The Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense ended the Plague of Frogs in its first series, only to create a greater menace in its wake. The planet is now fighting monsters who are crawling out of places no one could anticipate. I got the feeling of Rome try to fend off the barbarians. Our heroes, like good Romans, are fighting on.
They consist of Dr. Kate Corrigan, the human who runs the agency, Abe Sapien, a fish-man, Panya, a resuscitated mummy, and Johann Kraus, a German medium existing as a spirit in a suit. Liz Sherman, the fire starter who made everything worse, is hiding out in a trailer park. Ben Daimo, whose lycanthropic alter-ego slaughtered many of his comrades, is hiding out in the Canadian wilderness. Two new characters are added: Fenix Espejo, a homeless teenage psychic, and Iosif Nichayko, a reanimated corpse who runs the Russian version of the BPRD.
This sounds like it would be a depressing read, and the feeling of apocalyptic doom is always present. That doesn’t mean that our characters have lost their decency or courage. Also, the action scenes are as exciting as they are gory. They are unpredictable, too, for the writers don’t equip their characters with plot armor. As for the artists, Guy Davis was great at designing monsters and as mentioned, drawing action, but his characters looked like they were born in Innsmouth. Tyler Crook draws his characters in a slightly cartoony style, but at least he uses more than one head shape. ( )