The Dark Horse Book of the Dead

The Dark Horse Book of ... #3

by Scott Allie (Editor)

An all-new, prestige hardcover book, this spine-chilling tome is filled with original short stories by some of the most respected names in comics. Featuring a brand new Mike Mignola Hellboy yarn combining Shakespeare and graverobbing; a canine adventure from beyond the grave from Jill Thompson (who won a 2004 Eisner Award for Death: At Death's Door) and her collaborator Evan Dorkin; and Mignola collaborator Gary Gianni mixing prose with comics. Also featured is a rare tale by the man ultimately responsible for Conan - creator Robert E. Howard; a story by celebrated B.P.R.D. artist Guy Davis, and a piece by the artist who's spent the last twenty years making comics more scary - Kelley Jones.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Horror, Comics, Fiction, Anthologies, Fantasy, Short Stories

100 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 2005

About the author

Scott Allie is an American comics writer and editor, best known as an editor and executive at Dark Horse Comics from 1994 to 2017.

Reviews

[Eloy Cryptkeeper · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Cuando sois nombrada los hombres tiemblan. La naturaleza se horroriza dejando atras su habitual firmeza. Ah cuan oscuros son vuestros vastos reinos, y vuestos tristes desechos, donde nada reina salvo la noche la oscura noche, y el silencio"

Una buena mezcla entre historias lúgubres y otras un poco mas divertidas.
Aprobado para pasar un buen rato y/o leer entre libros.

[Chad · Rating 2 out of 5]

Even the Hellboy story was just OK. I did enjoy the Beasts of Burden story though.

[Stephen Collins · Rating 4 out of 5]

A rare Robert E Howard 1933 Old Garfield 's Heart is top ,along with a Hellboy story.Hungry Ghosts is good and funny Death Boy .

[Václav · Rating 4 out of 5]

(3,8 of 5 for some good stories there)
Despite my rating, I enjoyed this. There are a handful of stories, some are good, a few are rather disappointing but most are somewhat good. Again Beasts of Burden story is one of the best, even if it's not as good as from "Book of Monsters".
Here is a quick tour through the stories:
Hungry Ghosts - a nice twist on the end, actually a good one.
Ghoul - one of the weaker Hellboy ones, but the bar is high here.
Old Garfield - is a classic good but simple Howard' short story, I wish that (great) Gianni rather made comics of it, instead of a few illustrations.
Ditch - this kind of story, especially with dogs, always hits my soft spot...
Death Boy - meh
Wallace - surprisingly good Lovecraftian-styled horror from POwell, nice.
Queen - a bit surprise to me, actually a nice postapo fantasy story reminding me Donjon (Dungeon) comic series by its style and art.
Kago No Tori - Liked that, thanks to Davis and Steward visually appealing to me and the Japan-styled "Kytice" kind of story worked great.
Magicians - This "static" story "Like Father Like Son" was also nice
Sleeping Dogs - Beasts of Burde, already mentioned that before, nice.

[Dev · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is definitely better than the Witchcraft one and I appreciate that there is only one prose story in here [seriously, stop putting prose stories in comic anthologies] but still most of the stories are just okay and nothing really blew me away.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Standard disclaimers about varied quality apply, but this has a Mike Mignola Hellboy story, a Dorkin/Thompson Beasts of Burden story, a Very Creepy Arctic Horror story by Eric Powell, and a Romance Turned Horribly Wrong story drawn by Guy Davis. It's good.

[Aaron · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some of the art is decent, but overall this entire collection is boring and uncreative; entirely forgettable. The best entry is from Pat McEown, which is surprisingly solid with excellent style and a decent story told through a surprisingly gripping use of almost no details - the brief length is a great way to experiment with minimal characterization, but McEown manages to infuse the entire piece with heart and drive. Neat!

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

A creepy selection box of short extracts from quality graphic novels based around the theme of the walking, hungry dead - plus a dark short story by classic adventure writer Robert E Howard. A good introduction to artists and writers you may not have come across before with grotesque-style woodcut illustrations on the fly pages.

[Aja · Rating 4 out of 5]

Would recommend to any dark horse fans

[xAndyPandax · Rating 2 out of 5]

Honestly the worst in the series of Dark horse book of series..the best story is by far the Beasts of Burden story

[The Smoog · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not bad, the artwork is widely variable, but it’s all solid enough. The Beasts of Burden story was a belter though!

[Paul Baldowski · Rating 2 out of 5]

Of the collection, Eric Powell's "The Wallace Expedition", Pat McEown's "Queen of Darkness" and Jamie S. Rich and Guy Davis' "Kago No Tori" are the stand-out tales. Top billing aside, Mike Mignola's entry falls short, trying all too hard for clever over substance or entertainment.

Like so many short story collections (or new music albums), the Book of the Dead's short visual tales provide patchy results - a few gems amidst the dross. Alas, three out of the many isn't enough to rescue it - and unless you find a copy going cheap or spot it in the library, I can't recommend it.

In the perfect world, I would give this 1-and-a-half

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this collection of stories revolving around death and the dead- some are written out in text, others full graphic novel (comics style) artwork... some are funny, poking fun at death... some hit you where it counts and make the tears come to your eyes...

"The Ditch" was my personal favourite... It touched me on a level few short stories/graphics can... about the dead. The forgotton dead, especially...

I was pleased to see the depth and yet the tenderness in some of the tales- for all the fact that they have one thing in common- Horror of Death.

It was a high win, especially compared to others in the series. Good Stuff!

[Roxanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of ghoulish tales, each one presenting a different perspective (such as that of a dead dog in a ditch, or a group of expeditioners in the arctic) or interesting twist, or a just plain creepy premise. The art styles change from story to story, becoming the hook that dragged me in in the first place. My favorite was Kago No Tori - or Caged Bird - which features illustrations that mirror traditional Japanese woodblock prints in a modern style.

[Burt · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is really a collection of small stories from Dark Horse, focusing around death, the dead and the dying. They're fun stories, bite sized, and a bit haphazard, but worth a go through on a night when you need a bit of the macabre.

The art is consistently good from piece to piece, and showcases Mike Mignolia's Hellboy for one of the chapters.

[Kristen Northrup · Rating 4 out of 5]

Each volume has been a little better than the one before. This one was as creepy as Witches but several of the stories had heart as well. Loved Mignola's Hamlet. Once Kelley Jones appears, it's surprising he wasn't included sooner. Sort of relieved there was no interview this time.

[Stuart Rimmer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just loved this collection of creepy tales, very nicely illustrated, and including a short story by one of my fave authors, Robert E Howard. This book reminded me a lot of the seventies and eighties 'horror' comics, such as Creepy, Eerie, tales of the Uncanny etc. which I loved as a kid.

[Martha · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you're a dog-lover who's a bit sensitive, you may want to pass on this one. I'm a cat person, myself, so that's not my only issue here. I guess this volume was just too much of a downer for me, and not even that entertaining.

[Trin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Do I remember a single graphic short story from this collection? I don’t think I do. Always a fabulous sign, that.

[Darnia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This series getting even more awesome
My fave book from this whole stories

[La Revistería Comics · Rating 4 out of 5]

El vívido libro de los muertos en castellano.
Incluye una entrevista al capo de Scott Allie.

[Mel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gorgeous graphics...

[Emma · Rating 2 out of 5]

Visually its really good but some hit and miss story's sadly