In my review of B.P.R.D. Vampire #1 by Mike Mignola, Gabriel Ba, and Fabio Moon, I called the opening issues a slow boil with fantastic art that was worth your money. After reading B.P.R.D. Vampire #2, however, I’m suddenly not sure. My assumption was that the first issue was a bunch of plot exposition so that the action could begin in the second issue and take us along from there. Sadly, the second issue contains just as much exposition as the first, if not more, and after two straight issues of nearly nothing happening, my patience is starting to wear thin.
The issue picks up where the last one left off. After discussing his plans with his boss, Simon Anders heads to Southern Bohemia to investigate a potential location for vampire headquarters. Anders is greeted by Hana Novarov, a member of the Czech Communist party, and she gives him a rundown of the history of the area. When an old woman speaks in cryptic words to Anders, they try to use that information to discover where the vampire rituals take place in the area.
Before I get into my issues with this comic, let’s start with the good. Gabriel Ba and Fabio Moon’s art is once again fantastic. While not given the same artistic freedom they had with that beautifully chilling eight page scene in the first issue, they are able to do a lot with what they have to work with in this issue. The comic is stylized in a good way, standing out from everything else you would find on your comic store’s shelf without that style detracting from the comic. Since the focus is less on the visuals and more on the story, it does a great job of impressing without distracting from what’s at hand.
Also, the characterization is very well executed. Both Anders and Novarov display a lot of personality here, and their conversations feel very natural as a result. It never feels like plot exposition, even when the comic becomes an information dump to the reader. This is, of course, no surprise to Mignola fans, who have, by now, gotten used to his apt presentation of mythology without ever talking at the reader, but it’s nice to see all the same.
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| Taken from http://www.darkhorse.com |
The core problem with the issue is the structure, namely that for the second issue in a row, nothing happens to grab the reader’s attention. There is a ton of atmosphere built, but much of it hits on the same chords that were emphasized in the last issue. And this issue doesn’t even have the “first issue” excuse of the last one. There aren’t even any vampires shown in this issue!
This is sadly an easily fixable problem: the story should have been a four issue miniseries, combining the two issues that have been released into one. It would have been quite simple to do, as there are several pieces that could be condensed or thrown out entirely without detracting from the overall quality of the story being presented. The book suffers from simply having too much time on its hands, and since you can’t get too far without limiting the rises in action for later issues, it’s forced to meander in a way that feels like your time is being wasted.
B.P.R.D. Vampire #2 is by no means a bad book. In fact, it’s quite good. It’s just unfortunate that we’re two issues into a miniseries and there’s yet to be anything that makes me feel as if the investment has been worthwhile. While the issue’s $3.50 cover price isn’t bad, when combining it with the first, you’re essentially paying $7.00 for what is essentially nothing but set-up. As such, I’m giving a conditional recommendation. If you must be the first to know what happens in every Mignola series, go ahead and pick this up, as diehard fans will forgive this incredibly slow pace. But otherwise, the series has yet to present anything that makes it a book that you must buy now. My advice: wait for the paperback when such pacing issues won’t really matter anymore. Because $7.00 is too much for set-up.
Chase Wassenar is the Lead Editor and Founder of the Red Shirt Crew. He’s still enjoying the book, but if something doesn’t happen in the third issue, he’ll…probably just be disappointed. You can read his other articles at ToyTMA, follow him on Twitter at @RedShirtCrew, or email him at theredshirtcrew@gmail.com.
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