Sometimes the hardest thing to do is review an issue that’s light on dialog and heavy on action. Let me say that this was a good issue and full of enjoyable moments with lots of payoff to readers that have been keeping up with the Hellboyverse in 2011. I did however get the impression that this series is was kind of phoned in. It’s smart business and marketing to continue to have B.P.R.D. series going while we wait for Hellboy’s adventures in hell (which will be amazing I’m sure), but this book is kind of long-winded and there just doesn’t seem to be a lot of content compared to the other B.P.R.D. mini’s that we’ve been getting all year-long. The gist of the issue is that Johann needs to plant a bomb inside of this creature to blow it to hell. He’s dealt with this type of beast before and it nearly made him loose his mind, this time around though he’s taken extra caution and is basically unaffected by the creature. However, the crew accompanying him gets royally fucked up by the beast. They’re turned into monsters one by one until only two remain, leaving Johann to figure out how to finish the mission. Outside his B.P.R.D. liaison must help the Russian military fend off the living dead trying to stop the mission to destroy the beast.

Allow me to say, and this is a spoiler, that the Russians pull some dirty shit here. I’m not going to go off about how Putin rigged the election and that he’ll basically be running for Russia’s president again soon, because it’s not that dirty just damn close. That’s all for the spoilers and frankly you probably don’t know what the hell I’m talking about in the comic until you read it.

I liked this issue; it was fun and had some cool moments. I wish the B.P.R.D. liaison didn’t act like a child and throw their gun on the ground (which would have fired a round), but hey… that’s what they chose to do. Again this issue felt stretched out and I didn’t get that typical feel associated with Hellboy or B.P.R.D. It was bright and not very ugly and frankly those are two things that usually aren’t apart of these series. If you’ve been reading since the beginning then you’ve already got the book and don’t care about a damn thing I’m saying, if not then maybe wait until it’s finished to dive in to get your Hellboyverse fix.

Score: 3/5

Writers: Mike Mignola, John Arcudi Artist: Tyler Crook Publisher: Dark Horse Comics Price: $3.50 Release Date: 12/21/11