Ok, so the whole thing was all about the Professor paying more attention to Hellboy? I mean, obviously, it can’t have been, what with little Hellboy only appearing in four of the five issues… oh, wait.

The final issue features an utterly useless battle between a priest and the two vampires who messed up the Professor’s agent. Except the vampires were, near as I could tell from them being staked to the wall, dead as of last issue. But now they’re not vampires, they’re demons.

Why are they demons? So the priest can imply the Professor should kill little Hellboy and the Professor can instead show him love (instead of ignoring him).

It’s a disastrous series.

Didn’t anyone sit down and read the scripts and, after being done reading in three minutes, think they should do something else? Work on them some more perhaps?

There’s nothing here but wasted time.

It’s almost over. I’m going to make it! (I never thought I’d be making that comment about something Dysart wrote).

This issue has less to recommend it than the previous one and it moves even faster. The pacing is accelerating. There’s even a lot of little Hellboy in this one and, while he’s cute and all, it’s not the comic book I bought.

Not having the Professor be the protagonist–not really having a protagonist–is doing this series in. I can’t remember the story of the sort of protagonist now, just because the guy who’s been kidnapped by vampires has such a better backstory.

Speaking of vampires, in the B.P.R.D. universe, do they or do they not appear human? I mean, when they aren’t making people hallucinate. It’s complicated and seems to go back and forth.

One issue left. Almost want to skip it, imagine it redeems the series.

I wish I’d timed how long it took to read that issue. I’m sure I’d be disappointed.

Here, at the end of issue three, I’m to where the first issue should have been ending. Now the actual story can kick off. Maybe. This issue kind of ends the story’s dramatic vehicle, so I guess maybe not.

The issue ends on a reference to the first series, which is why it should be where the first issue, not third, closed. It’s such a slight story, however, it’s hard to imagine the final two issues provoking any interest. I was excited for 1947 and now I’m dreading 1948. Whatever came together on 1946 is absent here.

The plotting seems to be the culprit. The mission isn’t bad, but the first step in the investigation is boring (visit a tranquil French village to do research). They don’t even do the research.

Uh oh.

There’s no setting. It’s messing up the pacing. As much as I dislike comparing one thing to another for the purpose of a “review,” it’s pretty clear this series is breezing by because there’s no setting. It’s some guys in France. There’s nothing to the town–nothing about the French recovering from the war, for example; in fact, this issue, I don’t think a native gets any dialogue.

There’s interesting plotting–the hero in peril speaks his mind, without thinking, and it promises to be interesting–well, next issue it’ll be interesting, this issue it’s just a cliffhanger. Except it’s not at the end of the issue, as there’s still more busywork to do.

The “real” cliffhanger should have been in the first issue, since it’s just explaining something not in need of explanation.

I’m trying to remain upbeat, but it feels like a setup for B.P.R.D.: 1948, nothing else.

I don’t have an opinion yet. Of the story, I mean. The art is wonderful, obviously, it’s Bá and Moon.

But the story… is a pickle. It’s not the Professor’s story, it’s the story of his agents, his agents who are very likely expendable. So we open this new story knowing the four men we meet may all die by the end. A sole survivor situation seems likely as well but five issues isn’t enough to bother trying to guess.

So what do the writers leave us with? There’s a cliffhanger, a couple really, one quiet, one loud, both adding up to the same thing. Once again, there’s a deliberate carefulness to how the period is presented. It’s accurate and informative, without any exposition. It’s masterful storytelling to be sure, it just doesn’t compare well with the first series (yet).

I wish I could be more upbeat; it feels perfunctory.