There came a time when the Old Gods died! The Brave died with the Cunning! The Noble perished locked in battle with unleashed Evil! It was the last day for them! An ancient era was passing in fiery holocaust!
spoilers:end of spoilers
I've been rereading through Hell On Earth the last couple weeks and realized something that got past me before. In the Russia arc we see Iosif killing off a group of people working for Varvara, with Lazar getting away. In Return of the Master Lazar seems to be transforming into Rasputin, though there's never 100% confirmation (There's the cut from "Maybe someone else already found his soul" to Lazar, and Tyler Crooks notes in the trade refer to him as Rasputin). And then eventually Lazar is just burned away in an instant and the whole situation basically goes unresolved with no one really sure what happened. It seems like on reread, knowing what's coming, there's more to the Varvara's people trying to summon Rasputin than we realized at the time.
Yeah, on my reread, the Return of the Master makes a lot more sense. The question I still have is did the Black Flame destroy Lazar intentionally to remove a competitor, or was him being burned to a crisp just a coincidence? Initially, I believed the latter, but now I think the former is much more likely.
Hopefully we’ll get some clarification on Lazar’s role in things in the remaining issues
As much as I like Master of the Moon for its Strange Highway-esque doom vibe, I prefer The Devil You Know.
Due out Wednesday, January 2nd, 2019.
(https://www.darkhorse.com/Comics/300...il-You-Know-12)
B.P.R.D.: The Devil You Know #12
The B.P.R.D. desperately grasps for a plan to save humanity from a deep-seated danger, while Hellboy is visited by an old acquaintance with new information.
Writer: Mike Mignola
Artist: Laurence Campbell
Colorist: Dave Stewart
Cover Artist: Mike Mignola
Genre: Horror
Publication Date: January 02, 2019
(U.S.) Price: $3.99
I don't know about everybody else, but I think #12 is one of the most epic single B.P.R.D. issues ever.
It was certainly good to see more of Sir Edward. I have to read these issues extremely slow, they have all been very epic and should be read as such. It's the end of days.
I thought issue #12 was great, a nearly perfect issue for me.
Yeah, I thought it was a solid issue.
I've been going back and re reading a lot of the connective tissue. I do feel like this is all pretty well planned out after having done that.
I still have some reticence about the speed at which this is happening, but I'm also still unsure that this is the end of the current timeline for the Mignolaverse.
I think, as I said elsewhere, this is the end of the B.P.R.D. as an organization and title. I figured Frankenstein Underground was going to factor in, and I believe that even more, after this issue. Definitely interested to see where things go in and after the next few issues.