Done: "B.P.R.D.: The Universal Machine" by Mike Mignola and John Arcudi

Done: B.P.R.D.: The Universal Machine by Mike Mignola and John Arcudi, 2007, 978159077105.

The YA section in Ficthburg PL's YA room had three of these B.P.R.D. books.  So I took them home.  The problem with these is that each bound copy is usually wither part of a series or continues to follow, and depend on, previous storylines.  I hate being in the dark when reading a book but I lucked out on these.  The two stories that were kinda connected - a character has a major change - I was able to understand because I read one before the other.

Hell Boy does not appear in this except for a brief cameo.  The BPRD (I'll dispense with the punctuation) have sent a couple agents to rural France to buy a rare book of magic.  They hope to buy the book and use the information to re-assemble a Golem-like colleague who was split apart in a previous story.  One of the agents is captured and taken into an alternate reality/time.  The bookseller is asking for one of her colleagues in exchange for the book.

Meanwhile, four other agents are living and working at the BPRD's headquarters in Colorado.  Various conversations and such tell you some of their backstories and how they ended up with BPRD.  Meanwhile, a prisoner transfer from Quebec delivers a the monster to Colorado.  A monster that took overtakes over souls and leaves the person stuck and unable to escape without killing someone else. 

Things happen.  Art happens.  People die.  Mysterious things occur.  Ancient and not-so-ancient magic occurs.  Supernatural goings on.  I like the artwork in this series.