B.P.R.D. Hell on Earth, Vol. 12: Metamorphosis by Mike Mignola
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Is World War II the most interesting time in recorded history? I think it might be. It sorta seems like it. But I’m not totally sure why.
Parts of this take place in WWII. That’s why I’m asking.
It’s definitely a time of innovation. And the world was certainly smaller. Which is usually something attributed to the internet, but maybe it was the atomic bomb.
Think about it. It took the U.S. a bit to get involved in WWI, and some of that had to do with the fact that the war was “over there.”
But then, in WWII, we tried the same thing until it wasn’t “over there” anymore.
And THEN, with the bomb, war really changed a lot, right? Because you couldn’t count on the same things you once could. It wasn’t all about supply chains and whatnot. It wasn’t about troops. It was about the fact that a single plane could drop a single bomb that could change EVERYTHING. There was no “over there” anymore.
You also have the Holocaust, which may or may not be the largest scale massacre of all time, but it’s certainly the best recorded. And it was happening in the modern world.
There’s Hitler. He’s certainly one of history’s most-studied characters. Even still it’s such a thing to say, “Worse than Hitler.” Which other dictator holds that dubious distinction?
There was a lot going on then, I guess. It’s hard to say what exactly makes that era so ripe for stories. Or maybe it’s not hard to say, maybe it’s hard to say which events are really interesting, which put the era over the top. Or how so many things were happening at the same time. What caused that?
I’m sure a historian could tell me. But I’m like Insane Clown Posse. I ain’t listenin’ to no historian. Motherfuckers are lyin and gettin’ me pissed.
Anyway, it’s interesting to me how much of the Mignola-verse seems rooted in WWII. It seems like a good move, but it’s still fascinating.