B.P.R.D #114: Lake of Fire #5

By Mike Mignola, John Arcudi, Tyler Crook & Dave Stewart

Mike Mignola and John Arcudi have done so much with the B.P.R.D. this year; it’s hard to keep track of it all. The world has gone to hell, familiar faces are either scattered or dead and the outlook on life as they know it isn’t very good. With this issue, and the end of another great arc, it appears that maybe Mignola and Arcudi are gearing up for something even bigger than what they’ve already faced: heading into New York, a city that’s been cut off from everything for over a year.

Mignola and Arcudi have been seemingly building towards something in B.P.R.D. that we might not have seen since Hell on Earth began. Lake of Fire has been an arc primarily focused on the return of Liz Sherman but it seems like it might be more than that. The characters we know and love are all going through changes, and are all dealing with what appears to be the end of the world in their own ways, but they’re all scattered. Mignola and Arcudi appear to have been individually building up these characters over the course of the last several arcs while slowly pushing their paths together again. The next arc, titled Reign of the Black Flame, teased after the last panel, might just be that “something bigger” that the B.P.R.D. are going to have to face in the coming issues.

For his part, artist Tyler Crook continues to shine. Quite frankly, Crook has become the B.P.R.D. artist, arguably just beating long time, and long departed, original artist for the series Guy Davis. Crook continually impressed with not only his depiction of the characters, but also of the many, many monsters Mignola and Arcudi seem to throw at our, for lack of a better term, heroes. Partner that up with long time Mignolaverse collaborator and color master Dave Stewart and you have a book with art that can challenge pretty much any other book on the shelves.

This was a great arc, all said and done, and it’s seemingly going to lead to something even better. The Black Flame is back, and the B.P.R.D. is heading to New York for the first time since the world went to hell. Color this reviewer excited, and strap yourselves in for some B.P.R.D. magic from one of the best teams in comics today.