Hellboy: House of the Living Dead

Seeing this on the shipping lists a couple weeks ago was a pleasant surprise as I had completely forgotten it was coming.  After years of mini-series and one-shots, this marks the first “Hellboy” story to be published as an original graphic novel.  That said, it’s kind of thin for this sort of thing as it clocks in at 56 pages.  But at least it’s in hardcover!  The sarcasm is due to the fact that for $3-5 more you can get yourself a full-sized volume of “Hellboy” goodness.  Even so, it’s still a longer-than-usual one shot from creator/writer Mike Mignola and artist Richard Corben, so you can’t stay angry for long.

The story itself will be of interest to existing fans rather than newbies as it spins directly out of the events of the “Hellboy in Mexico” story from “The Bride of Hell and Others.”  Still drinking to forget about the events there, the title character finds himself taking on a mad scientist, his misshapen assistant, the scientist’s monster, a werewolf, a vampire, and ghostly succubi to save a young woman.  Mignola acknowledges that this is all an homage to Universal’s “House of Dracula” and “House of Frankenstein” movies, but it’s still fun to watch Hellboy mix it up with these characters even if the overriding theme here is one of self-indulgence.  Those of you expecting a tightly constructed, well-paced story or something of lasting significance to the character’s mythos will likely come away disappointed.  Still, it has some great art from Corben and the “battle” with the vampire made me laugh out loud (something few comics seem able to do these days).  Recommended to fans with the cash to spare.