Not one Hell of a good read !- By: , 15 Jun 2004 This collection of "comedy" horror shorts utilising Hellboy, albeitin his youth, fails to ignite. Supposed to be " funny as hell" this barely rises above "mildly amusing". This is very much Bill Wray's project not Mike Mignola - & boy does it show. Mignolas' dry, dark humour is sadly absent as is his trademark art for the most part. The style is very much cartoon, whichin itself is no bad thing & is well executed by the guest artists, but the writing is uniformly weak. Approx. half the stories don't feature H.B. or any of his colleagues from the B.P.R.D. - a weak Hellboy tale is one thing but weak, not funny & not even featuring him is another altogether. Only the stories co-written & drawn by Mignola (Devil Dont Smoke, Squid of Man & Hellboy Jnr Gets a Car) make this a worthwhile purchase - & then only to hardcore Hellboy completists. Anyone interestedin dipping their toe into Hellboys world, perhaps after seeing the excellent movie, should head for Seed of Destruction or Wake the Devil.
