Hellboy

The art is a little less black-heavy in the first trade. Still, his art style is pretty much the same throughout.

Since my comic seller didn't have the 2nd and 3rd trades in, he told me I could get Right Hand of Doom, since it's stand-alone short stories. These stories were really good, too. I wish I had waited, though, because there was one story where Hellyboy reminisces about someone of his past cases and I was like, "What? Hey! I haven't read that yet! Well, I guess now I know how those stories end." The first, short story about Hellyboy's first experience with pancakes was very cute.

RHoD and Chained Coffin are both collections of one-offs, and neither are absolutely necessary to the ongoing mythology, though some details do get filled in (the Right Hand, HB's poss. origins, etc.). Nonetheless, stories like "Pancakes" and "The Corpse" make these trades indispensible.

VG, as for the horn breaking, you'll find a semi-answer in Wake the Devil which also happens to be my favorite HB story.

Here's how I rank 'em:
Wake the Devil
Right Hand of Doom
Chained Coffin
Conqueror Worm
Seed of Destruction

1. Seed of Destruction
2. Wake the Devil
3. The Chained Coffin and Others
4. Conqueror Worm?
5. ?

Short Stories:
Right Hand of Doom
?
?

1. Seed
2. Wake
3. Right Hand
4. Chained Coffin (interchangeable with Right Hand, actually)
5. Conqueror Worm

Conqueror Worm is the last collected arc, but there's been a two-issue mini since, entitled "The Third Wish." Also, HB spinoffs like BPRD and Weird Tales are also outside the mythology, only to be read if you really dig HB-proper.

And do check out Mignola's "The Amazing Screw-On Head." Nothing to do with HB, but funny as hell.

Also, I realise in a past post, I referred to HB as "Hellyboy." Total accident but I found it to be really funny when I spotted it this time around.

(not really)

The only thing that gave me pause was how "mystical" Abe was portrayed. Granted I haven't read all the trades, I just didn't imagine him being as... He kind of reminded me of a psychic robot. Did anyone else get that feeling.

Ron Perlman, fabulous, always. Hellboy (the character) was really funny and sweet and friendly and exactly how he is in the comic. I loved it. And I loved the fact that there was a "pamcakes" reference. Great.

The bad guy (with the knives) was a really good bad guy. Creepy and evil and really, really mean.

Favorite part: When Hellboy got his horns and crown. That part was just like, 'whooaaa, this guy could be totally bad if he wanted.'

I thought that part sorta went by too quickly. I felt the ending was rushed a little bit and there should have been more done to show JUST HOW powerful and terrible Hellboy would/could have been if not for the influence of Broome.

That said, I still loved the movie, and it's the first movie in a long time that I'm considering seeing twice in the theatre. I really liked all the Indiana Jones-type stuff, like how HB kept getting knocked around, esp. under the subway.

Probably my favourite superhero movie since the 1989 Batman (and I like this one A LOT more than that).

My favorite moment might have been in the subway fight. Superheroes always have to save cute little animals and babies and whatnot, so they just said fuck it, let's HAND HIM A BOX OF KITTENS while fighting the big bad hellhound.

I think that the things I didn't like about it have their roots in the comic, so it was a pretty good adaptation in that sense.

(btw, does the nazi colonel villain guy do any of the knifey stuff in the books?)

The ending was kind of rushed but maybe they didn't want to induce any super negative feelings about Hellboy? Maybe people wouldn't like him anymore if he looked like that big, red dude in the movie Legend. When I hear people talking about Hellboy on NPR, they're like, "A movie about the son of satan who fights crime." Is that right? Granted, I haven't read all the trades but he's not the son of satan is he? I just thought he was a demon of some kind. But then, why would he be entitled to a crown if he was just another of hell's minions?

Eh... too early for this. Must drink my coffee before thinking too hard.

Abe was underutilized especially in light of the level of his involvement in the comics. I agree that psychic-Abe was a strange twist that I didn't care for.

Agreed on the relatively weak ending, but considering the entire movie, I didn't mind. And the crown of fire gave me fanboy chills.

As for HB being Son of Satan... I won't say anything due to minor spoiler issues.

Jordan, I agree with you about how Mignola usually resolves his arcs e.g. HB invariably punches out the given bad guy -- which I actually appreciate, since it grounds itself fully in the mode of superhero comics (though distinct from spandex comics that feel the need to "elevate" its prose for the purpose of "literary" ends). HB blowing things up inspires pure action-oriented joy in me, that despite the foreboding ruminations on destiny and free will, the purpose of the series is visceral thrill i.e. FUN.

1) Is this the first time a comic creator has contributed a commentary track to the movie based on his work, or did Jim O'Barr do one for The Crow? I was always disappointed Stan Lee didn't do one for Spider-Man.

2) What is the secret Hellboy-Gerald McBoing Boing connection? The DVD comes with like four GMcBB cartoons!

Spiderman 2 has overwhelmed my comics-movie brane and Hellboy has lost its appeal to me.

(The weather outside is lovely, but I am staying in watching a movie, then the documentary on Disc 2. I am Comic Geek Of The Year.)

i like it! i think yeah it is a little light on the storytelling but the art is great & i really like the conceit of the stories being based on old folk tales and stuff.

(as far as the movie goes i loved the 1st half and then it went depressingly downhill)

"The Island" doesn't fare quite as well -- still too talky with an awkwardly abrupt deus ex machina resolution.

Wait, so is that it? Is it just over now?

Trying to wrap my head around all the main titles being collected in 6 volumes. This is a great deal. Been hesitant a long time but I'm probably going to spring for this. Four volumes for the main story and two for the short stories. Not sure all covers are included.

Some people are saying the binding is very weak though.

Comixology had a sale on the digital editions just before Christmas so I sprung for volumes 3 and 4 (which should cover the things I don't have in floppies). Art is great but the writing seems a bit muddled for these later stories - he's picking bits from everywhere, Norse stuff, Russian stuff, Irish stuff, mashing it all together.