For some reason, I grabbed this graphic novel from my library, thinking it was the second in the series. I read this right after I finished Seed of Destruction, and I have to say I liked this much more. Maybe because of the short story format and the use of different folklore legends. As I've said before in my reviews of Mignola's work, I love his appreciation and encyclopedic knowledge of folklore from all over the world. As a person who is an enormous life-time lover of folklore, mythology and fairytales, I am endlessly charmed by modern writers who plumb the depths of existing folklore traditions and explore those in their work. I share Mignola's interest in the darker folklore and also his appreciation for the Gothic and Classic horror story. He mixes these snippets together into a whole that brings a respectful homage to all and creates something new as a result.

Mignola starts off this collection with a charming story called "Pancakes," in which a young Hellboy experiences pancakes for the first time, and the demons of hell mourn because they know they have lost his loyalty. Pancakes will always trump over ruling in hell. You have to laugh at that!

I had never heard of St. Leonard of Limousin, a folk story about a hero who fights a dragon and where his blood drips, lilies grow. Mignola does a nice twist on this, in "The Nature of the Beast," where Hellboy (with some help from St. Leonard himself) wins the day.

"King Vord" taps into the Norse legends when Hellboy gets sent to Norway to help out an old friend of Professor Bruttenholm, and is both dark and amusing. Be careful what you wish for!

"Goodbye, Mr. Tod," is a nod towards Lovecraft and spiritualist belief in manipulating ectoplasm. I didn't have very strong feelings towards this story.

Hellboy is the narrator through frame stories that revisit dark folktales from as far away as Japan, such as the story "Heads" in which Hellboy spends the night in the house of very strange hosts who have a tendency to lose their heads. Nobody knows how to scare a reader like the Japanese, or so it seems. I am too much of a coward to watch the Japanese horror movies, but here is a nicely chilling story for me to enjoy in that tradition.

Readers of Le Fanu's "Carmilla" will appreciate "The Vârcolac" as it looks at Eastern European vampire legends and has a scene that stood out for me from reading "Carmilla."

My favorite story was "Box Full of Evil", a pure horror story that features the Hand of Glory folk legend and some really evil people who think they can make deals with devils and come out on top.

I have to give this one five stars because it captivated me and had me writing down the various legends to look them up. That's always good when a book makes me want to do research on the background material used in the stories. A very enjoyable read.

It was really interesting to read the comic for Hellboy after seeing the movie first and so many years ago. It's no secret how much I love Hellboy. I am eternally grateful to the Guillermo Del Toro movie (made with Mignola as his concept and art designer) for introducing me to this wonderful character and world where dark folklore has a vivid life (with some added humor). I think that seeing the movie first did affect my rating. I hate to say this, but I think the movie was more dramatic in many ways than the graphic novel. Maybe that's a good thing that Del Toro and Mignola collaborated so well to make such a fantastic cinematic vision that cemented unforgettable imagery in my brain. Having said that, I did enjoy this graphic novel version.

The storyline is actually quite different in several ways. It was darker (if that is possible), and Professor Bruttenholm (pronounced Broom)'s fate is harder to accept in the graphic novel (I felt it was more poetic in the movie). Having said that, the graphic novel should stand alone, and should be respected for what it is, especially considering that this is the first full-length collection in the series (a few preliminary shorts notwithstanding), and a very strong foundation for a series that has branched out into so many different media (I am still keeping fingers crossed for a TV show).

Hellboy is quite a leading man. His origins are as dark as one can imagine, but he rises above that to be more. That's a moral in itself. Another way in which the movie excels because you can see that pathos played out in the excellent acting of Ron Perlman as Hellboy in the movie and in his relationship with his mentor, who is played by John Hurt. (Okay, stop talking about the movie!!) Anyway, his wisecracks and his power punches add some levity to the dark storyline. Hellboy does get beat up a lot in this book, and I love the line "Gonna be sore in the morning." I love this big, red guy.

Also appearances by Liz Sherman (who has her own angst to deal with), and Abe Sapien. Together, the make a good team.

The villain is nasty with a capital N. His master plan very dark and foul, but he had Hellboy all wrong, because Hellboy is no one's tool. and neither is Liz Sherman.

I do feel that this graphic novel suffered from having insufficient dialogue/text. The panels tell a lot of the story, which isn't bad. Again, I think it comes from having watched the movie first. Ultimately, I have to give this 4.5 stars, not only because of what's there in this graphic novel, but what it has created in the creative arena, and the impact that this series has had on my literary life. Not a small one.

I stand by the assertion that Mignola is a literary hero of mine. I will not be moved from that.