It’s no secret that B.P.R.D.: The Devil You Know was going to show the chronological end of the Hellboy universe as we know it — creator Mike Mignola created even confirmed as much with us earlier this month. But even with the certain end of the beloved comic universe being something that’s been known for months, B.P.R.D. is surprising in ways you would never expect.
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Just a heads up before we go further, there are full spoilers ahead for B.P.R.D.: The Devil You Know #15. Seriously — it’s a big issue that introduces some critical things to the Hellboy mythos. Proceed with caution if you have yet to read.
First and foremost, this issue is peak Hellboy. Having been faced with the impending apocalypse since he was created, this title has focused solely on that story arc, and it all comes to an end here in the most beautiful of ways. After fighting against his own prophetic ending for decades in-universe, Big Red looks out upon the razed planet and gives up, just like that. With absolutely no one left to fight for, Hellboy finally gives it all up by sacrificing himself and essentially ending the world — at least in its current iteration.
You see, when Hellboy sacrifices himself inside Hecate’s Iron Maiden, his blood drips down over the Earth, essentially fertilizing it for a new world to be born. Think of it as the opposite of Nimue; instead of causing the apocalypse for power and world domination, Big Red completes the cycle so that the world can reset and have a new chance of life.
It’s a beautiful, poignant scene only compounded by the fact that Mignola returned to the title to illustrate the last half of the issue. Should this actually be the end of Hellboy, the last half of the comic is as good as it will ever get in the Hellboy universe.
Plot-wise, there are a few enormous twists sprinkled throughout that are shocking and unbelievable, with one, in particular, changing the comics mythos as you know it. As with any other Hellboy storyline, it’s particularly difficult to jump into this issue without reading any of the prior stories because the complete narrative has been built in the issues prior.
Even so, this issue serves as the perfect cap to the Hellboy timeline by bringing back some characters lost deep in the mythos in addition to having the titular character go out in the best way imaginable. The best part of it all is that the team leaves it all open-ended so that maybe, just maybe, there might be some story left with this new world that’s unfolded in front of us.
Published by Dark Horse Comics
On April 17, 2019
Written by Mike Mignola and Scott Allie
Art by Laurence Campbell (with a surprise set of pages from Mike Mignola at the end)
Colors by Dave Stewart
Cover by Mike Mignola
