A series of short Hellboy tales collected into a graphic novel. All stories are written by Mike Mignola, and drawn by Richard Corbin, P. Craig Russell or Mignola himself.
The first story, "The Penanggalan" has Hellboy taking on a Malaysian Vampire, a beautiful woman whose head detatches at night and goes around drinking blood. At the end of the night, she must soak her intestines and stomach in vinegar to fit them back into her body after they are bloated with blood.
In "The Hydra and the Lion". Hellboy is called on to subdue the Hydra after Hercules dies after many years as a Janitor at a School. But when he meets a teenage girl who claims to be a lion, will it be Hellboy or the girl who fells the creature?
"The Troll Witch" tells of a woman seeking a child who went to a witch and recieved two flowers, one bright and beautiful and one stunted and ugly. She was told to eat only the bright flower. She did and had a beautiful daughter. But her lust for a second child was so strong that she also ate the ugly flower and gave birth to an ugly, troll-like daughter. The two girls loved each other. But when the beautiful daughter's head was cut off and replaced with that of a cow, could the ugly daughter save her? Or was she fated to be a cow for the rest of her life?
"The Vampire of Prague" has Hellboy chasing down a vampire who rose from a man so desperate for a game of cards, he even played with the dead. Cursed for this blasphemous act, he became a vampire and Hellboy goes to Prague to deal with him. But can he get the winning hand needed to lay the Vampire's soul to rest?
"Dr. Carp's Experiment" has Hellboy reliving the last moments of the Good Doctor's life in a very haunted house.
"The Ghoul" has Hellboy putting to rest a ghoul whose only unusual power is to... quote bad poetry with dark themes?
"Makoma" tells a legend of Africa through the mummy of a boy who was once possessed by a fire demon. He tells the story of Makoma, a legendary African warrior who bore a magical axe and great strength, and who was responsible for making Africa as it was and is, saved from the depradations of the Dragon.
Some of the stories in this collection of tales are very strange, but all of them are interesting. Some of them didn't quite work for me, like "The Ghoul" and others weren't so much tales as snapshots of a particular thing or feeling. Makoma, on the other hand, really held my interest, and it was not only the longest story, but the one with the most developed theme and the one I enjoyed the most.
Mignola is mostly at his best here, but I really enjoy his art for the Hellboy stories, as it tends to be dark and evocative of the darkness in the corners that creeps you out late at night. Hellboy, while he can be pretty frightening, also comes across as less of a demon fighter and more of a regular joe doing his regular job... just from the art.
If you haven't already experienced Hellboy, either through the movies, the comics, or the graphic novels, you should. It's the most different series and hero I've ever read and experienced, and anyone who loves stories, myths and faerietales from all over the world will be just as entranced with this hero, ans this series, as I am.
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