Who knew that a comic about a demon hellspawn being adopted during the Second World War and becoming part of a covert government organisation that investigates supernatural phenomena would not only make for a viable (even popular) comic book series, but would then be adapted into a couple of semi-popular movies, and then could continue on in an even longer comic book series that didn't even star that demon hellspawn? And yet that's what happened with the BPRD series once Hellboy and his creator Mike Mignola exited stage right. BPRD: Hell On Earth has since gone from strength to strength, and the cover to #124 is just a sign of how far the book's come. One of the tricky things about the Hellboy spin-offs is finding artists that fit Mignola's sensibility without looking like total knock-offs that are trying desperately to imitate his mastery over light and shadow. Not only does Laurence Campbell manage to fit into that pretty well but he manages to come up with an image unlike any other in a BPRD book before: not just a monstrous behemoth in the distance, but one glimpsed from within a coffee shop. The true horror intrudes on banal real life.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
