly, but now I see it in a much more positive somber light.

[middenway]

I recently reread the whole Abe series in one sitting, and it reads much better that way. I hate to say that I wasn’t much of a fan as it was coming out and reading it monthly, but now I see it in a much more positive somber light.

In a lot of ways Dark and Terrible is a series without an ending. The Devil You Know picks up right where that series left off and builds on it beautifully.

So I'm sort of realizing I need to read Abe Sapien. Seems like it dovetails into this book pretty heavily.

Well, there's some damn good-looking omnibuses of it now...

[The Lobster]

Devon's behavior has to come to a head at some point, he's basically actively trying to piss everyone off. It's a little hard to believe this is the same timid academic trapped in a phone booth by werewolves, I wanna say I hope he gets some sort of redemption but it would be really hard to reverse how irritating he's become.

[middenway]

OK, the Mignolaversity review is up.

[Joker]

Alright. I'm still going to use spoiler tags.

spoilers:

Obviously the opening pages were a wonderful surprise. There's a lot to unpack in just those 3 pages. Hell itself seems much more pastoral than when we last saw it. It's also very overgrown around the house. I wonder how long he'd been in there? Roger. When Roger died, he said he had no place to go as he was not human. So he just remained in his body. So what's going on here? There's also the panel of the anatomical statue, last seen in The Hounds of Pluto Pt.1, which has "I'm sorry" over it the first time it's seen. This is also what Roger says to Hellboy at the end of the scene. I don't know what to make of that, but it doesn't feel inconsequential to me. Those statues went on to call Hellboy's name for the rest of the sequence in Pluto. Hmmm... I'm also interested in why Roger is there, and what he's sorry for/about. Why does Hellboy show up in Roger's grave? Why does Hellboy see Roger's port on his chest when he looks at his reflection in the window? Finally, because I'll just stope here: Was the "England" where Hellboy and Abe both saw Alice Hyperberum? Is that where mankind will go? Will we see Frankenstein's Monster? I mentioned this before, but I feel like he's got to show up in The Devil You Know eventually.

end of spoilers

A quick well done to Sebastian Fiumara. He has his own style, but doesn't really skip a beat with Campbell's work on the previous arc. I hope it's just these two on this cycle of BPRD to keep a consistent tone.

[zerodemon]

Following suit with Joker here. Spoiler tags abound.

spoilers:

I’m so worried you guys. Rereading the whole of Hellboy in Hell after today’s issue, and something occured to me that hadn’t before. Why? Why did Hellboy do what he did in the final issue? What prompted him to cast everything down when in every single issue of Hellboy prior to that one he’s been so dead set against following his destiny. Reading The Devil You Know #6 has clarified it for me. He’s resigned to his fate now. He isn’t resisting it anymore. He’s sick of struggling against his lot in life and he’s just going to do whatever it takes to find his peace. This Hellboy probably wouldn’t mind being alone at the end of the world, because he feels like he’s already there. Also, this art makes it look like Edward Grey doesn’t have a body anymore. He’s just a floating mask in a cloak I guess. Whatever he was going to do for Hellboy apparently put his body out of its misery.

end of spoilers

[Joker]

I'll just say that the only thing I'm certain of is that I have no idea where this book is going or what it'll do next.

I'm definitely enjoying the ride, though!!

[thwhtGuardian]

I'll just say that the only thing I'm certain of is that I have no idea where this book is going or what it'll do next.

I'm definitely enjoying the ride, though!!

That's really what's so fantastic now. To a certain extent, the mythical structures that Mignola was leaning on to craft his story in the past meant that you could make fairly informed guesses about how things would develop. You might not hit it on the nose all the time, but you had pretty good chances of your predictions being in the right ball park just by looking at the themes...but with Hellboy's return it breaks the cycle and it's hard to say where the story will go from here. It's an amazing bit of story crafting.

As for why we find Hellboy in Roger's grave and why we saw his port on Hellboy's chest briefly? I thought that fairly obvious, the spirit of Hellboy has possessed Roger's shell in the same way that the Lobster possessed Johann. To what end? No idea, but that's the fun part.