Hollow Earth Dark Horse Extra

Kate Corrigan reviews the personnel file of new B.P.R.D. recruit Johann Kraus.

Publication History

This three page strip was published as a teaser for the upcoming Hollow Earth comic. The strip was published in newspaper format in Dark Horse Extra #42–44, from December 2001 to February 2002.

The story was later collected in the trade paperback B.P.R.D.: Hollow Earth & Other Stories in January 2003.

Synopsis

One night Kate Corrigan sits alone at the B.P.R.D. Headquarters. She cannot sleep and decides to look over the file of new recruit Johann Kraus.

Seven months earlier Johann Kraus had been preforming a séance for the friends and family of a dead man. At the exact same time someone in Chengdou, China broke into a building holding powerful occult objects. While Kraus was in the ethereal plain, a great power was unleashed in China. The resulting blast consumed the souls of everyone within 100 miles of Chengdou.

However on the ethereal plane the result was larger. The surge passed through the ethereal plane and killed everyone in the séance. Johann Kraus's body was destroyed, but since his soul was not in his body at the time, it survived.

Kate Corrigan comments that Johann will fit in just fine at the B.P.R.D.. The picture attached to the file shows a figure in some sort of containment suit.

Story Chronology

The story takes place in September 2002, after The Ectoplasmic Man and before Hollow Earth.

Content

Characters

• Johann Kraus (Flashback)
• Chengdow incident victims (Flashback)
• B.P.R.D.
  • Katherine Corrigan)
  • Hellboy (Photograph)
  • Elizabeth Sherman (Photograph)
  • Roger (Photograph)
  • Abraham Sapien (Photograph)

Locations

• U.S.A.
  • B.P.R.D. Headquarters (Farfield, CT)
• Germany (Flashback)
  • Kraus Residence (Heidelberg) (Flashback)
• China (Flashback)
  • Chengdow (Flashback)