HELLBOY: THE CORPSE REVIEW

[Mitch Brown]

<a href="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/previews/dh/0304/hellboy_corpse.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/previews/dh/0304/hellboy_corpset.jpg" align=left alt="Hellboy: The Corpse"></a>Reviewer: Mitch Brown, eschaton@igreen.net
Quick Rating: Good

I’d buy that for a dollar! (Or twenty-five cents as the case may be.)

Story and Art: Mike Mignola
Letters: Pat Brosseau
Colors: Matthew Hollingsworth
Cover Colors: Dave Stewart
Editor: Scott Allie
Designers: Mike Mignola & Cary Grazzini
Logo Designer: Kevin Nowlan
Publisher: Mike Richardson

Hellboy is one of those titles everyone seems to have heard about but only a small proportion of the comic community have read. With the release of Guillermo del Toro’s feature film, its no surprise Dark Horse has been compelled to release a promotional, price-point comic for its release which, of course, leads us to Hellboy: The Corpse.

Originally serialized in Advanced Comics #75-82, The Corpse finds our protagonist Hellboy forced into finding an appropriate burial site for a rather ungrateful and petulant corpse on behalf of a group of baby-stealing sidhe (fairies). Along the way, our hero has to face the horrors of filled-to-capacity graveyards; evil imps out for revenge and even a giant boar-headed demon who wants to eat him alive.

Sounds a bit weird? Well, welcome to Hellboy.

According to the blurb of this issue, we’re told that The Corpse is one of fandom’s most beloved Hellboy tales. While quite enjoyable in its own right – and apparently, its creator Mike Mignola’s favourite as well - I’m not sure if I would personally call this one-shot essential. As an aside to the Hellboy saga, The Corpse works very well, but you’re not going to find any ground-breaking, status-quo defying story elements or rich character exploration here. In fact, we’re not even properly introduced to Hellboy or his world at all in this comic.

This presents something of a problem when this issue is intended as something of a jumping-on point and tie-in to the recently released movie. “Who is Hellboy?” and “Why should we care?” are questions largely unanswered in The Corpse. If you haven’t already read Hellboy or haven’t seen the movie, I’m not sure on how successful this issue could be in encouraging you to do either. On the other hand, if you’re joining the Hellboy/comics bandwagon on the back of the movie, The Corpse provides an entertaining and inexpensive introduction to Hellboy in print, which I’m thinking is the loftier intention behind the twenty-five cent price point here.

At the cost of a measly quarter, this issue is great value. You get an enjoyable, self-contained Hellboy tale (that DOES tie in to the movie in a way), some always-excellent Mike Mignola art and a few pages of interesting behind-the-scenes movie stuff. For existing Hellboy fans, they get a very cheap reprint of an out-of-print serial story for their twenty-five cent investment. That’s more than you get out of most of the full-price, non-reprint books on the shelves these days, and a damn site more than I’ve gotten out of the more recent movie tie-in/quarter books from Marvel.

This book’s been on the stands a couple of weeks now, but any clever comic book retailer should have ordered plenty of these with the current ‘buzz’ on the Hellboy franchise so next time you’re in the store, save that quarter tip for the over-worked sales assistant and throw it at Hellboy: The Corpse instead.

ART:
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STORY:
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OVERALL:
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[Michael Clarke]

im going to pick it up, as i live in england, my comic shop gives them out free

[Drax]

The Corpse is Hellboy at its essence. A fun story. It being essential is irrelevent. It's sad when a book has to change the status quo some how to be considered anything more than good.

[Kevin Sutton]

Unlike the corpse, the review wasn't in time for the movie... ;)

Anyway, this was my first exposure to hellboy and I really liked it. It was different from the movie in that it (like the other hellboy I've since read) takes place out in the wilderness away from human civilization. It has an entirely different effect.

The art is superbly set to the story, and the dialogue is entertaining. This story was great and it even changed my brother's mind about Hellboy, since he'd previously not been interested. The was a nuce short little tale. You seldom see stories like this in the more 'mainstream' comics.

[Dan Porter]

Saw the movie on Friday, read The Corpse a week and a half ago (when it came out. Or was it even before THAT?)

HIGHLY entertaining read. HIGHLY entertaining movie.

The best thing about them both is that they're just so darn much FUN. You can't read them without going "Hey, that was pretty cool!" afterwards.

And the $0.25 price tag didn't hurt either :cool:

-DPorter

[Wolverine]

It was a good issue.