Hellboy: Weird Tales Volume 2

Liked Hellboy Weird Tales 1 better than two. The stories in volume 1 are all excellent except "the children of black mound". Which seemed not related to the Hellboy series. All the art are distinct in styles but the characters are consistent. Not only Hellboy but Liz Sherman, Abraham, Roger, Katie Corrigan, other members are great too. Hellboy is tough and raunchy but also compassionate and a good leader. His right hand symbolizes his mythical power. The left hand, the gun. All together there are thirteen stories. Funny stories, puzzling stories, scary stories, realistic stories, symbolic stories. Everything is here. (After reading this one I was curious about Roger which had only comical role in the story. So, I went for next book.)

as some of the other reviews stated already, mike mignola didn't do any of the art or stories in this collection. that being said, this is a great collection of stories that have different takes on the characters, and the art especially but all still have the hellboy feel. the artwork is awesome. there is a variety of styles and mediums. i especially liked the colored pencil. there are some old lobster johnson comics in the back, along with pencil sketches from two artists, an afterword by mike mignola and some extra hellboys pics from the other artists. the stories are really entertaining and some parts made me laugh out loud. all in all if you are a hellboy fan you will enjoy this collection.

Weird Tales was a famous old magazine that turned up a lot of legends, so the title is a homage to that particular publication. Mike Mignola lets some other people play with his character, and there are some pretty amusing things happen to him, as a girl chases him, a band harrasses him and other fun. There are also stories featuring other BPRD luminaries.

Hellboy has become a huge success and creator Mike Mignola is busier than ever. So what do you do when the public wants more of your character than you can safely create? You invite other artists to put their own spin on things. This volume is a collection of such stories.Midnight Cowboy - A young Hellboy gets into trouble at Area 51.Haunted - Hellboy investigates a supposedly haunted house but finds no trace of ghosts but they find him.Family Story - Hellboy is doing research and discovers some strange goings on in the family that owns the library.Hot - Hellboy investigates something that is scaring people out of some Chinese hot springs. The Water Sprite he finds awakens the horn in him.The Children of the Black Mound - Cold hard reason squares off against ghosts, legends and religion. A tale of a young historical figure.Big-Top-hell-Boy - Hellboy investigates a cunning array of circus ghosts and find a curious property of his right hand.Flight Risk - Aces of the jetpack vie for altitude records but some rather large bats may have other ideas.Hellboy & Co in Downtime - Hellboy has tackled some evil entities in his time. Now he must face his ultimate challenges as he goes up against the office copier and the soda machineAbe Sapien Star of the BPRD - Hellboy is just a musclebound bulk while Abe Sapien is the one who really brings home the sushi (I mean bacon).Hey, Hey, Suckers! - Hellboy returns from a gala and can't help boasting and rubbing it in.Curse of the Haunted Doily - Kate faces her mom's ghostThe Dread Within - Liz vs PossessionStill Born - Hellboy attends a dangerous birth in reality and in his dreams.Party Pooper - Hellboy's birthday partyThis is a fun collection. The stories vary between the silly to the dark and eerie. Art styles also cover most of the spectrum from the beautiful pencils of Hot to the cartoonish Hellboy and Co in Downtime. A must read for any Hellboy fan.

While working for the BPRD, Hellboy and crew see a lot of action. Unfortunately for us, all this glorious information has to take a back seat to the other things pressing Mike Mignola for time. Its an understandable dilemma, mind you, and one that I?ve patiently worked around, hoping all the while for a few more delicious morsels from the Hellboy table and trying not to complain too much when I don?t get much. Still, only having one new story in 2003 come out that left my mouth watering, (in The Dark Horse Book of Hauntings) reminding me of drink without quenching my thirst, wasn?t really the greatest feeling. In order to fill in the gaps and to make us all feel better, Hellboy and the gang have been taken under the wings of mixed group of artists and storytellers, some questionable and some rather talented, allowing other people to work with what Mike started and try to give us that fix we want. And while they aren?t Mignola and you can tell it a few times way too much, some do an outstanding job of filling in and dosing up all the Hellboy junkies out there in need of a quick fix. Now before I continue and rain praise on this parade that could be taken in many different lights, I have to let you in on a little secret. I?m actually a Hellboy junkie, fan of just about anything Mike Mignola touches, and I like following the stream that flows from that magically-tasty trough. I?ve gone to lengths to follow the BPRD sagas that have been coming out, tracking down one-shots of Abe Sapien before the TPB and finding the little hints Mignola has dropped here and there, so I?m not what you would call "unbiased party." I?ve followed quite a few forgettable drops in the artistic bucket just to catch three-four pages of a character I can?t seem to get enough of, and I?m assuming that most people that would go out and purchase this have to be at least a lower grade of obsessive like myself. For anyone that isn?t and is not familiar with the concept of the BPRD, they research the paranormal and they try to remedy those problems. More often than not that results in a little fist-to-face action, and more often than not it also involves some really strange recounts. For anyone unaware of who Hellboy is, there are a few books out there to answer a question that I?m not even going to begin tackling here. In the Weird Tales installations, there were some rather high notes and quite a few stories. I personally enjoyed seeing a lot of them dedicated to the off-the-beaten-path characters, too, like Liz Sherman and Baba Yaga. While I wouldn?t go as far as to say that anything truly meaningful to Hellboy or the BPRD takes place in them, I?d say that they contain a lot of what you?d expect. Sometimes that unfortunately translates into something that I, as a reader knowledgeable in Hellboy, abhor because the writers feel they I have to be reminded of some of the essentials. Other times it also means that we get art that isn?t the greatest in the world (and, once or twice, t