Hellboy: Darkness Calls

In the dreamland of Baba Yaga, the immortal Russian Forest, Hellboy faces a ton of cool foes right from real mythology and legend.

I can't say I completely recognize all the legend references here but that doesn't matter for the sake of sheer enjoyment. Indeed, the pacing on this one is pretty much nonstop action and twist with a really huge bite of Hellboy's old foes. We've got witches, Hood of the hanging fame, Hecate and an army of skeletons, the spirit of the forest, Baba Yaga... but honestly, I was most thrilled by Koshchei the Deathless.

The only other time I read about Koshchei the Deathless was in a Cat Valente novel and now I'm pretty stoked to learn a lot more, and not just because of how he was portrayed here. What a tragic piece!

This trade paperback collects the six-issue Hellboy: Darkness Calls series, along with two new epilogues and a sketchbook, making it perhaps the meatiest (in terms of page count) of all the Hellboy collections to date. Mike Mignola writes this one, per usual, and artwork is mostly done by Duncan Fegredo, with whom I wasn’t previously familiar, but his style is good and meshes well with Mignola’s, so it’s a pretty seamless hand-off.

Note: This review features plot spoilers -- read at your own risk.

The story opens with the cursed Satanist Igor Bromhead (remember him from “Box Full of Evil”?) having summoned Hecate in an Italian crypt and Hellboy washed up on the shores of England. Hellboy has a nasty run-in with a conclave of show more witches and their familiars as well as the ghost of an infamous witch-hunter. Once again, Hellboy is confronted with his demonic origins and renounces his apparent destiny to rule the armies of Hell. He’s a god egg, that one. Then he’s promptly sent into a mystic dimension where the Russian witch Baba Yaga – one of Hellboy’s old foes – rules. And she’s still pretty annoyed with him over the fact that he shot out one of her eyes in their last encounter so she sends her minion, Koshchei the Deathless, as well as a veritable army of animated skeletons. Helboy encounters a number of classic figures from Slavic folklore before he can overcome Baba Yaga and escape from this land of eternal Russian winter.

I give this one 4.5 stars out of 5. A rollicking good Hellboy adventure, and the return of Baba Yaga and the exploration of Russian/Slavic folklore was lots of fun. Highly recommended – you won’t even mind (much) that Mignola has turned over the reins on the art to Duncan Fegredo (except for one epilogue that Mignola draws), as there are plenty of wondrous creatures and gorgeous winter vistas throughout the story.

Review copyright 2010 J. Andrew Byers show less

Hellboy: Darkness Calls is the latest in Mike Mignola's Hellboy series. Hellboy is still AWOL from the Bureau of Paranormal Research and Development; while the BPRD continues to battle the occult plague roaring across America, Hellboy is delving deeper and deeper into the mystery of his own existence. Recovering from the trials of Strange Places and The Troll Witch at an old friend's house, Hellboy is dragged before a very strange parliament, which eventually puts him in the grasp of his old enemy, the Baba Yaga. In the dream-like realm of a mythical Russia, he must battle figures we only know through folklore in an attempt to get back to his world. Unfortunately, even darker tidings are taking place in the shadowy recesses of the show more Earth.

The Hellboy series began as mostly one-offs and short serials. It has only been in the past few volumes, especially since the release of BPRD, that a stronger storyline has taken precedence. This particular volume has probably made more references to past events than any of the other story lines, with returning character's and plot points being pivotal to the events within. Here we are given hints as to the true history of Hecate, the nature of witches, and what it is that Baba Yaga has been up to since Hellboy shot out her eye all those years ago. As is typical with Hellboy, the progression is fast occasionally fragmented: Mignola's plotting has always been more like storyboarding for a film than a fluid comic narrative. This can be give or take for many readers; I have always rather liked the focus on the physical, often violent side of Hellboy's nature. At the same time, the quick cuts give only snippets of the great mythical figures behind the plot, which I feel increases the mystery and unknowable nature of these beings.

As a deviation from the majority of the Hellboy stories, this volume is not dawn by Mignola, but instead Duncan Fegredo, who readers may have seen in Kid Eternity with Grand Morrison or on some early 2000's Judge Dredds for 2000 A.D.. Mignola's signature chiaroscuro expressionism has always been one of the hallmarks of Hellboy; indeed it's hard to think of the big red guy without all those sheets of black. None the less, Fegredo does a fantastic job of capturing that same feel and look. After a few pages, Hellboy aficionados won't even care there's a difference, as the tone is the same without being a simple imitation of Mr. Mignola's style. According to Wikipedia, Fegredo will be the new regular artist for the Hellboy series, which does not bother me one bit. show less

Gruagach has become my new favorite villain, for all that this is really meant as another Hellboy vs Baba Yaga installment. Always fun to visit fantasy Russia 8)

The Hellboy premise is interesting, but this is a late stage in an etiolated series.

An undead with eyes made of coins?



YES!

A bit more on Rasputin and Decate?



YES!

Koschei the Deathless.



Just... what?

I'm so glad I'm not reading these as they're coming out.

Sodding lovely.