B.P.R.D., Vol. 5: The Black Flame
The long story, begun inPlague of Frogs(2005) and continued inThe Dead(2005), of the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense's battle with an ongoing eruption of frog monsters now goes ballistic. The catalyst for the scale to which the onslaught eventually balloons is a Nazi-philic CEO who believes he'll control not just the froggies but their leader, a humongous critter called Katha-Hem, after he dons an armored suit that terminates in a skull that bursts into black flame. He's rolling over everything the ace B.P.R.D. team throws at him for quite some time, even succeeding in offing, it seems, new team point-man Roger, the golemlike homunculus. Then Katha-Hem shows up. In the end, team member Liz, who can start fires psychically, holds what's needed to fight off Katha-Hem, but does she know how to use it? The saga attains to a climax, if not necessarily a conclusion, before the last page of Mignola and cowriter John Arcudi's Hollywoodish, Lovecraftian script and of Guy Davis' jaggedy art is turned.Ray OlsonCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved