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Hellboy: Weird Tales

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  •  
    Todd Jordan
    Smut is good.

  • Hellboy: Weird Tales



    Published by: Dark Horse Comics
    Released on: Nov. 26, 2014
    Writer: various
    Artist: various
    Cover Artist: Mike Mignola
    Purchase at Amazon

    Mike Mignola's cast of characters that make up the Hellboy universe are featured in a host of short stories written and illustration by a ton of people. The tales contained within were originally published as an eight-issue series under the same title about a decade ago, a series which was first reprinted in two volumes also published a decade ago. Also collected in this volume are a couple of stories from a series published about half a decade ago called “Hellboy: The Wild Hunt”, which are the first two stories in this collection. All this is in an order different than how they were laid out in the series and the book reprints all the covers from the series sprinkled throughout as pinups. Below is a list of the shorts with the creative teams behind them (writer is listed first, artist is listed second):

    “How Koshchei Became Deathless” by Mike Mignola and Guy Davis
    “Baba Yaga's Feast” by Mike Mignola and Guy Davis
    “The Children of the Black Mound” by Fabian Nicieza and Stefano Raffaele
    “Lobster Johnson: Action Detective Adventure” by John Cassady
    “Midnight Cowboy” by Eric Powell
    “Haunted” by Tom Sniegoski and Ovi Nedelcu
    “A Love Story” by Tommy Lee Edwards and Don Cameron
    “Hot” by Randy Stradley and Seung Kim
    “Flight Risk” by Joe Casey and Steve Parkhouse
    “Family History” by Sara Ryan and Steve Lieber
    “Shattered” by Ron Marz and Jim Starlin
    “Love is Scarier than Death” by Haden Blackman and J.H. Williams III
    “Command Performance” by Will Pfeifer and P. Craig Russell
    “Big-Top Hellboy” by John Cassady
    “Theatre of the Dead” by Jim Pascoe,Tom Fassbender, art by Simeon Wilkins
    “Abe Sapien: Star of the B.P.R.D.” by John Arcudi and Roger Langridge
    “Fifteen Minutes…” by Jill Thompson
    “Still Born” by Matt Hollingsworth and Alex Maleev
    “The Dread Within” by Jason Pearson
    “Cool Your Head” by Scott Morse
    “Toy Soldier” by Akira Yoshida and Kia Asamiya
    “Downtime” by Bob Fingerman
    “Friday” by Doug Petrie and Gene Colan
    “Professional Help” by Even Dorkin
    “Party Pooper” by Andi Watson
    “Curse of the Haunted Doily” by Mark Ricketts and Eric Wright
    “Long Distance Caller” by Kev Walker
    “My Vacation in Hell” by Craig Thompson
    …and a gallery of pin-ups, including work by such artists as William Stout, Dave Stevens, and Michael Kaluta (and a bunch more)

    Stand-out stories for this reader are mainly due to the artwork styles that are the most appealing, but “Baba Yaga's Feast” was one tale that felt like something out of Creepy from the old days. It's a nasty little tale with a fantastic and twisted ending that you know is coming, but it is still such a rewarding finish once it gets there. It's the script that makes that one among the best in the collection.

    The Goon's creator and God lends his amazing talents to a story from Hellboy's youth that involves a dog named Mac, and some green “boogery” substance that turns the dog into a monster. And Hellboy Junior in an Army helmet is pretty darn funny looking. The whole story has Eric Powell's voice all over it, and it is by far this reader's favorite story in the collection. But there certainly is plenty here in competition for the top dog spot and no shortage of great material in this volume. Evan Dorkin's story immediately comes to mind. “Professional Help” has elements of death metal, a hideous creature called a “grief eater”, and baby barf that melts away flesh. Craig Thompson's “My Vacation in Hell”, the very last tale, and one where the artwork really sings and is full of little treats. And the way he tells his tale is so vastly different from the rest of the tales and deserves to mentioned, even if the table of contents forgot to.

    The artwork ranges in style from cartoonish, such as the work by Ovi Nedelcu on “Haunted”, to the beautiful and realistic black and white pencil work by Seung Kim on the story “Hot”, so there should be something here for everyone. Some art is simplistic, some is crammed full of detail, some looks like average comic book work, and some are very stylistic. The stories range in subject and characters, from Hellboy getting to second base while in a car on surveillance looking for the murderous “Goatman”, to Hellboy hunting down monsters with Abe Sapien, to Lobster Johnson and his transvestite sidekick taking out Nazis in a Sunday funnies style from the 1930s and 40s.

    This anthology is full of self-contained episodes that are in no way tied to one another aside from the fact that they are all Hellboy related. And you need not know years of chronology to enjoy and understand and enjoy the material, which is a good thing. From start to finish, reading Hellboy: Weird Tales is an excellent way to spend your valuable time and this is actually a great starter book for those not all too familiar with the Hellboy world of characters and mayhem. They could have actually called this something like “The World of Hellboy Sampler” and it would be a fitting enough title. This is a great book and if you missed the material in any of its previous publications, it is well worth adding to your collection.





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