Product Description

Hellboy Library Edition Volume 3 collects three pivotal stories of Hellboy's journey, as he leaves behind the world of men and journeys into the unknown: the award-winning Conqueror Worm, which brings back some of Hellboy's earliest foes, in the story that ends his career with the B.P.R.D., and marks his first run-in with the fan-favorite masked hero Lobster Johnson; the haunting fairy tale The Third Wish; and The Island, a dark and surreal glimpse into the true origin of the Right Hand of Doom and Hellboy's own destiny; along with a new, expanded sketchbook of never-before-seen Mignola artwork.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #12070 in Books
• Published on: 2009-10-07
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 312 pages

Customer Reviews

Solid book, solid, fun content
In the comic book medium there's nothing quite like Hellboy or the phenomenon the he's become. Mike Mignola is a storyteller with a unique but also effective style. This volume collects two very different stories.
The first Conqueror Worm is a mix of old pulp fiction, Lovecraftian mythology and science fiction. How Mignola manages to bridge these genres as well as he does is a testimony to carefully created structure that's supported by art that accommodates the stories.
The next pair of stories constitute Strange Places and the are Hellboy's weird adventures after he's left the BPRD. These are mythologically and horror based stories but they are also a new and decidedly different direction as Hellboy literally walks between the worlds of legends and nightmares. Visually these are more dismal but also more exotic places, but Hellboy seems to have prepared his whole lifetime for this plunge into these very strange places. The story featuring Hellboy's experience with the deep ocean denizens, mermaids and an evil sea hag was particularly interesting. Artistically it looks like it was a lot of fun to design. Mignola's artwork has changed over the years and the emphasis on design has never been stronger than in the stories featured here. Dave Stewart's colors throughout this volume are perfect

This volume, like the previous two, is big and just a little bit unwieldy. I like that. Sitting and reading it, studying every page and panel is the point. The hardcover (with the nice little color plate inset on the cover) is solid with tight binding, but has such a large format and heavy paper stock that makes it durable but it also makes it easy to stay open to read. Couple all that with the great extra material like the introduction written by film writer/director and producer, Guillermo del Toro, the director of the two Hellboy films, as well as an afterword by Mike Mignola and slap in sketchbook material and unused pages from the stories themselves and you have a solid book with great contents.
For me this is as perfect as it could be.