B.P.R.D.: The Devil You Know vol. 1 — Messiah

It’s a brand new era for the Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense, and not just in a creative sense.  With the defeat of the Ogdru Jahad the Ogdru Hem terrorizing Earth have suddenly died off, ushering in an age of relative peace.  At least, that’s what everyone was expecting to happen. There are still plenty of smaller monsters for the B.P.R.D. to take on as well as a noticeable uptick in cult activity.  Though the organization isn’t aware of this yet, one cult is being headed up by none other than Varvara the demon who wears a proper little girl’s body when he’s on Earth. With Hell in ruins following Hellboy’s exploits there, Varvara plans to build a new kingdom in our world.  Though exorcist Ashley Strode is on the demon’s trail, the B.P.R.D. is riven with internal conflicts following the return of the transformed Abe Sapien.

Speaking of Abe, I’ll admit that my expectations for this new “B.P.R.D.” series were not that high as Mike Mignola’s new co-writer for the title is Scott Allie, with whom he co-wrote the never-really-lived-up-to-its-potential “Abe Sapien” series.  The good news is that this first volume of “The Devil You Know” is much more lively than that series was. There’s a lot going on from issue-to-issue and I was never bored with what was going on. That was also because I was trying to get a handle on the incredibly scattershot narrative presented here.  Not only does “Messiah” bring in a lot of plot points from other Mignolaverse projects, it keeps jumping between them and the new threats that arise here in a haphazard fashion. It doesn’t help matters either that Allie lacks previous co-writer John Arcudi’s facility for offbeat humor and distinctive characterization when it comes to the supporting cast.

On the plus side, Laurence Campbell is back as the artist for this series.  While the gritty approach that he’s employed in previous volumes has been fine, I like the cleaned-up approach he’s sporting here.  There’s also a major development at the end of the volume that has the potential to not just upend everything set up in this volume, but the Mignolaverse itself.  I doubt it’s a trick — Mignola doesn’t go in for the kind of fakery this development sets up — so even with my reservations about this volume I’m very much onboard to see where they’re going with this.  Cynics could argue that it’s just restoring a very, very old “B.P.R.D.” status quo, but at this point the pieces involved are just too different to fit together properly again.