The mad, pained and the dying inhabit this place. While that references the asylum from the third issue of BPRD 1946, it could also be said for Berlin after the second World War. That is what makes this title compelling: its juxtaposition of horrors, those real and imagined.

Bruttenholm and his crew head down into the asylum, choosing not to wait until dawn which ultimately proves a very poor and costly decision. Men begin to die and some very badly. Azaceta and Filardi's art does an excellent job of bringing this to the page as enemies, some fantastic, some unseen, all creepy, begin to make their presence known. While the visible interpretations of many of these are impressive, it's when they aren't seen that the art is at its best.

The facts that come to light in the depths of the asylum, though, are possibly more frightening than the art. While readers who have been keeping up to this point will have arrived at a vague understanding of what the Nazis have been doing in the asylum, the details that emerge are even more repellant than what most readers probably had imagined. Perhaps most horrifying of all, though, is that if events such as this had unfolded after World War II, it doesn't take much to believe that the Nazis were capable of such things.

Vavara continues to play a central role, which in this issue is both good and bad. As a character, she definitely has her own creepiness, even when surrounded by ghosts. Her obviously keen interest in Professor Bruttenholm is also unsettling as her expression seems to be that of a fondness typically reserved for household pets, ones that might get their wings pulled off if the mood hit the master. On the other hand, it becomes clear that Vavara is also an extremely powerful being and is functioning as a kind of infernal guardian angel for Bruttenholm, which takes some of the suspense out, given that once this conclusion is reached, the reader will know the professor can't be touched. While the GIs around him might be in danger, those characters haven't been developed enough for the reader to really care when they start getting popped off.

Perhaps the one thing that will break readers out of the suspension of disbelief is the crack up several of the harden soldiers go through in the asylum. While they may be facing horrors, these men were portrayed at the beginning of the story as hardened veterans who have been facing the horrors of war. Most combat soldiers, at one point or another, come up against something they simply can't process, at which point they die or fall back on their training, which is something that's been pounded into them again and again. Given that these men survived this long, it seems strange they would snap rather than fall back on the familiar (and in this case, probably comforting) aspects of their training.

BPRD 1946 takes readers back to the beginning of Hellboy to one of the most interesting times in history. While the direction of the plotline may have seemed obvious in the first two issues, the third issue throws in enough curves to keep readers guessing and coming back for more.

If you liked this review, be sure to check out more of the author’s work at http://madbastard.hypersites.com

---

What did you think of this book?
Have your say at the Line of Fire Forum!

---