Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Comic Book Review: Hellboy in Hell, in Wedlock, and in a Santa Suit

December saw a bunch of Hellboy stories come out after a long, dry absence. Three different stories in three different spots showed up.

Hellboy in Hell #5 tells a stand-alone story of Hellboy helping out a soul who's in trouble. As Hellboy wanders around in Hell, he runs across a fellow looking for a graveyard. This fellow made a deal with a demon who gave him a whip that would produce gold coins whenever it was cracked. But just for a couple of years then the demon would come to collect his soul. The demon did give the guy an escape clause: if he can guess what he will eat for dinner and what he will drink when he gets to Hell, the demon will let him go. The guy is looking for the graveyard in hopes another demon will help him. This is another of those Hellboy stories where Hellboy is more along for the ride than an active participant in the story. The story has nice atmosphere and humor. With Mignola doing the art as well as the writing, it is especially good.

In Dark Horse Presents #31, Hellboy is back in Mexico in the 1950s. He's on his bender with a luchador friend. Hellboy goes off with a mariachi band who has a fetching female in their retinue. He winds up marrying her, though she's not the woman she appears to be. This is only half the story, so I'll be picking up #32 when it comes out. It's frustratingly short though the atmosphere is nice. The art is by Mick McMahon who does a reasonable job aping Mignola's style. The issue has a bunch of other stories in it as well, some beginning, some ending, some in the middle. I flipped through but wasn't really taken by any of them.

On the Dark Horse app, they had a sale on Hellboy: A Christmas Underground (originally published in 1997). Hellboy goes to an English house on Christmas eve to help a family slowly dying out. The mother is the last to go. One of her daughters disappeared five years ago when she wandered off to a nearby graveyard at night. Her ghost has been coming back to bring the family one by one to where ever she went. Probably not a good place, right? Hellboy investigates. In a nice touch, the old lady mistakes Hellboy for Father Christmas. The story is pretty interesting and makes for a nice adventure. Again, Mignola does the art as well as writing and does a great job.

These comics are available through Dark Horse's digital store.

2 comments:

  1. You know... surprisingly I haven't read any Hellboy comics. I am really only familiar with the films and that makes me sad. I need to really pick these up and check them out!

    Angie
    Angela's Anxious Life

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  2. The first movie was more like the comics, which are fantastic. New stuff is coming at a slow trickle, but there's plenty that has already been published. Hellboy is probably my favorite comic book character. His no-nonsense, blue collar attitude makes a nice contrast to the heavy mythology and folklore he finds himself in.

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