B.P.R.D.- The Black Flame by Mike Mignola, John Arcudi and Guy Davis

The B.P.R.D. continues to fight against the almost literal plague of frog-men infesting the heartland of America. But as soon as they wipe out one breeding ground, still more pop up, each semming to spawn with a speed that is amazing. More than the frogs, though, is their language, which covers their lairs.

As the B.P,R.D. wipes out one lair, some larval frog men pour into the sewers, where they are collected by a man in a hazmat suit. He puts them in a cooler and walks away, unnoticed by the Bureau men or their leader, Roger. Roger has taken his hero-worship of Benjamin Daimio to its ultimate conclusion, aping him, his habits, and his mannerisms, right down to smoking cigars and acting like a leader of soldiers.

Liz is uncomfortable with Roger's hero worship, but no one else seems to take it amiss. They all recognize that his looking up to and following Daimio makes him feel like he's a real man, a human. But can it make him happy?

The frog-people larvae were taken by Zinco, Inc., a corporation run by the grandson of a famous Nazi. Not only does he run the company, but he idolizes his grandfather, and his office is decorated with Nazi Memorabilia. So why is his company interested in the frog-people? And what plans does he have for them, teaching them English and fitting what looks like some sort of control devices to their brains?

Whatever his plans, it's obvious that the frog-people have plans of their own, plans to invoke the second of the great evils from beyond space and time, Katha-Hem. But with Roger destroyed in an explosion that tears apart his golem body, and Liz Sherman having dreams that say she is the only one who can save the day, her friends and her country, will the Bureau be able to figure out the clues in time to prevent the end of the world at the appearance of Katha-Hem? Or is this the end of the world?

This book was less a typical moody B.P.R.D. book and more like a book of war. Yes, the story is horrific and frightening, but the scope is so vast, encompassing the whole of the US and Canada, that it ends up seeming like a much different book, since so many of the stories of the B.P.R.D. are local and/or personal. Still it manages to end in what many people will consider a satisfying fashion, with the main evil, Katha-Hem dead (or banished, it's hard to tell), and most of the frog-people dead as well. Enough live, though, to see them rise again in new stories later on. I don't think this is the last we've seen of them in the Hellboy/B.P.R.D. Universe.

All your favorite characters appear in the story, except for Hellboy, and I honestly wonder how he missed what was going on here. Was this cataclysm restricted merely to North America, and he was elsewhere in the world and missed it? You don't know, but I find myself wondering. Changes, though, abound. Abe, after the events of the last graphic novel, has retreated from active work in the Bureau and become more of a researcher. But his talents are wasted there, and Liz knows it. She tries to get through to Abe about what happened to him, but it isn't until Roger is partially destroyed (it's hard to say "Killed" about a golem, who wasn't really alive in the first place), that Abe seems to snap out of the funk that he was thrown into by finding out about his human life.

And Liz has her own problems, with the dreams she is recieving from a character who resembles Rasputin, and who claims she is the solution to the problem of Katha-Hem. She is even driven into a coma by the dreams, and when she revives, she coughs up a piece of paper that proves to be all about Katha-Hem. It's creepy and amazing all at the same time, and, as usual, Mike Mignola draws you into the story so completely that when something finally kicks you out, you feel like a sleeper awakening from a bad dream. You have to wait a few moments to get your equilibrium back and return to the normal world. It's quite amazing to be that completely drawn into a story, and so I definitely recommend this book, but read "The Dead" before this one, as it provides the base for this story to kick off of.