Hellboy: The Corpse

Hellboy: One-Shots

by Mike Mignola

One of the most celebrated Hellboy stories, not to mention Mike Mignola’s personal favorite, gets a dressing up with a new cover just in time for Hellboy’s big screen debut. While in Ireland, Hellboy helps a family whose baby has been taken by faeries. The thieves demand Hellboy buries their dead friend, a drunken gambler, in hallowed ground. But in the world of Hellboy, nothing is ever as easy as it sounds.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Horror, Fiction, Fantasy

Unknown Binding

First published March 24, 2004

About the author

Mike 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.

Reviews

[Matt Graupman · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nifty little one-shot Hellboy adventure that seems as though it was the inspiration for the talking corpse in Guillermo del Toro’s first “Hellboy” movie. This comic leans a little more into folklore than it does Hellboy’s regular supernatural stuff, but it’s still firmly in Mike Mignola’s wheelhouse. His art is dark and moody, as always, but playful, and the story - though rushed, I’m sure due to page constraints - grabs you right from the beginning, when Hellboy outs a creature posing as a baby, sending the big red monster hunter on a desperate mission to rescue the child. Mignola’s work is always reliably excellent and single-issue appetizers like this just make you crave a full-course meal.

[Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting story I enjoyed all of the new settings and new occult and folklore stories that Heboy investigates. This one had some really cool scenes especially the very first one with the baby.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

This short story was written as 2 page installments in 1995. Mike Mignola says 'the challenge was to come up with a story where some new, strange thing would happen every two pages'. The artwork and story move quick as Mignola delivers on that challenge with a simple story. Hellboy seeks to save a small child kidnapped by faeries by completing the task of burying a talking corpse.

I read the version of the story (that is the same as this edition) in Hellboy Volume 3: The Chained Coffin and Others that includes an additional 8 pages (bringing the total to 25).

[James Rodrigues · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful little one-shot that tells a fully rounded tale greatly in such a short amount of pages. Served as the basis for elements in both films titled Hellboy, coming together for a humorous tale with personal stakes, and makes me want to read more of the character.

[Aliyu · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5/5

[Erik · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amazing stuff and only 34 cents (Canadian)

[John David Heptinstall · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent, atmospheric little story, and my first experience of Hellboy. It's charming to see Jenny Greenteeth referenced in modern media!

[Patrick Winters · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of Mignola's more humorous solo tales of HB, and the emphasis on folkloric aspects makes for an interesting entry in the series.