B.P.R.D. The Devil's Engine & The Long Death. Mike Mignola, John Arcudi (Writers), Tyler Crook, James Harren (Art), Dave Stewart (Colours), Clem Robins (Letters). Dark Horse Books (2012)

This book has two long stories, The Devil's Engine which is enjoyable and The Long Death which is excellent. In the Devil's Engine a B.P.R.D Agent, Andrew Devon and a physic crust punk, Fenix are taking a train back to Denver. Fenix had shot Abe Sapien in a previous episode and was turning her self into the B.P.R.D., Agent Devon had witnessed the shooting and done nothing to prevent it and this event forms an uneasy knot between them. Fenix has a premonition about danger on the train which turns out be to accurate and herself and Devon face a long journey back to Denver when they encounter some very large and very, very hungry monsters. The action is well staged and the interaction between the cast in nicely judged. The climax is smart and effective. In the Long Death Johann Kraus leads a team to investigate an incident in the Northwest woods. Johann has an agenda he does not share with the rest of the team which leads to significant trouble and then to a superbly staged double confrontation and conclusion.
What marks the difference between the two stories is the strong sense that the second story matters, it has deep roots in the continuity of the B.P.R.D series, it tackles a trailing plot line in a powerful and effective fashion. Even as doors are closed more are opened, the cast behave in unheroic but very characteristic  ways, make terrible mistakes and struggle credibly to deal with the extraordinary events that surround them. On the other hand in the Devil's Train the neither Fenix nor Devon have the same depth of time in the continuity, they take a starring role very late in the series without their being sufficient evidence anywhere why the reader should care. It is highly unlikely that any reader is coming to this volume cold, the extensive cast have been around for quite a while and the rather abrupt positioning of two relative unknowns center stage is odd. The second thread in the story is a door opening exercise typical of the series, it looses some impact because it is not surrounded by a story that could lend it more significance or tension.
The art by Tyler Crook on The Devil's Engine is superb, Devon and Fenix are given the chance to move through a lot of different situations and emotions and be believable in them all. The deeply nasty monsters are creepy and and never look as thought they have been forced into the surroundings. The action is vivid as are the reactions.
James Harren's art on The Long Death is outstanding moving from a gripping opening to two extended fight scenes which are messy, brutal beat downs , which considering who is involved is exactly what they should be. The snowy Northwest woods forms a great back drop, it never overshadows the cast it just puts them in perspective as the monsters circle about them. With a larger cast there is a opportunity for small slivers of interplay that are one of the joys of the series as minor characters get to make a mark.
Dave Stewart colours both stories with his usual level of astounding craft and subtle brilliance, in particular the second , mostly silent fight in the Long Death, the colours make the action flow  and give the details the order they should have. Clem Robins uses letters with understated care and energy to give the cast deeper tone and provides sound effects that anchor the moment.
The Devil's Engine is a good story, The Long Death makes this a comic worth getting.

B.P.R.D. War on Frogs. Mike Mignola, John Arcudi (Writers). Dark Horse Books (2010)

This is a very enjoyable collection of stories that call back to various parts of the B.P.R.D. continuity. Roger the Homunculus makes a welcome return, in a story that returns the B.P.R.D. to the Ground Zero of the series, Cavendish Hall. The story follows up a loose end and ties it up with care. The art by Herb Trimpe and Guy Davis is suitably subdued until the action drives it forward. The second story also with art by Guy Davis features another lost cast member, Captain Benjamin Daimio. It is a sharp story about the layers of meaning the desire for a new world can contain. Given the path that Captain Daimio was to follow, it is a very nice use of continuity. The art by John Severin on an Alien-like story of a hunt on a deserted submarine is beautiful, it captures the tension, fear, stress and finally the stone cold courage of the B.R.R.D. team.
The story of Johann Kraus's tangle with ghostly frogs is wonderfully served by the art of Peter Snejbjerg with colours by Bjarne Hansen. The out of body sequence is a tour de force superbly capturing the story ideas. The final story with art by Karl Moline is brilliantly structured, it reveals itself neatly and with real feeling.
The final story is my favourite in the collection, it uses an oblique angle on the haunting of Liz Sherman to great effect. Using another strong and capable female as the central character gives it a welcome lift.
The quality of the stories overall is very high and none feel like fillers nor are they irrelevant to the overall B.R.R.D. narrative. They add depth and force to the massive struggle talking place in the main story. They show the individual cost of the war with the frogs at one end and the scale of the war by focusing on the sheer ferocity of small encounters. The stories use continuity without being trapped by it, they are straightforward enough to be comprehensible to a new reader, for anyone who has been following the series they are a clever, thoughtful pleasure.

B.P.R.D. 9: 1946. Writers :Mike Mignola and Joshua Dysart, Art: Paul Azaceta, Clolours: Nick Filardi, Letters: Clem Robins. 2008 (Dark Horse)

This is the first time we get a story about Professor Trevor Bruttenholm ( pronounced Broom), the man who rescued and raised Hellboy and died in the opening pages of the first Hellboy book. We get to see Professor Bruttenholm in his prime in the post war years and get a sense of what kind of man he was.
Bruttenholm is in post war Berlin to investigate Nazi occult activities and really to find out more about the origins of Hellboy. He is given the assistance of a group of soldiers who are waiting to go home and resentful of further duty. Most of the information Bruttenholm really wants is in the Soviet sector and tensions between the Soviets and the Americans are already rising making access difficult at best.
Bruttenholm goes directly to the Soviet sector to try and get information and meets Varvara, the little girl who is the head of the Soviet version of the B.P.R.D. She is not all she appears to be, the explanation of who she really is is a nice part of the story and shows how far Mike Mignola ranges for his sources and inspirations.
Bruttenholm discovers, much by accident a Nazi project called Vampire Sturm, a plan to create a vampire army that would be unleashed in the dying days of the war. This ties explicitly back to the Hellboy book Wake the Devil, it is not necessary to have read it however. The story moves in a happily unexpected direction, a mad scientist who is a head in a bottle with spider like mechanical legs and his krieggaffe, which have to be seen to be believed.
Amid the adventures, mad science and occult happenings,the victims of Vampire Sturm, the poor unfortunates who were the subject of the exponents to be turned into vampires are not forgotten.They are treated with care and sympathy and this adds greatly to the book.
The characters are well differentiated and the mood is sombre throughout the book. The work of all the creative team is very coherent and effective without any part unduly calling attention to itself,they flow together very naturally to provide an excellent story and comic.