Hellboy: The Troll Witch and Other Stories

Honestly, I was so-so about the first stories in this volume. The tale of the trolls and the sisters was fairly decent but didn't grab me nearly as much as the tale of Makoma.

That one was all kinds of awesome.

Mignola is doing some rather fantastic things with his research and retellings of old legends and myths. It's subtle and not subtle at all. It's giving credit even in the pages even as it co-opts the legends and turns Hellboy into something rather larger than life.

It's not something I could even see during the read, even. It only hit me after the fact.

Rather than getting long story arcs like I'm used to and how I seem to prefer them, I'm getting some truly excellent episodics here that remind me wonderfully of Gaiman, but not. show more Mignola is truly doing his own thing and I appreciate it by leaps and bounds. :) show less

In this volume, we're treated to several stories from back in Hellboy's days at the BPRD. Most of these are Mignola's attempt to adapt a fable or myth into the Hellboy universe. The results vary.

"The Penanggalan" starts off this volume with Hellboy in Malaysia in 1958. It's a typical short Hellboy tale, but Mignola spoils it by giving away the ending before the confrontation with the monster begins.

"The Hydra and the Lion" is better. Mignola grabs a hold of the Greek legend of Hercules and places it in Alaska in 1961. This one plays out until the end.

"The Troll Witch" is an adaptation of a Norwegian folk tale. Hellboy is investigating a series of murders in Norway in 1963 and has come to confront an old woman about them. There's an show more emotional resonance that lifts up this story that one doesn't usually see in a Hellboy story. One of the best Hellboy short stories that I've read so far.

"The Vampire of Prague" is an adaptation of several local legends. Mignola wasn't able to do the artwork for this one. Not only didn't I like the story, but I didn't think the artist's style meshed with Hellboy. He made him seem too cartoonish.

In "Dr. Carp's Experiment," a BPRD team investigate a haunted house. After a bit of background in the intro, the artwork carries the rest of the story. Mignola makes full use of his color palette here and does a great job.

I'm not sure what to make of "The Ghoul." If I say anything about it, I'll give it away. I can tell you that the titular character speaks in verse. Not too sure this one works.

The collection ends with "Makoma," an adaptation of "The Story of the Hero Makoma," an African folktale perfectly suited to Hellboy. The story begins with Hellboy paying a visit to the New York City Explorers' Club whereupon he encounters a mummy who tells him the story of Makoma. At this point, Mignola hands over the artwork to Richard Corben who does a fantastic job adapting Hellboy into the Makoma saga. Not only does the penciling work, but the traditional Hellboy color palette brings Africa to life, unlike "The Third Wish" from the previous volume. A great story to end the collection.

3.5 stars rounded up to four on the strength of "The Troll Witch" and "Makoma." show less

This is most a collection of short stories, with little impact on the larger universe. The stories are still wonderful and creepy though.

A creepy beasty that comes from a woman with her head kicked off:



This weird floating baby:



One thing that I really love about comic books is the 'sound words' (is there a better term for that?).



DIE! DIE! THUD THUD THUD

Wonderful.

I'm backdating these reviews a bit, but I think we've seen this before. And we'll certainly see it again.



Over and over we have cases of Hellboy carrying on a conversation with people and then surprise they were dead the whole time. Is it really happening? Is it all in his head? Is it a power he has and doesn't know about? Does he know? He never seems to react to it.

I DON'T show more KNOW!

It's still a bit of a surprise each time though... show less

I had forgotten how much I loved the Hellboy books; the myths and the folklore, the dark atmosphere, the silent pages that tell the story better than any number of speech-balloons ever could, the joy of roaming through lost worlds.

This trade paperback collects various mini-series, one-shots, and back-up features from the following comics: Hellboy: Makoma; The Dark Horse Book of Hauntings; The Dark Horse Book of Witchcraft; The Dark Horse Book of the Dead; The Dark Horse Book of Monsters; Hellboy: Premiere Edition; and an all-new story, “The Vampire of Prague.”

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

Generally speaking, I found this collection to contain a mix of good stories and mediocre stories, with one very good story (The Troll Witch).

The Penanggalan: Short but sweet. Hellboy encounters a Malaysian vampire that separates its head from its body, flying around and strangling its victims with dangling entrails. I had heard of show more this creature a long time ago and always thought it was bizarre but cool. Now I finally got to see it in action.

The Hydra and the Lion: Hellboy fights a Hydra at the grave of Hercules. Sounds simple enough, but honestly, it contains some bizarre elements (courtesy of Mignola’s young daughter) and the hydra is poorly drawn in my opinion. Had a lot of unrealized potential.

The Troll Witch: For me, the stand-out story of the collection. Fairly short story in which Hellboy encounters the eponymous Troll Witch and hears the tale of how she came to be the way she is and what happened to her sister. Well-crafted and poignant.

The Vampire of Prague: Hellboy chases an elusive but fairly wimpy vampire in Prague. I was not wild about Craig Russell’s art and the story, such as it is, is pretty thin.

Dr. Carp’s Experiment: Another quick one in which Hellboy explores a “haunted house” and blunders into a trap that sends him back in time – where he fights a mad scientist and a demon-monkey – then is just as rapidly sent back to his own time. Fun.

The Ghoul: In the introduction to this story, Mignola mentions that this is one of the least-liked Hellboy stories by the fans, probably because the eponymous Ghoul n the story speaks only in poetry. Sounds pretty wacky, I know, but it worked. We have the graveyard encounter between Hellboy and the ghoul interspersed with shots of a puppet show where the puppets are peforming Hamlet. Kind of a strange one, but I enjoyed it.

Makoma: The longest story in the collection. Semi-mythic journey of Hellboy traveling around Africa and encountering various giants. I’m not crazy about most African folklore and mythology, so this one didn’t do much for me. Richard Corben did much of the art for this story and it just didn’t work for me. He’s a good artist, but his style is just too different from Mignola and Davis to work as Hellboy art for me.

I give this collection 3.5 stars out of 5. It’s very much hit-or-miss for me. Had the two (longest) stories with guest artists been done by Mignola or Guy Davis, I probably would have rated this collection a half-star higher.

Review copyright 2010 J. Andrew Byers show less

Another collection of shorter Hellboy tales, and they are magnificent. Makoma was especially amazing, especially with the switch in perspective between Mignola's artwork (real world) and Richard Corben's (the story of Makoma). I also like how Hellboy dreams himself as Makoma, especially since they appear to have similar fates.

One of the things I've always liked about Hellboy is that we jump from his arrival on Earth in 1944 to his (at the time) current timeline of 1994, this gives Mignola and any other Hellboy writer a lot of history to create over time. In these short tales, we go from the 50s to the year before Seed of Destruction, 1993.

Also, there is such a fantastic love for folklore and mythology from all over the world that comes show more through in all the Hellboy stories. show less

Not sure Corben and Russell stack up 100% to Mignola (Corben's a slightly better match in my opinion) but as always Hellboy is a weird, dark delight.