Summary:Devastated over the loss of his luchador comrade, Hellboy lingers in Mexican bars until he's forced to grapple with the Frankenstein monster with much more than a belt at Wrestlemania at stake.
Plot: It seems like Mike Mignola had one plan for  Hellboy: House of the Living Dead: pack the graphic novel with as many classic horror monsters as possible then have Hellboy beat them to a bloody pulp. Congratulations, mission accomplished! In this first experiment at a stand alone graphic novel Hellboy carves his way through a horde of ghosts, ghouls, vampires, a reluctant werewolf and yes the Frankenstein monster but it would be unfair to paint Hellboy: House of the Living Dead as just a wall to wall action fest, as despite the metric tons of action the book does contain Mignola in fact does manage to expose us to an almost forgotten chapter of Hellboy’s life that reminds us of how human he really is.
   Through out all the many colorful stories that Mignola has crafted around Hellboy there have been two major forces pulling on the titular hero: the call of his demonic heritage and the struggle of trying to live a simple mortal life despite being a creature with a powerful destiny and here we see the beginnings of how these competing forces effect our young hero as he leaves the safety of his adolescence. Reeling from the death of a close friend and plunged into darkness, Hellboy battles as many inner demons as he does physical ones before learning that he can't hold himself responsible for the deaths around him as that is simple the fragile nature of human life. In typical Mignola fashion however it's not all tragedy as the book ends on a darkly humorous note: after all is said and done the Frankenstein monster lumbers into the bar Hellboy is recovering you start to think their previous battle is about to resume when in a twist Hellboy simply buys the creature a beer and the two sit together at the bar.
Art: Corben’s sense of atmosphere is absolutely stunning  through out this whole book. From the ancient stone castle to the mist consumed graveyard, Corben envelopes us in each and every location giving the story a true sense of place that really grounds us solidly in the world of Hellboy. Of course a Hellboy book wouldn’t be a Hellboy book if it were not filled with monsters and Corben makes sure it happens. His take on monsters that have been portrayed literally thousands of times is fresh and left me thinking about their hideous design long after I finished the book. In particular I was floored by the elongated features of the Frankenstein monster; it was a truly unique look and yet it was immediately recognizable as that most famouse of creatures which really speaks to Corben’s ability to make the familiar bizarre and frightening once again.
Grade:10/10

Summary: Hellboy finds himself in the Appalachian Mountains of Virginia and, as usual, his travels have landed him in the middle of some supernatural trouble.
Plot: When I first saw in the opening panel that this story was set in the Appalachians, I figured I ought to prepare myself for weird, in-bred, hillbilly characters as that's what we tend to see when that neck of the woods appears, but I shouldn't have been worried as Mignola has a much steadier hand. Rather than caricatures Mignola approached the characters in the Crooked with sensitivity and realism; there’s honor and faith to be found in the new cast introduced here. Mignola touches upon these people of the Appalachians as part of a culture, one that’s unlike our own, but something unique and alive all the same. The magic is dark and weird, unlike any we've seen in Hellboy stories past , full of hexes and witchballs which give it a distinct and authentic Southern feel. That small, rural setting extends to the scope of the story as well as instead of some big, world altering horror we see Hellboy pitted against an evil miser who seems content only to lord over a small town but that doesn't mean there isn't a feeling of real treat or that the personal stakes have no meaning; in fact the opposite is true as the smaller stakes make it more personal and more real which really contrasts nicely with the surrounding supernatural world.
Art: Richard Corben and Mignola have collaborated several times but this is by far my favorite. On it's surface these two artists wouldn't seem to be a good fit; Mignola’s style conveys horror by emphasizing what the reader doesn’t see. The monsters hide in shadows, and the audience is left to wonder what terror is to be found at the end of a tentacle while on the other hand Corben's art sets out to scare the readers in the opposite way with detailed line work capturing every grotesque feature of the creatures of the night....but strangely it's a match made in heaven as Corben's in your face style opens up an entirely different world of possibilities for the world of Hellboy.
Grade:10/10

Summary: Hellboy travels to Ireland to unravel a mystery around a missing child and the Kingdom of Fairy.
Plot: Mike Mignola's The Corpse is probably my favorite comic book of all time. It's a perfect book. I could, literally end this review right there...but I'll continue on and extol the virtues of the book.
Originally published in two page installments in Capital City's Advance Comics Guide in 1995, The Corpse is a fantastic introduction to Hellboy and his world;  it's action packed and full of a moody atmosphere that's spooky without being gory, built on the foundation of half-remembered folktales, beautifully designed monsters...and it's crafted in a way that's accessible to all readers and it's brevity is a master class in pacing. To be honest, I think it's that latter point that makes me love this book so much; don't get me wrong I love the stories detailing Hellboy's world ending destiny but I truly feel the short stories showcase Mignola's skills as a story teller. The way he blends folktales, fairytales, myths and blue collar action is a contrast that heightens both elements into something greater than both halves and creates a world that is all the more interesting.   Those myths and legends are excellent because they always hint as a world that exists just outside of what you can see, a hidden world that's just beyond our understanding, with rules that have a logic all of their own, that occasionally slips through into the lives of regular people who just happen to brush up against something older...and then Hellboy shows up and although he's a supernatural creature himself he bends all those other worldly elements back on themselves with his "It's just my day job" mantra.  That's the whole gimmick of Hellboy, especially in the early stories and the shorts that come between them. It's this idea that he's not just a seven foot tall bright red demon who shows up to bump back against the things that go bump in the night... but that for him, it's routine. It's a hassle. It's a mystical world full of immortal, incomprehensible forces that will ultimately control his destiny, but more often than not, it's just something he has to deal with today. That compare and contrast is dark, but ultimately creates a wonderful element of comedy and that shine's brightest in this story with  Hellboy's increasingly frustrated conversations with the corpse as he carries him around Ireland against the backdrop of fiery ghosts, man eating mermaids and giant pig monsters.
Art: I could write thousands upon thousands of words about Mike Mignola's art and how magnificent it is at conveying the plot which is especially stunning in a story told in two-page installments, based on a folktale that was chosen specifically because it could be broken into a handful of short scenes that fit the minuscule page count...but in this case I think the heavy praise should go to the colorist Matthew Hollingsworth. Although Mignola's simple line work and use of shadow do much to create the world and creates a mood rife with tension Hollingsworth's pallet does a tremendous job at catching up the uniformed reader just who the hero is in the story with out needing any of the back story of Anung Un Ramas or Rasputin with just a simple use of color. In a story full of shadows, taking place entirely at night, and everything around him is dark, grey, or the washed-out brown Hellboy himself is always bright, primary, crayola red. The contrast makes him the focus of every panel he's in, and since we're accustomed to the hero being the center of attention in a story the focus drawn on Hellboy because of that use of color makes us immediately see him as the hero with out any dialogue needing to tell us this. It's soimple, instantaneous and beautiful.
Grade:10/10

Summary: As the Cold War expands into the supernatural the chronically underfunded BPRD suddenly finds itself in demand and it put through a rapid growth to cover the interests of the United States. 

Plot: Hellboy and the BPRD has been a little uneven under the partnership of Roberson and Mignola and although I really liked the focus on the Soviet Supernatural Menace that has been building through out the various Hellboy books over the years I wasn't sure how I felt about a fractured plot line with very distinct and separate stories taking place in the same book. Balancing the prequel to Hellboy's sojourn into Mexico, the Professor's investigation into Varvara and Susan's growing telepathy is a tall order...but at least in this issue it came out really well, although separate(even down to them each having their own artist) neither piece felt more important than the others, they all got equal time and although tackling different topics they didn't clash as they felt linked by the idea the BPRD was going through serious growing pains and that this format was illustrating that.  

My favorite part though? Mac, Hellboy's dog, died and that there was no one with time to grieve with Hellboy was incredibly poignant... and done so succinctly. It was perfect story telling. 

Art: All the art was fantastic, but Omeming was head and shoulders above the rest in my book. I just love how he brought a quiet menace to such an angelic visage as Varvara. There was a very real sense of other worldly presence to her that just gave her weight in every panel she was in, and that feeling coupled with her child like appearance was just plain amazing. 

Grade:10/10