Two in Review

As part of our local comic shop’s awesome monthly specials, I was recently able to pick up both Vol. 1 and 2 of the first Hellboy series, all of which I had somehow yet to read. I just finished the first volume, and I have to say, it wasn’t exactly what I thought it would be. I mean, it had all of the same great quasi-macabre style and coloring that made me fall in love with Mike Mignola’s work in the first place and the story is a lot richer than what I have enjoyed about the movies. But, for some reason, it took me a while to get into a good vibe with the book. I had to pick it up and re-start it a few times and really work to get my mind in a place where I was entirely loving the it.

Of course Mignola’s horribly beautiful art, fantastically rigid lines and subtly playful dialogue eventually won me over half-way through and by the end of the issues, I was excited to move on to the next volume. I do wonder though, if I would have continued reading them if it had not been for affection for the artistic form or my delight with the movie(s). Hmm.

If you liked either of the movies, I’d definitely recommend picking up at least one of Mignola’s books (why not start with this one?) and getting into the gritty comic horror goodness that lead to the feature films.