B.P.R.D. Hell on Earth Volume 13

The story running through issues #135-139 of the Dark Horse Comics series ‘B.P.R.D. Hell on Earth’ is collected as  Bprd Hell On Earth 13 End Of Days .This is the concluding chapter of the “Hell on Earth” sequence, and though it doesn’t end the ongoing apocalypse, it does bring a number of ongoing plot threads to a close, while setting the stage for the next sequence.Without giving away any spoilers, this is the last battle between the Black Flame and the BPRD super-squad, the all-new armoured Johann and “human torch” Liz Sherman, aided remotely by Fenix and Panya, with the assistance of various BPRD characters who have been built up over recent volumes, and all of whom get to contribute something to this battle. Even that chap in the Victorian diving suit turns up, with a submarine that resembles the Nautilus, for the invasion of Manhattan.We also see the arrival of what might be the next (and final) threat to normal life on Earth, and Director Nichayo of the Russian BPRD finally has to deal with Varyara, the girl in the glass jar.This story features an epic battle, and you really aren’t sure just what will happen. There are giant monsters (really big ones that Godzilla would think twice about having a go at) fighting battleships, that weird Russian aircraft, a proper superhero battle raging through the streets of Manhattan, lots of mysterious activities involving minor characters and long-dead languages, and Kate Corrigan smoking a lot; and at the end of it, you are left thinking “and now what?”The artwork is, as always, spectacular, and unlike regular superhero comics, is allowed to carry much of the story; dialogue is not forced on the reader, as the writers know when to keep quiet and let the artist get on with it.I have 30 new graphic novels from the library stacked in my in-tray, and this one was my first choice. Even though the series can often be sort of disappointing, in that it has of late been one long tale of misery and despondency with the occasional light flickering at the end of the tunnel, I keep reading it ahead of other titles simply because it is genuinely more interesting than most of the superhero titles that I follow. All comic-books are inherently serials that try to keep you coming back for the next issue - or volume nowadays, and this one is no exception, but somehow this series is so good that you keep forgetting that it is a prisoner of its own medium.I’ll be back for the next volume, and it’ll be at the top of the pile.THE SPOILER ZONETHE SPOILER ZONETHE SPOILER ZONEIssue #135 opens with a omen of impending doom for a little town in Kansas that is so far untouched by the apocalypse. Then we have a staff meeting at BPRD HQ, during which we get some flashbacks to super-Johann at work destroying big giant monsters; we look in on Agent Howards (Stone-Age man) and Professor O’Donnel (mad scientist), Director Nichayko, and Evelyn McDonald and the Black Flame, from most, if not all of whom, we get cryptic comments and allusions. Then it is action time, as the US navy’s battleship patrols off New York find a Godzilla-sized tentacled-blob coming at them. Fortunately for them, yet another old character emerges from the depths to rescue them… And finally, Fenix is psyched out by that impending doom finally hitting Kansas…Issue #136 opens with Fenix still in a coma from the fall-out of the Kansas incident last issue, while the Russian team takes its strange-looking aircraft into the dust-cloud above ground zero, where they find that the big-giant monsters have found a really-big-giant-brother - one of the Ogdru Jahad that has emerged from its cocoon and fallen to Earth. The Russians take Liz and Johann to the site, and battle commences.Meanwhile, Panya is pocking around in the comatose Fenix’s head, and meets the Black Flame… while Kate Corrigan gets a Skype from the US battleships and sees just who arrived last issue to save them from the big-giant-monster off New York.Issue #137 opens with Fenix (still in a coma) getting a vision of the BPRD HQ in ruins; the ghostly little girl in her head informing her that it cannot be prevented. Meanwhile, outside her head, Panya and Kate are discussing Panya’s discoveries about the psychic linkages that lead back to the Black Flame and how to take advantage of them. Approaching New York, the US invasion fleet, accompanied by the Russian aircraft, with Liz and Johann aboard the submarine of their new friend, Mr McWhirter, who has finally completed his psychic weapon, which is able to destroy the big-giant-monsters defending the city. However, as they reach the shore, the Black Flame presents himself…Issue #138 opens with Johann emerging from the wreckage of the submarine and attacking the Black Flame, who is busy looming over a waterlogged Liz Sherman on the Manhattan waterfront. At BPRD HQ, Kate and Panya prepare for a psychic attack on the Black Flame, while back in New York, Evelyn McDonald sends the Zinco staff into the subways for shelter from the storm breaking over the city as a full-scale superhero fight breaks out between the Black Flame, Liz and Johann…Issue #139 opens with Johann’s consciousness floating about in space talking to the last person to inhabit the Sledgehammer suit, who explains stuff about the Vrill energy that powers it, and which the Black flame is also tapping into. Meanwhile, in New York, the Black Flame, standing triumphantly over his enemies, notices something strange manifesting, as the psychic attack coming from the BPRD HQ gets underway… Then Liz bursts, Phoenix-like, out of the river, and the super-hero battle continues until its bitter end…