Hellboy spinoff B.P.R.D. finally comes into its own in the long story constituting the third collection of the comic book. Plague of Frogs explains where B.P.R.D. regular Abe Sapiens, who is amphibious, came from. It's what's known in the superhero biz as an origins story, and it implies that Abe is an emanation in a time loop. He has a -nineteenth-century manifestation that he accesses from the present via something like the astral plane. No birth-equivalent is suggested, so whether Abe exists in other periods, too, is an open question. The revelation about Abe arises from a series-typical spooky caper involving highly evolved fungi escaping from a secret lab with the aid of a possessed professor, an outbreak of frog-monsters traceable to a cult that has taken over a small New England town, a fiery showdown of cult-and-monsters versus Abe and his Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense colleagues, and Abe's near-death. Writer-artist Mignola surrenders drawing duties to Davis, whose broader palette, suppler line, and more intricate backgrounds serve an often-dialogueless scenario superbly.
