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Hellboy and the B.P.R.D. #9
Hellboy and the B.P.R.D.: The Secret of Chesbro House & Others
Follow Hellboy through haunted houses, to ghostly Budapest, and even into ancient Greece as he battles ghosts, settles supernatural family feuds, and comes face to face the goddess Aphrodite!
Rediscover some of the most beloved Hellboy and the B.P.R.D. stories, including The Secret of Chesbro House, Night of the Cyclops, Old Man Whittier, Time is a River and connected short story “The Miser’s Gift.”
Hellboy creator Mike Mignola is joined by writer Christopher Golden, artists Shawn McManus, Márk Lászlo, Olivier Vatine and Gabriel Hernández Walta, and colorist Dave Stewart, for this haunting collection of tales!
Rediscover some of the most beloved Hellboy and the B.P.R.D. stories, including The Secret of Chesbro House, Night of the Cyclops, Old Man Whittier, Time is a River and connected short story “The Miser’s Gift.”
Hellboy creator Mike Mignola is joined by writer Christopher Golden, artists Shawn McManus, Márk Lászlo, Olivier Vatine and Gabriel Hernández Walta, and colorist Dave Stewart, for this haunting collection of tales!
160 pages, Paperback
First published September 27, 2023
7 people are currently reading
101 people want to read
About the author
Mike Mignola
1,865 books2,527 followersMike Mignola was born September 16, 1960 in Berkeley, California and grew up in nearby Oakland. His fascination with ghosts and monsters began at an early age (he doesn't remember why) and reading Dracula at age 13 introduced him to Victorian literature and folklore from which he has never recovered.
In 1982, hoping to find a way to draw monsters for a living, he moved to New York City and began working for Marvel Comics, first as a (very terrible) inker and then as an artist on comics like Rocket Raccoon, Alpha Flight and The Hulk. By the late 80s he had begun to develop his signature style (thin lines, clunky shapes and lots of black) and moved onto higher profile commercial projects like Cosmic Odyssey (1988) and Gotham by Gaslight (1989) for DC Comics, and the not-so-commercial Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser (1990) for Marvel. In 1992, he drew the comic book adaptation of the film Bram Stoker's Dracula for Topps Comics.
In 1993, Mike moved to Dark Horse comics and created Hellboy, a half-demon occult detective who may or may not be the Beast of the Apocalypse. While the first story line (Seed of Destruction, 1994) was co-written by John Byrne, Mike has continued writing the series himself. There are, at this moment, 13 Hellboy graphic novel collections (with more on the way), several spin-off titles (B.P.R.D., Lobster Johnson, Abe Sapien and Witchfinder), three anthologies of prose stories, several novels, two animated films and two live-action films staring Ron Perlman. Hellboy has earned numerous comic industry awards and is published in a great many countries.
Mike also created the award-winning comic book The Amazing Screw-on Head and has co-written two novels (Baltimore, or, the Steadfast Tin Soldier and the Vampire and Joe Golem and the Drowning City) with best-selling author Christopher Golden.
Mike worked (very briefly) with Francis Ford Coppola on his film Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992), was a production designer on the Disney film Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001) and was visual consultant to director Guillermo del Toro on Blade II (2002), Hellboy (2004) and Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008). He lives somewhere in Southern California with his wife, daughter, a lot of books and a cat.
In 1982, hoping to find a way to draw monsters for a living, he moved to New York City and began working for Marvel Comics, first as a (very terrible) inker and then as an artist on comics like Rocket Raccoon, Alpha Flight and The Hulk. By the late 80s he had begun to develop his signature style (thin lines, clunky shapes and lots of black) and moved onto higher profile commercial projects like Cosmic Odyssey (1988) and Gotham by Gaslight (1989) for DC Comics, and the not-so-commercial Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser (1990) for Marvel. In 1992, he drew the comic book adaptation of the film Bram Stoker's Dracula for Topps Comics.
In 1993, Mike moved to Dark Horse comics and created Hellboy, a half-demon occult detective who may or may not be the Beast of the Apocalypse. While the first story line (Seed of Destruction, 1994) was co-written by John Byrne, Mike has continued writing the series himself. There are, at this moment, 13 Hellboy graphic novel collections (with more on the way), several spin-off titles (B.P.R.D., Lobster Johnson, Abe Sapien and Witchfinder), three anthologies of prose stories, several novels, two animated films and two live-action films staring Ron Perlman. Hellboy has earned numerous comic industry awards and is published in a great many countries.
Mike also created the award-winning comic book The Amazing Screw-on Head and has co-written two novels (Baltimore, or, the Steadfast Tin Soldier and the Vampire and Joe Golem and the Drowning City) with best-selling author Christopher Golden.
Mike worked (very briefly) with Francis Ford Coppola on his film Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992), was a production designer on the Disney film Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001) and was visual consultant to director Guillermo del Toro on Blade II (2002), Hellboy (2004) and Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008). He lives somewhere in Southern California with his wife, daughter, a lot of books and a cat.
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
November 5, 2023
Some fun stories but certainly nothing essential, or particularly unique in the Hellboy world.
Night of the Cyclops Art by Olivier Vatine
Hellboy is in Greece chasing a mountain goat, showing off his hoof feet, and ends in some mythological land. He's taken for a person from a prophecy and asked fight off a cyclops to end their curse.
The Secret of Chesbro House Art by Shawn McManus
Hellboy attends a seance in a haunted house to help break a curse and uncovers secrets of a cult that sacrificed a young woman in a hidden room.
Old Man Whittier Art by Gabriel Hernandez Walta
Hellboy investigates another haunted house.
The Miser's Gift
Time Is a River Art by Mark Laszlo
Best artwork in the book. 1989 Hellboy locates an old woman in the search of his old friend, some sort of soothsayer type. She transports him against his will to some nightmare - a flooded city where he finds his friend about to be burned on the stake. It's a really fun adventure.
Night of the Cyclops Art by Olivier Vatine
Hellboy is in Greece chasing a mountain goat, showing off his hoof feet, and ends in some mythological land. He's taken for a person from a prophecy and asked fight off a cyclops to end their curse.
The Secret of Chesbro House Art by Shawn McManus
Hellboy attends a seance in a haunted house to help break a curse and uncovers secrets of a cult that sacrificed a young woman in a hidden room.
Old Man Whittier Art by Gabriel Hernandez Walta
Hellboy investigates another haunted house.
The Miser's Gift
Time Is a River Art by Mark Laszlo
Best artwork in the book. 1989 Hellboy locates an old woman in the search of his old friend, some sort of soothsayer type. She transports him against his will to some nightmare - a flooded city where he finds his friend about to be burned on the stake. It's a really fun adventure.
January 16, 2025
This handful of short stories was great.
Highly Recommend.
Highly Recommend.
May 9, 2024
I think this is a compilation of previously published Hellboy tales, but they're good ones, and they look even better when compared to the Expanded Universe stuff the Hellboy team has been producing lately. Spooky, short, and sweet about describes each story here - if you like Hellboy, you'll like this. Unless you just read it somewhere else, that is.
November 18, 2023
This volume collects the short stories "Night of the Cyclops", "The Secret of Chesbro House", "Old Man Whittier", "The Miser's Gift" and "Time is a River". Mike Mignola paired with several writers and artists to produce these five tales as part of the ongoing "Hellboy and the B.P.R.D." series.
The stories are ok, but not quite on par with Mignola's earlier work. After 32 years of publication is hard to produce something as original and satisfying as it was in the beginning. Mignola is doing a lot of follow-ups these days – "Old Man Whittier" is a sequel of "The Whittier Legacy", and "Time is a River" is the continuation of "The Miser's Gift".
The quality of the stories fluctuates: some artists are better than the others – in my opinion Márk Lázló did the best artwork. And the writing was good in general, except in "Time is a River", which has the most confusing story and dialogs.
This was an entertaining, yet forgettable collection. Don't get me wrong, I still love Hellboy's short stories, but it's difficult to provoke the same spark as in the old days.
The stories are ok, but not quite on par with Mignola's earlier work. After 32 years of publication is hard to produce something as original and satisfying as it was in the beginning. Mignola is doing a lot of follow-ups these days – "Old Man Whittier" is a sequel of "The Whittier Legacy", and "Time is a River" is the continuation of "The Miser's Gift".
The quality of the stories fluctuates: some artists are better than the others – in my opinion Márk Lázló did the best artwork. And the writing was good in general, except in "Time is a River", which has the most confusing story and dialogs.
This was an entertaining, yet forgettable collection. Don't get me wrong, I still love Hellboy's short stories, but it's difficult to provoke the same spark as in the old days.
January 10, 2024
Good to see Mignola writing a few short Hellboy stories with powerhouse artists like back in the day
August 8, 2025
The longest and titular story is pretty boring, the time traveling Budapest is just ok. A much lesser collection of stories. Still ok, not horrible but lacking.
March 18, 2024
Для цього тому, Майк зібрав справжніх світових зірок коміксового жанру. Дуже і дуже вражає краса малюнка. Про кожну історію розповім нижче.
1)Ніч циклопів - з усіх світових міфологій, грецька в геллбойверсі згадується найменше. Не біда - чудова робота Олів'є Ватіне це компенсує. Тут Геллбой опиняється у Фесалії де допомагає племені фавнів позбутися прокляття Афродіти, а ще закохується в юну фавнессу. Намальовано це так, що просто захоплює подих - чудові краєвиди, масштабні бойові сцени. Одним словом - все в традиціях європейського комікса.
2)Таємниці маєтку Хесбро - історія про привидів та проклятий особняк. Шаржева манера МакМануса мені сподобалась.
3)Дідуган Віттьє - продовження історії сімейства Вітьє, намальовано просто бомбезно! Хернандез Вальта малював весь комікс від руки специфічними акварелями. Точно хочу бачити ще його роботи.
4)Дарунок Скнари і його продовження - Час це ріка. Я просто закохався в малюнок Марка Ласло! Чимось нагадує мультиплікаційного Геллбоя, що виходив раніше, але і з ще більш вираженою мімікою. Історія відбувається в затопленому водою Будапешті і в його тіньовому двійнику. Переплетення міських легенд та міфології. Історія для перечитування!
Цим оглядом я закінчив читати серію Hellboy and the B.P.R.D і можу сказати, що останні два випуски виявились чи не найкращими. Буду чекати на наступний том.
1)Ніч циклопів - з усіх світових міфологій, грецька в геллбойверсі згадується найменше. Не біда - чудова робота Олів'є Ватіне це компенсує. Тут Геллбой опиняється у Фесалії де допомагає племені фавнів позбутися прокляття Афродіти, а ще закохується в юну фавнессу. Намальовано це так, що просто захоплює подих - чудові краєвиди, масштабні бойові сцени. Одним словом - все в традиціях європейського комікса.
2)Таємниці маєтку Хесбро - історія про привидів та проклятий особняк. Шаржева манера МакМануса мені сподобалась.
3)Дідуган Віттьє - продовження історії сімейства Вітьє, намальовано просто бомбезно! Хернандез Вальта малював весь комікс від руки специфічними акварелями. Точно хочу бачити ще його роботи.
4)Дарунок Скнари і його продовження - Час це ріка. Я просто закохався в малюнок Марка Ласло! Чимось нагадує мультиплікаційного Геллбоя, що виходив раніше, але і з ще більш вираженою мімікою. Історія відбувається в затопленому водою Будапешті і в його тіньовому двійнику. Переплетення міських легенд та міфології. Історія для перечитування!
Цим оглядом я закінчив читати серію Hellboy and the B.P.R.D і можу сказати, що останні два випуски виявились чи не найкращими. Буду чекати на наступний том.
July 5, 2024
Collects some of the better Hellboy stories in recent years.
June 8, 2023
A fun collection of classic Hellboy stories full of haunted houses, vengeful ghosts and gods, and monster punching.
Arc from Edelweiss.
Arc from Edelweiss.
August 19, 2024
Another set of adventures from the history of Hellboy...
Night of the Cyclops: In 1962, Hellboy helps capture a minotaur in Greece, though that is just the first page of this story. He has a sense that something else is odd in the area, so he sticks around while the B.P.R.D. cart off the half-man, half-bull. A goat starts talking to Hellboy, telling him to follow her. She calls him by a different name and leads him down a waterfall. Of course the goat can navigate the cliffs easily but Hellboy falls and cracks his head. He wakes up in the land of people who are half-goat, half-human. His escort was once a very pretty (and only human) lady which displeased Aphrodite, who sent Eros to make her fall in love with a satyr. When Eros saw her, he fell for her and didn't do the deed. So Aphrodite cursed her people to live as goat/human hybrids. And to be attacked by a cyclops once a year to wipe out their harvest and any other gains they made over the year. Hellboy has been brought there just before the Cyclops attack, so the story ends with some action and reconciliation. The artist does a good job imitating Greek style for the flashbacks while having a more standard Hellboy look for the contemporary scenes. I like this a lot--usually Hellboy is mixed up in some mythology or folklore that is more obscure, having a more familiar setting is enjoyable.
The Secret of Chesbro House: A creepy haunted house story sees the great-great-grandson of a 19th-century industrialist visiting Chesbro House to break its curse (with the expectation of selling it for lots of money). The young man does not believe in superstitions but the rumors are many. Great-great-grandpappy got into the occult and had lots of secret rooms built into the house where they had lots of unsavory activities. Hellboy and a psychic join the young man and his fiancee for a seance to clear up the troubles. A lot of troubles ensue. The story feels a lot like Edgar Allan Poe's The Fall of the House of Usher with some add-ons. I liked it but wasn't wowed by it.
Old Man Whittier: This much better haunted house story finds Hellboy visiting a dilapidated New England house that a young woman has just inherited. They wander around the house a bit when a local caretaker shows up and wants to talk to the woman. Hellboy checks out the family graveyard out back. He finds a crypt leading downstairs; the young woman finds a locked cellar door. Both paths lead to horror. The story is simple and works very well. It has the usual Hellboy humor, horror, and action. I liked it a lot.
The Miser's Gift: A man in Budapest slips into the past with a local professor and helps an old guy carry his sack home. The old guy gives the man a coin. The man and the professor return to modern day but the coin creeps him out, especially when the professor says the old guy was a famous miser. The man tries throwing away the coin (among other ways of getting rid of it) but he keeps finding it in his pocket. Hellboy joins the two for another visit to the past. The story is whimsical--both light-hearted and humorous. It has a nice resolution and makes a good Christmas story (which it was in 2019).
Time is a River: Well, the ending of The Miser's Gift had a little bit of tragedy that Hellboy goes to correct in this story. It's another fun and fanciful adventure.
This is another enjoyable volume of random Hellboy stories. The art in Night of the Cyclops is best, though the Old Man Whittier story might be my favorite. Oddly enough, the title story was my least favorite.
Recommended, highly for Hellboy fans.
Night of the Cyclops: In 1962, Hellboy helps capture a minotaur in Greece, though that is just the first page of this story. He has a sense that something else is odd in the area, so he sticks around while the B.P.R.D. cart off the half-man, half-bull. A goat starts talking to Hellboy, telling him to follow her. She calls him by a different name and leads him down a waterfall. Of course the goat can navigate the cliffs easily but Hellboy falls and cracks his head. He wakes up in the land of people who are half-goat, half-human. His escort was once a very pretty (and only human) lady which displeased Aphrodite, who sent Eros to make her fall in love with a satyr. When Eros saw her, he fell for her and didn't do the deed. So Aphrodite cursed her people to live as goat/human hybrids. And to be attacked by a cyclops once a year to wipe out their harvest and any other gains they made over the year. Hellboy has been brought there just before the Cyclops attack, so the story ends with some action and reconciliation. The artist does a good job imitating Greek style for the flashbacks while having a more standard Hellboy look for the contemporary scenes. I like this a lot--usually Hellboy is mixed up in some mythology or folklore that is more obscure, having a more familiar setting is enjoyable.
The Secret of Chesbro House: A creepy haunted house story sees the great-great-grandson of a 19th-century industrialist visiting Chesbro House to break its curse (with the expectation of selling it for lots of money). The young man does not believe in superstitions but the rumors are many. Great-great-grandpappy got into the occult and had lots of secret rooms built into the house where they had lots of unsavory activities. Hellboy and a psychic join the young man and his fiancee for a seance to clear up the troubles. A lot of troubles ensue. The story feels a lot like Edgar Allan Poe's The Fall of the House of Usher with some add-ons. I liked it but wasn't wowed by it.
Old Man Whittier: This much better haunted house story finds Hellboy visiting a dilapidated New England house that a young woman has just inherited. They wander around the house a bit when a local caretaker shows up and wants to talk to the woman. Hellboy checks out the family graveyard out back. He finds a crypt leading downstairs; the young woman finds a locked cellar door. Both paths lead to horror. The story is simple and works very well. It has the usual Hellboy humor, horror, and action. I liked it a lot.
The Miser's Gift: A man in Budapest slips into the past with a local professor and helps an old guy carry his sack home. The old guy gives the man a coin. The man and the professor return to modern day but the coin creeps him out, especially when the professor says the old guy was a famous miser. The man tries throwing away the coin (among other ways of getting rid of it) but he keeps finding it in his pocket. Hellboy joins the two for another visit to the past. The story is whimsical--both light-hearted and humorous. It has a nice resolution and makes a good Christmas story (which it was in 2019).
Time is a River: Well, the ending of The Miser's Gift had a little bit of tragedy that Hellboy goes to correct in this story. It's another fun and fanciful adventure.
This is another enjoyable volume of random Hellboy stories. The art in Night of the Cyclops is best, though the Old Man Whittier story might be my favorite. Oddly enough, the title story was my least favorite.
Recommended, highly for Hellboy fans.
May 25, 2024
Another miscellany of recent Hellboy one-shots - there is barely any reason for this to be under the "...and the BPRD" banner, as he's a solo agent in most of them - and like most recent collections it's more an opportunity for Mignola to collaborate with artist who've caught his eye than an attempt to add anything substantial to Hellboy's milieu. If you're happy with that colouring-in-the-margins approach, there's always pleasures to be found in these collections, and this is no exception.
The title story is the only two-parter, the only one where Mignola's working with a scripter (Christopher Golden) and the weakest - while Golden is the most reliable collaborator Mignola has at the moment, he's been a better fit for the darker tones of Baltimore and Joe Golem than the wicked delight of Hellboy's punch-folklore-in-the-face approach. Still, it's not bad - a haunted house story in which a collection of foolish investigators get out of their depth. Nothing we haven't seen before, of course, which is the sticking point with all these recent volumes, and while it's nice to see Shawn MacManus' art again his monsters still have a cuteness that would fit other Mignolaverse stories more than this one.
Night Of The Cyclops DOES give us something we haven't seen before - Hellboy mixing it up with Greek mythology, an enjoyable Fantasia style romp with satyrs and dryads from artist Olivier Vatine, who has a lovely sense of scale which suits the antique locations. Like all the remaining stories in the collection, it's at least part-scripted by Mignola himself, which (as ever) really helps with the tone and flow of the comic.
Time Is A River (and short story The Miser's Coin) both draw on Hungarian tales, with the main story set in a ghostly Budapest and finding Hellboy cast back in time to rescue a stranded folklorist. Mark Laszlo illustrates, with a loose, baroque, very fluid style which reminds me of 70s cartoonists like P Craig Russell or Gulacy. It suits the more mystical parts of the story to a T, though does mean there's not a great contrast between the phantom Budapest and the real one.
The best of the stories here, The Whittier Legacy, is the most traditional of them all. A spooky inheritance; ancient evil; Hellboy and the one-off protagonist getting separated; a malicious human enabler... all very well-trodden ground for Mignola but he's playing the hits with relish (the dreadful old "family friend" in the enabler role is a treat) and Gabriel Hernandez Walta is the best artist in this collection at building atmosphere and visualising the ghastly spectacles Hellboy uncovers. Nothing in this collection will change your feeling that we're firmly in Hellboy's cosy era, but there's a level of quality here the series lost in the late 10s which almost makes up for a lack of actual direction.
The title story is the only two-parter, the only one where Mignola's working with a scripter (Christopher Golden) and the weakest - while Golden is the most reliable collaborator Mignola has at the moment, he's been a better fit for the darker tones of Baltimore and Joe Golem than the wicked delight of Hellboy's punch-folklore-in-the-face approach. Still, it's not bad - a haunted house story in which a collection of foolish investigators get out of their depth. Nothing we haven't seen before, of course, which is the sticking point with all these recent volumes, and while it's nice to see Shawn MacManus' art again his monsters still have a cuteness that would fit other Mignolaverse stories more than this one.
Night Of The Cyclops DOES give us something we haven't seen before - Hellboy mixing it up with Greek mythology, an enjoyable Fantasia style romp with satyrs and dryads from artist Olivier Vatine, who has a lovely sense of scale which suits the antique locations. Like all the remaining stories in the collection, it's at least part-scripted by Mignola himself, which (as ever) really helps with the tone and flow of the comic.
Time Is A River (and short story The Miser's Coin) both draw on Hungarian tales, with the main story set in a ghostly Budapest and finding Hellboy cast back in time to rescue a stranded folklorist. Mark Laszlo illustrates, with a loose, baroque, very fluid style which reminds me of 70s cartoonists like P Craig Russell or Gulacy. It suits the more mystical parts of the story to a T, though does mean there's not a great contrast between the phantom Budapest and the real one.
The best of the stories here, The Whittier Legacy, is the most traditional of them all. A spooky inheritance; ancient evil; Hellboy and the one-off protagonist getting separated; a malicious human enabler... all very well-trodden ground for Mignola but he's playing the hits with relish (the dreadful old "family friend" in the enabler role is a treat) and Gabriel Hernandez Walta is the best artist in this collection at building atmosphere and visualising the ghastly spectacles Hellboy uncovers. Nothing in this collection will change your feeling that we're firmly in Hellboy's cosy era, but there's a level of quality here the series lost in the late 10s which almost makes up for a lack of actual direction.
April 13, 2025
A solid mix of Hellboy short arcs and one-shots. There's nothing groundbreaking here, but the art is strong, and stories like the title track do a good job delivering the classic atmosphere.
My favorites were probably the linked stories to close, "The Miser's Gift" and "Time Is a River." They're both suggestive of a weird, large world of the supernatural, and they don't just build up to Hellboy punching away.
My favorites were probably the linked stories to close, "The Miser's Gift" and "Time Is a River." They're both suggestive of a weird, large world of the supernatural, and they don't just build up to Hellboy punching away.
December 30, 2023
Five shorts, two of which were connected and one of which was a sequel to a short from a very long time ago. And enjoyed all of these stories very much, but Olivier Vatine’s art for “Night of the Cyclops” was absolutely amazing. I think the highlight of this collection.
May 30, 2025
No li puc posar ni un però. Tot són històries curtes de Hellboy (n'hi ha una, dividida en dues parts) i totes m'han agradat molt. I a més totes, TOTES, tenen il·lustradors boníssims que m'han fet gaudir-les encara més.
July 10, 2023
Pura nostalgia de la época de Hellboy y el BPRD en dosis pequeñas, bien realizadas y con buenos artistas.
September 8, 2023
Some better than average Hellboy stories mostly set in the Eighties. He tackles haunted houses, Greek Gods, men filled with snakes and ghosts in this collection. Good stuff.
October 9, 2023
Hellboy is one of my favorites. I recently borrowed several. I always try to read borrowed books quickly.
November 27, 2023
A collection of several standalone horror tales as Hellboy battles haunted houses, a miser's ghost and a cyclops. Thoroughly enjoyed it.
December 26, 2023
A handful of really fun kinda sorta spooky Hellboy stories, recommended.
March 1, 2024
None of these stories have anything to do with the main Hellboy plotline and they are still amazing.
August 24, 2025
Mignola's dark humor just resonates with me. I never get tired of Hellboy and friends.
November 5, 2025
Loved it!
If you're a horror fan, you need to be reading Mike Mignola's Hellboy universe. The characters in this one were endearing, the settings fascinating, and the stories themselves satisfying. This one's one of my favorites so far.
If you're a horror fan, you need to be reading Mike Mignola's Hellboy universe. The characters in this one were endearing, the settings fascinating, and the stories themselves satisfying. This one's one of my favorites so far.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews