World Famous Comics: Hellboy, Vol. 7: The Troll Witch and Other Stories (v. 7)
Hellboy, Vol. 7: The Troll Witch and Other Stories (v. 7)
By: Mike Mignola Publisher: Dark Horse Average Rating: Binding: Paperback Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 144 Publication Date: November 28, 2007 Studio: Dark Horse
Product Description: As a new Hellboy series hits the stands, fans of the world's greatest paranormal detective can find older favorites collected for the first time in the seventh volume of the Hellboy Saga. Hellboy: The Troll Witch and Others collects short stories from The Dark Horse Books of the Dead, Witchcraft, Hauntings, and Monsters, the 2004 Hellboy: Wizard 1/2, as well as the critically acclaimed 2006 miniseries, Hellboy: Makoma by Mignola and comics legend Richard Corben, and a previously unpublished Hellboy story by P. Craig Russell and Mike Mignola, along with sketches and story notes.
All kinds of good stuff here ^ "Hellboy, Volume 7: The Troll Witch and Others" features a variety of tales: some short, some long, some new, some previously published, some pretty straight-forward, some open to interpretation... but all fascinating and fun. A new wrinkle this time is the use of guest artists P. Craig Russell and Richard Corben, who each draw a story. Both deliver the quirks and weirdness you expect, and both are a good fit for Hellboy. And, of course, you get lots of Mike Mignola artwork, too, and the whole book was written by Mike. All this makes Volume 7 of this series a can't-lose proposition: you get plenty of what you happily expect and plenty of little surprises, all of the latter decent and many quite a bit more than that. Hellboy fans shouldn't hesitate.
Great stories ^ Five of these are drawn by Mignola and two are not. The stories are all Mignola, though.
Good but not Great. Rate: ***1/2 ^ Mignola's Hellboy is one of the most remarkable creations in recent memory. Said that, The Troll Witch and Others is not Hellboy at best and perhaps the weakest graphic novel so far. Don't get me wrong, there is exceptionally fine material here (the story title is one of the most beauti- ful tales in the entire Hellboy canon and the super fine Dr. Carp's Expe- riment have all the elements that makes Hellboy a modern classic) but there is some disapointing material here too. The Vampire of Prague (drawn by P. Craig, Russel) is pointless and forgettable, The Ghoul is a failed experiment, but Makoma, drawn by the legendary Richard Corben, is an amusing and interesting reinter- pretation of an african folktale. The Troll Witch and Others is a good graphic novel but perhaps not the best place to start.
A great collection of Hellboy shorts ^ This is a great introduction to the Hellboy/BPRD universe. As it does collect several older shorts, fans may have seen some (most?) of these before. I'd seen about half myself.
Still, they capture the full range of Hellboy - from the very short and very simple plots to the complex weavings of Hellboy and legend, this book contains all the basic tonal elements of the short Hellboy works.
If you're curious about whether or not you'd like Hellboy, this is a great place to find out.
Great stuff ^ it's great that now we can have all the hell boy stories compiled in volumes cause I read them all in single comics so now it's easier
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