Hellboy: The Companion by Steven Weiner, Jason Hall and Victoria Blake

Hellboy is a comic about the titular character, a man who is half human, half demon. For a long time, Hellboy worked for the B.P.R.D.- the Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense, under his mentor and foster father, the kindly Professor Bruttenholm (pronounced Broom). But when his mentor died, and Hellboy later became interested in finally learning about where he came from, combined with discovering that Thomas Manning, the director of the B.P.R.D. had installed a bomb in the chest plate of Roger, a homonculous who Hellboy had discovered and befriended, and who was working for the agency with him, he finally decided to quit and wander on his own.

Those who remained behind continued to work, however, and the series continued as more of an ensemble book, without Hellboy. But with the many convoluted plotlines, sometimes information about the characters is difficult to tease out from among the many pages which have been written about them. All of it has been collated and collected, though, in this book, from information on the character's pasts and their beginnings and the major and minor storylines they have been in. Strictly from the comics, of course... the movies and animated stories aren't a part of this timeline.

The book begins with a discussion of how Mike Mignola came up with Hellboy, and the series and artists that influenced his work both as an artist and as a writer. From there, it goes on to character profiles, where the major heroes, villains, and important secondary characters are listed, from Abe Sapien, the Fairies, Liz Sherman, Kate Corrigan, Johann Kraus, Elihu Cavendish, Langston Everett Caul, Isa Haupstein, The Lobster and Rasputin, among others, are discussed. Here are their entire histories laid out in one place rather than being scattered over many books and many stories. Chief among them, of course, is Hellboy himself, with several pages devoted to his long and convoluted history and adventures.

After that is a timeline of the series and the earth itself, from the First, or Hyperborian age, to the modern day of the series. Along the way, we find where Hellboy's Right Hand originated, and where the Ogdru Jahad came from and the Ogdru Hem, their servants, as well.

The second to last section discusses the literary geneology of Hellboy in greater detail, and the last section is filled with Mike Mignola's favorite stories and works, many of which tie into or underpin various Hellboy stories presented in the comics, from the Fairy Books of Andrew Lang, Manley Wade Wellman's stories and those by Clark Ashton Smith and H.P. Lovecraft.

The book ends with a listing of the many stories and tales presented in the Hellboy Universe, including those of Hellboy, the B.P.R.D., Hellboy Junior and crossovers with other comics by Dark Horse.

This book (heavily salted with art by Mike Mignola) is a wonderful resource for those who enjoy Hellboy and want to know more about the character and the series. Here are all the stories of the characters, and explanations and connections that readers might not have made on their own. How Kroenen and Von Klempt met and how Kroenen became part machine and part man, and how they and Rasputin met their ends. It's all there, available to anyone who might have missed the story or who doesn't know Kroenen beyond a character from the movie. The timeline is also useful, and the meditations on how Hellboy came to be in Mike Mignola's mind. It's a fascinating look at the story of Hellboy, and how he came to be both in the story that Mike Mignola tells and in Mike Mignola's life.

This book is recommended for those who love the comic, even those who have already read all the stories and know all the history, and for those who are only just beginning to enjoy the series. This is very good stuff, and any writer should study the depth of story that Mignola manages to see what can be accomplished in what is primarily a visual medium. This is good stuff. Maybe even some of the best.