Hellboy: Odd Jobs

Rating:
Summary: Warning! Not a comic book!
Review: I gotta start reading the fine print on these titles; I got totally fooled. I thought it was a comic book, just like the titles right above and below it. It's prose fiction. As in short stories. Yes there are some illustrations by Mike Mignola, but I thought I was getting a collection of Hellboy comics! ...

Rating:
Summary: Warning! Not a comic book!
Review: I gotta start reading the fine print on these titles; I got totally fooled. I thought it was a comic book, just like the titles right above and below it. It's prose fiction. As in short stories. Yes there are some illustrations by Mike Mignola, but I thought I was getting a collection of Hellboy comics! ...

Rating:
Summary: Sometimes, Darkly Beautiful
Review: I'll admit that I'm a Hellboy neophyte. Other than this collection of short stories, I know nothing of the Hellboy universe, and I've not even seen any of the comic book issues.

Fortunately, a detailed understanding of the life and times of Hellboy is not necessary, because the short stories published here serve to provide plenty of background material. In any event, none of the plots hinge upon some fan-boy level of knowledge about our hero.

To some degree, these stories can be described as a mutation of "The X-Files", except with Scully and Mulder being replaced by a cynical and world-weary demonic hellspawn with a heart of gold and a burning passion to kick butt. Hellboy is, as his name might suggest, literally from Hell, and has been on this Earth since the middle of World War II, when a failed Nazi occult ceremony evidently zapped the young demonlet into England. Since then, he's been helping the BPRD track down and eliminate paranormal threats to humanity.

Most of the stories, unfortunately, follow a very standard formula: think of a cool ghost story or legend or myth, and then inject Hellboy in the midst. Hence, despite whatever technical merits they might have, Christopher Golden and Mike Mignola's "The Nuckelavee", Matthew Costello's "A Night at the Beach", and Max Collins' "I Had Bigfoot's Baby" are not particularly gripping, and they largely reduce Hellboy to a bystander or an observer, who occasionally throws a punch.

Other stories are much more successful. Brian Hodge gives us "Far Flew the Boast of Him", which is both horrifying and poignant, and which, with its inclusion of a certain monster, offers a reward for those with degrees in English literature. Stephen Bissette's "Jigsaw" is disturbing and painful and has a beautifully sad ending. In a more lighthearted vein, Greg Rucka's "Delivered" shows that Hellboy isn't always fightin' mad and that not every encounter with the arcane ends in tragedy. And in "A Mother Cries at Midnight", Phillip Nutman explores the Mexican folk tale of the Weeping Woman, and its parallel to the childhood of Hellboy himself.

The contributions from the other authors are not altogether memorable, but are at least sturdy and well-crafted, although a couple of them really fail to reach a meaningful conclusion.

Illustrations are provided throughout the text by Hellboy creator Mike Mignola. It's a handsome volume and a good way to pass a dark and rainy evening alone. Certainly, it's provocative enough to make me want to seek out more Hellboy material.

Rating:
Summary: A Good Read
Review: The book was better than I had expected. Having read some of the earlier comics where hellboy is first descovered this is a huge leap of discovery. The first of the short stories leads you to read more and more into how hellboy reacts and thinks. His charecter is dimensional having feelings of Good over Evil and cares for his friends more than he would any thing else in the world. It is a good book and would be well worth the buying.

Rating:
Summary: A Thoroughly Enjoyable Anthology
Review: The Hellboy comics take much of its material from Lovecraftian sources and folklore. Such a literary heritage makes the Odd Jobs anthology an excellent read. Legends, Hellboy, and prose blend quite nicely to produce a multi-faceted look at the greatest paranormal investigator.

Highlights include the quirjy humor of Greg Rucka's "Delivered," Nancy Holder's brutal "Folie a Deux," the sad beauty of Craig Shaw Gardner's "Demon Politics," and Poppy Z. Brite's "Burn, Baby, Burn," a rare look at Liz, on of the most intriguing characters in the Hellboy world. But the diamond amongst this collection is "Jigsaw," by Stephen R. Bissette. Horrifying, touching, delicate and perfect would be the best way to describe this story.

There are some uneven points in the collection, some repetitive moments; but the strengths are far more common. If nothing else, "Jigsaw" itself is worth the price, and then some.

Rating:
Summary: a pretty piece of Hellboy
Review: Well this book is full of another looks on Hellboy himself and his world. Each story is pleasant and leads to a new contact with the stone handed red tall guy. From childhood to some pretty piece of horror, you'll have all the keys to unlock what was missing to the original comics: a character study...