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B.P.R.D. Volume 2: The Soul of Venice and Other Stories (B.P.R.D Graphic Novel) Kindle & comiXology

4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 55 ratings

After holding it a secret for ten years, Hellboy creator Mike Mignola finally reveals Abe Sapien's bizarre history. Introduced in the first Hellboy book and featured prominently in the film, Abe Sapien has remained one of the most intriguing mysteries of Mignola's celebrated work.

The
Hellboy film steered clear of any origin story for Abe so that the tale could be told in Plague of Frogs. The story of Abe's origins unfolds as the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense try to stop the monstrous frog men from the first Hellboy graphic novel, Seed of Destruction. The plague begins its spread across America, lending an apocalyptic new direction to Mignola's stories. • Collects the five-issue miniseries.

• With art by Guy Davis and a behind-the-scenes look at his sketchbook, this third volume of
B.P.R.D. sees Mignola taking over writing chores for the first time and reveals secrets he's kept under wraps since the beginning of the Hellboy saga, and changes that world completely.
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Spun off from Mike Mignola's popular Hellboy series, this second collection of weird investigations by the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense contains five tales concerning the fantastic encroaching upon the mundane world. The B.P.R.D.'s four seasoned field agents include a cynical gill-man; an alluring telekinetic; a disembodied psychic empath; and a hulking, childlike homunculus. This group's bizarre assignments propel them all over the globe to situations that only investigators of a paranormal nature could handle. This lushly illustrated volume finds the team involved with a twisted Italian vampire's plot to imprison the spirit of Venice for his own evil ends; the unrestful ghosts of three executed witches; a ghost train from WWII whose passengers relentlessly pursue an aged Nazi saboteur; a malevolent variation on Monsters Inc.; and a possessed psychic with the power to raise the recently dead. As an added bonus, a sketchbook section reprints character designs by participating artists, including Michael Avon Oeming, Guy Davis and Cameron Stewart, offering a fascinating glimpse into the creative process. This compilation of five strong horror yarns brims with respect for readers' intelligence.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Getting the Hellboy spin-off B.P.R.D. off the ground in terms of interest and attractiveness has taken a while, and this second roundup from its pages is perhaps nothing special. But it ain't bad. The characters-- Hellboy's cronies at the Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense--include amphibious Abe Sapien; fire-starter Liz Sherman; Roger, the (humongous!) homunculus; Johann Kraus, the permanently out-of-body medium; and normal human Kate Corrigan, the B.P.R.D.'s consulting folklorist. Like the red demon with the sawed-off horns, they battle evil spirits, revenants, and monsters, mostly, and that necessitates travel to places that, if they aren't exotic to begin with, like Venice in the opening yarn, have become so on account of the eerie and eldritch things currently going on, like the suburb in which little kids who own the same toy monster are disappearing. Different hands have fashioned each of these five stories, and the resultant highly contrasting visual styles constitute one of the book's chief rewards: even when a plot seems threadbare, the story still looks fabulous. Ray Olson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00A820UNW
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Dark Horse Books (August 24, 2004)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ August 24, 2004
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 330561 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Not enabled
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 128 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 55 ratings

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Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
55 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Reviewed in the United States on January 9, 2016
If you are a Mignola fan and a graphic novel collector (as I am)... buy this series to compliment your Hellboy collection. You won't be disappointed.
Reviewed in the United States on February 21, 2011
Volume 2 of the wonderful BPRD series collects several single issue stories all by different creators. The highlight for me is the story drawn by the amazing Guy Davis. Highly recommended.
Reviewed in the United States on September 19, 2006
What do three accused witches, a train blown up by a Nazi saboteur, the patron goddess of love and waterways, plush toy monsters, and zombies have in common? The answers can be found in this second B.P.R.D. collection of stories.

B.P.R.D. stands for the Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense, a secret U.S. agency that protects the world from supernatural threats. It is a spin-off title from Mike Magnolia's popular Hellboy comic book series, and details the adventures of the agency's other "special" operatives.

The team includes Abe Sapien, a blue-skinned gill-man with a mysterious past; Liz Sherman, a neurotic pyrokinetic; Johann Kraus, a German psychic whose body was destroyed while his spirit was visiting the astral plane; and Roger the Homunculus, a medieval golem with tremendous strength and a child-like personality.

This collection has a completely different flavor from the previous one. Instead of one main story and a few back-up features it showcases five individual stories written and drawn by five different creative teams.

The Soul of Venice is written by Miles Gunther and Michael Avon Oeming and drawn by Michael Avon Oeming. Something is fouling up the canals of Venice, and the entire team is called in to solve the problem. This story is the most Mignola-esque, as it features all manner of strange creatures and a special appearance from a demon tied to the Hellboy mythos. Oeming's drawing style is very blocky, mirroring Mignola's artwork.

Dark Waters, by writer Brian Augustyn and artist Guy Davis, features Abe Sapien and Roger the Homunculus. They are visiting a New England town that has just literally dug a dark secret from its past. This is my favorite entry. There are red herrings, strange monsters, and theological debates all rolled together into a nice little story.

The Night Train, written by Geoff Johns and Scott Kolins and drawn by Scott Kolins and Dave Stewart, features Liz Sherman and Roger the Homunculus. These two characters have an up-and-down history together, and this story explores those issues while also incorporating a mini Lobster Johnson adventure. The art for this story is very different from the usual dark style one would expect. I liked the contrast, and actually think the use of color enhanced the feeling of otherworldliness.

There's Something Under My Bed, by writer Joe Harris and penciller Adam Pollina, features Abe Sapien versus toy monsters that have somehow sprung to life and are terrorizing little children. This is a nice little story that makes you wonder what exactly makes a monster. I didn't like the art in this one so much, the figures looked too lanky and their faces looked too unfamiliar.

Another Day at the Office, written by Mike Mignola and drawn by Cameron Stewart, is a special piece written just for this collection. It features Abe Sapien once again, this time partnered with Johann Kraus. This story seemed way too rushed to make any sense or have any impact. It's just the guys fighting some random zombies. (But then again, maybe that's the whole point.)
4 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on November 2, 2017
great
Reviewed in the United States on December 16, 2010
This trade paperback collects Dark Horse and Mike Mignola's continued efforts in expanding the Hellboy universe and exploring the B.P.R.D.'s exploits after Hellboy has left. These stories don't reveal as much about the characters as the stories in B.P.R.D. Vol. 1 did, but there are some fun stories if you're a devout B.P.R.D. fan. For me it was a mixed bag.

This volume includes five B.P.R.D. stories, along with thirteen pages of concept sketches. Note that the cover art is by Mike Mignola, but Mike did not draw any of the stories in this collection. He did contribute writing for "The Soul of Venice," and Mike wrote "Another Day at the Office." This collection has a variety of writing and art styles--which I find to be both good and bad.

The Highlights: I loved the story "Dark Waters," about a town with a past of witch trials. The writing was superb and I love the art by Guy Davis. His style is quite different from Mignola's, but I think it fits the series well. I would've bought the book just for this story. "Night Train" is fun story that delves a little deeper into Roger's character, and features Lobster Johnson. I thought the art was decent, but I loved the coloring for this story! "There's Something Under My Bed" has the most unique art and tone of all the stories in this collection. That may be off-putting to some fans, but I liked it. Abe Sapien helps some kids who are being kidnapped by the monsters under their beds. Fun stuff! The other gem of this collection for me was "Another Day at the Office." It has decent art, but I enjoyed the writing and tone of this short story of the B.P.R.D. fighting zombies.

Things to Consider: I personally didn't like "The Soul of Venice" very much. Maybe I had too high of hopes. It has several great ideas, but crams them into a story that was too short for its own good. I think if it were longer I might have felt more satisfied with it. Also, it contains some fairly graphic female nudity that I felt the need to cover up in my copy. The art on this one is also so-so. "Another Day at the Office" has a bit of zombie gore. Compared to most illustrated zombie stories this was very tame, but if that kind of thing bugs you this may not be the book for you.

I recommend this volume for the collectors and fans of B.P.R.D. Anyone else who is interested should probably check out some of the other collections first, such as Vol. 1 or Vol. 3.
3 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on December 11, 2012
Written when B.P.R.D. was just getting off the ground as it's own series, this book is mainly a collection of loosely connected short stories, which do a good job of introducing the characters but stand alone from the plot of later volumes. It's probably a good starting place for that reason. I enjoyed most of the stories in this volume, but I don't consider them the best work that has been done for the series, though that isn't saying much, since in general B.P.R.D. is very good. Perhaps the weakest offering, and the one that perhaps brought it down a bit for me, was the story "Something Under My Bed". While entertaining, both the art style and the premise just didn't seem to click with the atmosphere of the B.P.R.D. universe. It would have been better without these particular characters.
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Top reviews from other countries

Amazon Customer
4.0 out of 5 stars Great part of the collection. Amazing price and service by Beech Cottage Trading
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 22, 2018
Brought this as a replacement for one damage during a recent home move. Excellent edition towards the my complete Hellboy and B.P.R.D collections.
Brought via Beech Cottage and can not sing there praises enough. Fantastic price, ordered and dispatched on Friday and arrived in the post Monday morning. Could not be happier.
David Dobson
4.0 out of 5 stars Four Stars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 15, 2016
A good collection.
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