Hellboy Omnibus, Volume 2: Strange Places

Hellboy Omnibus

by Mike Mignola, Richard Corben (Illustrator), Gary Gianni (Illustrator)

Hellboy's complete story is presented for the first time in chronological order for the ultimate reading experience.

This 416-page volume covers Hellboy's adventures from 1998 to 2005, reprinting Conqueror Worm , Strange Places , Into the Silent Sea , and "The Right Hand of Doom, "Box Full of Evil," and "Being Human" from The Right Hand of Doom and B.P.R.D. Being Human .

Hellboy loses faith in the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense when they strap a bomb to one of his fellow not-quite-human agents. He gets answers about his destiny, like it or not, in over 300 pages of comics mostly drawn by Mignola, featuring award-winning guests Gary Gianni and Richard Corben.

The four volume Hellboy Omnibus series along with the two volumes of The Complete Short Stories collect all of Mignola's award-winning Hellboy stories in chronological order for a definitive reading experience.

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

416 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 20, 2018

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

[Baba · Rating 2 out of 5]

This second omnibus of presumably the key stories of this cult classic reality of Hellboy captures his last days with B.R.P.D., what he did next and more run-ins from his past, as well as more mostly backward looking reality building. Although I still have little positive to say about the art; as, other than Hellboy I struggle to recognise any character until they're named, the world building although pretty banal - from ancient times, first evil, first man, lots of tentacles and monsters blah blah blah, at least it all is growing into parts of a discernible whole.

I get why a lot of fanboys love this, who probably also like H.P. Lovecraft, Neil Gaiman, Alan Moore's horror work etc, all of which I am no fan of. For me there's a distinct lack of any real characterisation even for Hellboy himself and certainly no decent long-form story telling, although I do concede that the work is built up over lots of limited run serials and short stories which may make it hard to work on these areas and keep new readers invested. Only two more omnibus volumes to go, and now I am truly wondering if I'll bother reading the B.P.R.D. books? 5 out of 12.

2022 read

[Chad · Rating 5 out of 5]

This second omnibus has some of Hellboy's best stories. Box Full of Evil and The Third Wish are 2 of Mignola's better shorter length stories. The Bog Roosh is pretty fantastic in her own way. Conqueror Worm may be my favorite of Hellboy's longer tales. I love seeing Hellboy and Roger team up. It has big ramifications and introduces Lobster Johnson. Plus, Nazis and the elder gods, what's not to like? I'm really enjoying rereading these Hellboy stories in chronological order. It makes the overall story so much clearer.

[Lashaan Balasingam · Rating 4 out of 5]

You can find my review on my blog by clicking here.

It’s a cruel world for Hellboy. He lives like a human and yet is treated like a monster. Come to think of it, it’s actually something you could easily draw parallels to regarding some unfortunate folks in our society, but Hellboy’s occult and paranormal universe makes his particular situation far more distressful. Imagine being constantly drawn to an unwritten and universal rule condemning you to a life where you are the key to the end of times. Heavy, right? At least having that accursed right hand still has some benefits, like being able to pummel those relentless creatures back into the darkness where they crawled out from. Now, the real question is: How will Hellboy deal with the burden he shoulders? Clearly ignoring it hasn’t been very fruitful lately.

Hellboy Omnibus Volume 2: Strange Places collects stories printed from 1998 to 2005, including Conqueror Worm, Strange Places, Into the Silent Sea, and “The Right Hand of Doom“, “Box Full of Evil,” and “Being Human” from The Right Hand of Doom and B.P.R.D. Being Human. The beauty of these new paperback omnibus editions is how the stories are presented in a chronological order, making it so, so much easier for readers to follow Hellboy in his quest of self-discovery. For anyone who has ever tried to understand where to start with his stories, Hellboy isn’t the easiest series to follow with multiple series within the same lore (i.e. Hellboy, B.R.P.D., etc.). These omnibuses easily levels the playing field for readers by giving them the unique and equal opportunity to understand what’s up without being lost in the process.

What mostly occurs in this volume is Hellboy’s re-evaluation of the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense and their methodology. On one of the missions he was sent on, alongside a new member of the team who was previously encountered in the past, Hellboy was presented with an ethically questionable dilemma that made him question the integrity of the organization. Coupled with this issue, he also runs into more dark and sketchy figures who strongly believe in Hellboy’s role in life (the tool to the end of the world). This throws our friendly and feisty red fellow into all sorts of direction, and one that will bring him to be in exile and explore the sea. If there’s one thing he’s never stopped doing, it’s exploring both the real-world and the paranormal. The things he sees and the things he lives through are truly astonishing.

Most of the stories tend to follow one another and make slight references to past events, or even short stories collected in the short stories omnibuses. I found this omnibus to be even more coherent and a lot easier to follow, even with more world-building going on. There are details regarding Hellboy and his destiny that are better delivered throughout the stories, and it’s nice to see how Mike Mignola blends the whole paranormal and supernatural lore within the narrative. Hellboy however continues to be himself with his snappy one-liners, brutal fist fights and honourable and caring (or care-free?)personality.

The artwork continues in the same vein as the first omnibus, with a more picturesque and sequential style (as in, more choppy between panels), and mostly focuses on the dialogues and the hard-hitting shadow-heavy drawings. Your imagination is sure to be stimulated by the Lovecraftian universe. What was truly refreshing however is the change in style for certain stories, especially with Gary Gianni and Richard Corben as the artists. The style is much more modern and detailed, which really helps in admiring the character even more through different lenses. I can clearly state that there’s plenty to appreciate with Hellboy, both with the character and the world.

Yours truly,

Lashaan | Blogger and Book Reviewer
Official blog: https://bookidote.com/
____________________________
Poor guy just can't catch a break. Destiny sure can be a b*tch.

P.S. Full review to come.

Yours truly,

Lashaan | Blogger and Book Reviewer
Official blog: https://bookidote.com/

[Jamie Stewart · Rating 5 out of 5]

Strange Places offers up some strange tales that are just as brilliantly told and illustrated as anything in this series.

I think I love the stories of Hellboy at sea the most in the entire series so far.

[RG · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this!! Thr artist changed in a couple of stories but the original art is still the best. Some of the stories because trippy and a little wacky at stages but its still awesome. Highly recommend this

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

So here is the second part of the complete Hellboy series - The entire collection of comics / graphic novels are being released in omnibus editions and I am finally getting a chance to read them all (and catch up on the whole story) without having to spend an absolute fortune on the library editions (although they do look amazing).

So what can I say without giving spoilers well the problem there is not a lot - as these are the sequential adventures (there are two volumes of one shots and specials which although may not fit in to the complete time line do still make up parts of his adventures). So what I can say is that they have been printed in a sympathetic manner. For example you still get the pages of designs and preliminary sketches along where necessary the authors notes when references to previous stories where needed (which I suspect as the series carries on will start to become more and more common).

The stories have also been published in their original styles and formats - which means that you can see when an artist changes. For me this helps date the stories as you are looking at a lot of books across this series and although the series does have a definitive end (for those who have read it you know what I mean) however I get the feeling that with the rebooting of the franchise with a soon to be new movie it will be interesting what is "kept" and what is not.

For me this has been a series I have been looking forward to for some time. The stylised artwork and often creative storylines have always caught my attention and imagination. I just hope they decide to do something similar with Abe.

[Sud666 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hellboy omnibus Vol 2 was superb. A great collection of Hellboy stories and some great art to boot.

This omnibus collects:
The Right Hand of Doom
Box Full of Evil
Being Human
Conqueror Worm
The Third Wish
The Island
Into the Silent Sea

My favorite was the Conqueror Worm, a story I'd often heard about. It is a great story and one of my favorite Hellboy stories. Throughout these well drawn tales, I was struck by the quality of the prose. Mignola's use of Poe and other famous authors gives the already good story a touch of class. I appreciate a well written story and quality prose/dialogue. Hellboy "Strange Places" certainly scores on all fronts. I highly recommend this wonderful comic. I would also like to tip my hat to the art of the "Into the Silent Sea". It was excellent. A must have for any Hellboy fan.

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

This second omnibus volume of Mignola's Hellboy series is a pretty noticeable step-up from the first. It's better written and more engaging than the first. While it still is compiled of several short stories, it is anchored by the longest story, "The Conqueror Worm," which is the best tale of the bunch and the main one that really pushes the overarching story forward. This touches more on Hellboy's mythical destiny and the nature of his Right Hand of Doom, and it also sets up what we'll be seeing in the future with the Ogdru Jahad. I'm still a little lost with what's happening but that might also be due to the fact that the stories are constantly referring to other tales that are included in the Hellboy story collections, so it seems like those should be read first. I'll be jumping to those next and then really following the reading order.

While the monologuing is still a bit much and really only serve as ineffective exposition dumps, it's a great improvement from the first book. And although I do enjoy Mignola's moody art, I didn't realize how rushed his art feels at times (so many of the smaller panels seem really unfinished) until I read the last story: "Into the Silent Sea." The pencilling here by Gary Gianni is so much more detailed and it's colored by the same stellar colorist, Dave Stewart. Gianni draws circles around Mignola!

[أحمد الديب · Rating 4 out of 5]

أحب كل ما يكتبه مينيولا، لكن "الأمنية الثالثة" هي قصتي المفضلة في هذا المجلد.

[Siona Adams · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lots of great stories in this book, Conqueror Worm chief among them.

[Marko · Rating 4 out of 5]

Imam čudan, skoro ambivalentan, odnos ka Hellboyu.

U jednu ruku me drži dok čitam. Volim Mignolin svet i priče i likova i zabavno mi dok čitam. U drugu ruku posle nedelju dana od pročitanog da mi neko kaže da mu prepričan šta sam čitao - ne bih umeo da ponovim, sve je izcurelo.

Razmišljao sam koji je razlog za to - u ova prva dva omnibusa i dva omnibusa kratkih priča, Mignola je pisao odovjene priče koje su neke manje neke više zabavne, neke kraće, neke duže. Deluje da je rađeno ad hok bez nekog plana na duže staze. Postoji neka osnovna nit i priča koja se prožima kroz ove priče, ali ona deluje kao da je tu reda radi. Ima i puno context switchinga u pričama. Priča počne u Africi gde Hellboy naleće na lika 1 koji ga baci u neku vodu gde kreće nova priča i likovi 2 i 3, Hellboy rešava tu situaciju i završava na trećem mestu sa likovima 4 i 5. A onda par priča kasnije pojavi se onaj lik 1 u nekom novom kontekstu. To ima svoju pozitivnu stranu i razumem tu neku igru sa likovima, ali nekad bude prezamorno za praćenje u nedostaje neka dublja nit.

Sad mi dolazi na red BRPD omnibusi, navodno bi tu trebale priče da su povezanije pa ćemo videit.

O crtežu i genijalnosti likova je već sve uveliko rečeno.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very fun and atmospheric. Feels like mignola’s really comfortable in this world now and the stories/execution of the stories are much more “specific” whereas the first omnibus’s content was still looking for its own identity.

The blending of different world folklores with eldritch horror and Mignola’s own unique concepts builds such a cool world to keep learning about. He does this while still writing such down to earth characters and keeping the lore dumps to a minimum. Paired with his artwork, which is abstract enough to evoke moods more than detail while still effortlessly emotive, makes this series unlike anything I’ve ever read.

[Shane Perry · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the first half of this Omnibus quite a bit. The stories were exciting and I loved the relationship between Roger and Hellboy. The second half of this was...okay. Some parts were entertaining, but I found most of the second half to either be a bit boring or have too much exposition.

[Mattthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was good. I did enjoy the first volume a little more, but this was still great.
Recommend.

[Lukas Sumper · Rating 4 out of 5]

It started out really strong, with some exciting missions for fellow BPRD members and their newest addition (which I really am a big fan of). And then around the middle of the book, it just all falls apart when Hellboy decides to take a certain journey to somewhere.

Although still interesting, reciting some rhymes and poems overlaying whats happening to hellboy doesn't help the fact that Mignola fell into the trap of repetition. What allready was teased in Volume 1 keeps showing up here without an end. I can't help but notice the constant reminding of what hellboy is supposed to be, or him being feared for that reason by beings he encounters. On a sidenote he also resolves his problems in a very brute and simple manner most of the times, which doesn't add to the overall picture. Instead of keeping it somewhat mysterious he learns more and more about himself till the most slowest thinkers upon the readers realise whats going on, I am sure everyone got a hunch anyway in the beginning of the book.

Its still a entertaining read especially the imagination and creativity that went into the art, I love the creature design but I also wished there was more effort in the writing. Which confuses me a bit because a lot of people said this series keeps getting better. I hope that holds true for the next volume.

I was more the fan of the first omnibus, giving this a 4 out of 5 stars.

[cloverina · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25
Today is the extremely strange day that I knew had to come where I have to rate something in between 4 and 4.5. I may not be able use increments of .5, but I can at least use increments of .25. I'm shocked, though, that this day came through Hellboy. It's still an excellent rating, but I only used it because I couldn't bear to rate it higher.

So what happened? I loved the first book, and I was told it only gets better. That's true in a way, because for the first three quarters of this book I loved it even more than the first book. The Conqueror Worm is the best Hellboy story I've read so far, and I don't really expect it to change, because it was that good.

The problem comes when The Island starts. It shouldn't have affected the whole score so much, but it just ended it off on a really dissapointing note for me. It has me sort of lost and a little sad. I know I'm overthinking it, but how did Hellboy float around the ocean for 2 years? He says it felt like a long time in The Island, was he conscious? Or was he in some sort of coma? It's certainly not impossible for a comic about a half-demon fighting Nazis in the 19th century, but it just throws me off.

After Hellboy regains consciousness and washes onto shore, he drinks with skeletons and then has visions. (I think.) I don't understand why the things happen in The Island, they just do, and that throws me off too. I feel like I read it wrong or I'm too tired to truly appreciate it, but my opinion stays the same even after thinking about it.

The part that makes me sad is that I fear the other people from the BPRD will no longer be a part of the Hellboy series now that he's quit. One of the best parts of Hellboy was him working with the BPRD and interacting with the other members. It made The Conqueror Worm all the more excellent.

Into The Silent Sea felt completely pointless and added nothing to the universe of Hellboy, especially since it wasn't even real. I'm pretty sure it was released a long time after the other stories, so it's cool that Mignola returned to the universe, but it's so skippable and really doesn't change anything or do anything at all.

Other than that this was a VERY good collection, and I know I've spent the majority of this review talking about the negatives, but the positive takes up most of the book and it's really strong. Highly reccomended despite my few issues.

[Zachary Granat · Rating 4 out of 5]

The aptly titled Strange Places sees both Hellboy the character and Hellboy the comic journey into uncharted territory. Abandoning the B.P.R.D., Hellboy embarks on a phantasmagorical vision quest across Africa and the oceans around it. No more is Hellboy a homage to pulp; now, it is a full-blown mythological epic.

Though, that’s not until the second half. For the first, a new character dropped into the previous volume, Roger the Homunculus, is fleshed-out (only figuratively) and incorporated into the main cast. His camaraderie with Hellboy brings a touch of depth to the sullen loner, so I was sad to see him go as soon as he did—especially because he was the only thing keeping the comic grounded.

Untethered from the B.P.R.D. and its procedural plotlines, Hellboy is lost in a series of deceitful dreamscapes. Mignola trades the tropes of the pulps for the tropes of ancient myths, which he emulates with impressive authenticity. But he does so without trading in or at least enhancing the character of Hellboy, who remains as stoic as ever.

Yet the quality of the art is also unchanged, even as its style is altered by the arrival of guest artists. They provide in abundance the element that has until now been purposefully absent from Mignola’s illustrations: texture. I appreciate the novelty, although I already liked Hellboy just the way it was.

Not until the next omnibus does Hellboy return to dry land. But he does not fully leave the terra incognita he explores here, and his comic, for better and for worse, does not abandon the storytelling tricks it has picked up.

[Peter Derk · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such a great series that is worth reading straight through. Why hasn't this made a great movie yet?

The three (live action) Hellboy movies are okay. Well, two are. I haven't seen the newest one. Not for any particular reason, it just didn't happen for me. I don't even mind the recasting. Ron Perlman was awesome, although it felt like cheating. All they had to do was sunburn the guy and bam, he's Hellboy.

I don't really care about the Hellboy movies because we have the comics. And the comics are great. Maybe Hellboy is meant to be a comic, and the ability to translate something to film doesn't mean a whole lot. Plenty of good books have been turned into terrible movies, and sometimes I think it's because the book was the fully realized version of the story. It didn't need the movie to jump in because the definitive version already existed in the form of a book.

But what the hell do I know? I'm the idiot who dropped his water bottle, caught it against his body, and in doing so hit himself HARD in the nuts.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was good to finally get onto stories I haven’t read with this book and I enjoyed it a lot! I feel like the last two mini stories at the end got a bit confusing but overall Hellboy is continuing to be a fun, unique read and I’m looking forward to the very large next book…

[Britton]

In loving memory of Richard Corben (1938-2020)

There's a few authors in comics that bring a literary quality to their work. I don't use the word literary lightly of course, certainly there are comics that aren't meant to be literary that I've found that are just as enjoyable, beautiful, and thoughtful as any other piece of work that I've encountered. But I've found that when comic authors want to test themselves, to see what the comics medium can do, that brings a certain spice to a comic that can be intoxicating and makes you desperate to see

I read through such authors like Spiegalman, Clowes, and DeConnick. But I found them all wanting, desperately attempting to be profound, new, and unique, but as such people like The Wachowskis and Zack Snyder have proven, nothing kills a story more than a profound lack of self awareness. But there are the authors out there who manage to bring a literary quality to their work, and it's often few and far between. Alan Moore is an easy example, and one that's often brought up. His knack for toying with the comics medium itself, playing with its possibilities, and pushing it as hard as he can to its fullest potential with such seminal works as Watchmen, V For Vendetta, and his Swamp Thing run continues to awe and mystify people, myself included, to this day. Neil Gaiman is another example, though a bit more overt than Alan in his literary aspirations, he somehow manages to take the fantastical worlds of Carroll and Lovecraft and manages to make a world in The Sandman that's both inviting and disturbing at the same time.

There's also the authors who are reminiscent of other authors who we love. Grant Morrison's flair for oddities is reminiscent of SF's mad prophet Philip K. Dick, though I don't always find that he manages to ground the insanity of his works as well as Phil could, Will Eisner brings me back to Charles Dickens, though while his wit and sharp social critique may harken to Dickens, I found him to be more melancholic in his irony than Dickens was, such figures like Brubaker and Azzerello seem to be emulating the pulp crime fiction of Chandler and Hammett from the 30s and giving the genre a more modern bent.

But Mignola is from a different school of thought, he comes from the pulp tradition of weird fiction, and all of its idiosyncrasies. Many are quick to point out the influence of Lovecraft on his signature series Hellboy, but I find that a lot of people seem to forget (or even worse not even notice) the influence of Robert E. Howard. Hellboy, much like Conan or Solomon Kane, is a character who wanders about, finds himself in strange and unusual situations, and is forced to get out of it using his wits and ability to think on his feet. He is not quite as driven as Kane or Conan, nor as enigmatic, he feels more human and relatable, despite his demonic status. But there is that sense of wandering and aimlessness and existential angst that one might find in a Howard story to be found frequently in Hellboy, we see Mignola somehow manage to combine the alien strangeness of Lovecraft with the verve and energy of Howard to create something that feels new and fresh to the genre.

Mignola, much like Gaiman, also proves to be one of the most allusive voices in comics. His references and nods to classic folklore, mythology, conspiracy theories, and tall tales tend to give his stories a noted subtext to think about while he subverts and plays with mythological concepts and conspiracies, like with Gaiman. The stories in this volume vary in tone, some are funny, some are creepy, some are tragic and melancholic, some are funny and light hearted, but they're all connected in terms of tone, atmosphere, and mood.

Unfortunately, the second half of the book begins to falter with clunky pacing and a reliance on expository dialogue, which later leads into an entire story where the world is given a large, tidy explanation on how it works, which disappointed me quite a bit. I must agree with Keely's critique that nothing kills a strange, unusual world more than nicely, neatly explaining it to the reader. Mignola would later admit his dissatisfaction with the story in question, stating that he wanted to give an explanation before the Del Toro movies could beat him to it. Sadly, I don't find that it's aged very well and it makes the world seem dull and inflated, rather than mysterious and enticing.

Mignola's art continues to be excellent however, his unusual approach to his art continues to be both intriguing and endearing. It's a rather perfect fit to the tone of Hellboy and it brings an idiosyncratic charm to the series, he utilizes the dynamic action sequences of Kirby with the strange, yet oddly charming anatomy of Ditko, with a tint of the evocative noir of German Expressionism to create a wholly unique vision that is Hellboy. Gianni's art is also excellent as usual in In The Silent Sea (covered here) and is a rather inspired choice for Hellboy, as he made his name illustrating characters that inspired Mignola in his creation of Hellboy. He brings his sketchy, yet charming style to Hellboy, while also staying true to the classic Hellboy style. Corben's art also managed to stand out, while I have issues with his anatomy and look of his style, it was those very things that sometimes work out in his favor, creating an off-putting, yet strangely captivating look that manages to creep me out, which is a rare feat in comics indeed.

All in all, Hellboy continues to be a delight, despite some bumps in the road along the way. Much like a fine glass of wine, it continues to age as well as I continue to think about it...often pleasantly.

[Paz · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

Quick review:
I thought I was going to like this volume better than the first, but I really struggled halfway through when Hellboy leaves the B.P.R.D. and goes to Africa. Those latter short stories were in paper really good. Like, I liked the stories and there's so much lore explained, but I really, really had a hard time following the artwork sometimes. The two issue story The Island was really hard for me to follow which sucks cause the second issue is so interesting.

Anyway, I miss the BPRD, the first half with those two missions with Roger and Hellboy tying to help him and showing him that he's better and more human than others were so good. I really think I'm gonna have to buy the BPRD volumes cause I miss that dynamic and those characters.

[Hmpf · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm probably going to upgrade some of the volumes to five stars after a reread. I'm currently giving them all a cautious four stars because I find it hard to rate the collections separately. They all kind of blend into each other in my mind at the moment. There's definitely parts that I'd rate five stars in each of them, but I'll have to think a bit more about which of them are five stars as a whole. (I may even end up rating the whole series five stars, eventually, who knows...)

Not that these silly star ratings matter all that much. This isn't how we should judge books.

[Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hellboy is the perfect kind of character on which to hang a bunch of horror stories. He's so off-the-wall and demon-adjacent that a lot of weird, dark shit can happen around him without you having to suspend your disbelief any further. When I was reading the first omnibus and starting to get a handle on the series, it kept reminding me of another series I had read, but I couldn't put my finger on it. This time, it clicked: Swamp Thing.

And if that's not high praise for Hellboy, then I don't know what else to tell you.

[Merna Mousa · Rating 5 out of 5]

"- ليس لدي إلا ما قلته دائما في شأن هلبوي ، قصته لم تكتب بعد
= بل كتبت!
- إذا هو يعيد كتابتها "
المجلد الثاني من هلبوي لا يقل إبداعا عن الجزء الأول حيث كلا منهما له أجواءه الخاصة به ... أعجبني في هذا الجزء قصتين بالتحديد "أن تكون إنسانا" و "إلى بحر الصمت" وهذه الأخيرة التي رسمها ريتشارد كوربن على الرغم من تغيير أسلوب الرسم المعتاد إلا أنها كانت تليق بأجواء القصة وأضافت سحرا ما للحكاية
لا أجد أي سبب قد يمنعني أو يمنع أي شخص من إعطاء علامة كاملة لأماكن غريبة أو بذرة الدمار أو أي شئ قد يظهر فيه هلبوي ... أحببته أشد الحب ❤️

[Max's Comic Reviews and Lists · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anung Un Rama
Aight I am neck deep in Hellboy right now and I am halfway done all the omnibuses if you don’t count the short story ones. I once again really enjoyed myself reading this book. Not quite as much as the last one but very very close.

The Right Hand of Doom was not a great way to start this omnibus. It is if you want to just start on this book without reading the last one. Because this story is basically is a re-cap of Wake the Devil, The Chained Coffin and Almost Collosus. Sure we get the idea that Hellboy’s right hand is really frickin important, but other than that this issue has nothing else to offer.

The Box of Evil is a story I wasnt really enjoying at first but by the end I realized it was a pretty bad-ass page turner. Here is yet another person trying to take advantage of Anung un Rama. This is also a very stylish story with a lot of cool little details thrown in. I would say this is probably in my top 10 so far.

Being Human is not what I expected it to be. I thought this story was going to delve into Hellboy and his life among other humans but we actually get a deeper look into Roger the Homunculus. And this is a perfectly entertaining and grounding story until the end when my interest was lost.

Conqueror Worm is said to be one of the greatest Hellboy stories ever made. I’d have to agree. This is a super action packed story that I also found to be quite emotional particularly with the character of Roger. Something I didn’t know I’d love was a new side character we got. Lobster Johnson. HO this guy’s a bad-ass. There is one panel that floored me. I think you know the one I’m talking about. It just screams bad-assery. The BPRD play a big part in this story and its not a good one. They do something real shady and in fact Hellboy puts the entire BPRD title in perspective. They really are just using Hellboy, Roger, Liz, and Abe as mercenaries for extremely horrible situations. The entire concept of the Conqueror Worm is of course really cool but I am now really noticing something that has been nagging at me since book 1. Hellboy on more than 4 separate occasions goes to a big Nazi or demon filled tower and fights the villain(s). I think Mignola should have branched out from that formulaic setting. I can stress this point all I want but I think you have to read these books to REALLY know what I am talking about. And I have one more problem that pretty much translates to all of the Hellboy I’ve read so far. We DO NOT get to see enough of the BPRD and their relationships with each other. If you dont count the separate BPRD stories Mignola wrote, I’m just talking the main Hellboy universe. I SO wish that all the characters would have more time together. We get to see one story with Abe Sapien and we barley see Liz Sherman what so ever. But overall I thought Conqueror Worm was extremely entertaining and really impactful on some fronts.

The Third Wish Now that’s what I’m talkin about! This is one of my favourite Hellboy stories so far and my favourite in this omnibus. This one kept me the most consistently entertained and we get yet another crazy villain and another look into Hellboy’s eventual fate he is hoping to avoid. This story was just so awesome because he selflessly puts him self through a beating to save some mermaids he previously got kidnaped by. The dialogue between Hellboy and the Bog Roosh is also just hilarious and bad-ass to the enth degree because Hellboy is such a smart-ass and can see right through a corny villain monologue. So ya definitely one of the best so far. But one more thing I don’t really understand is to have another villain just show up out of nowhere swearing to wage get his revenge and wage war on Hellboy. I wished that Mignola maybe could have used a previous villain.

The Island. Uuuuuuuuuuu.........Alright look. I’ve read dozens of confusing ass acid trippy stories in this genre, and I’m not even gonna try to understand this one. I feel like its unfair for me to say I didn’t like it because I don’t understand it but I will always say there is better way to lay out a huge universe changing story than to have it melt your brain with a million things going on at once that just overlap and criss-cross and smash and meld altogether. Yeesh!

Into the Silent Sea is exactly what I thought it would be. Especially the ENDING. WINK WINK FRICKIN NUDGE NUDGE FRICKIN NUDGE. Sorry I just don’t like the cliche the ending takes. But ya a very fun pirate story with Hellboy that doesn’t really do much to move the plot forward at all. The change in art didn’t bother me. Most people would be like “NO! HOW DARE MIGNOLA NOT DRAW THIS STORY!” But I thought Gary Gianni did a really job and his style was perfect for this kind of story.

In the end I really liked this collection of Hellboy stories. Not quite as good as the last book but definitely close. Conqueror Worm and The Third Wish are truly great stories with great concepts. I still stand by my 2 big problems with the Hellboy universe though. One being the super formulaic plots and two is the absence of the main characters interacting with each other. (Other than Roger the Homunculus. He is a bad-ass who has plenty of time in the book) But we are getting to the 3 biggest stories next and I am hoping that I love them. Letter Grade: (B+)

[Pruett · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m still mixed on Hellboy as an overarching project, but I really like the collective energy of this series. It’s so folkloric and impressionistic in some corners and down to earth and tongue in cheek in others.

And then there’s the exposition. Dear god, the exposition. I can’t stand it.

I liked the story about mermaids and the Bog Roosh the best. PIRATES! THEY ARE COOL! And so is Hellboy, mostly.

[Adam Spanos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Highly Recommended: A Nice, New, Organized Approach Here...in chronological order. The overall Hellboy story continues in this second volume. For those who always enjoyed Hellboy, but was confused about the timeline, these new paperback volumes can alleviate much of the aggravation involved. Thank you Mike Mignola.

Shouts out to Baba Booey.

[Andrea Manganiello · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't expected Hellboy to be such an interesting comic, this volume is full of weird stories in which I mostly didn't understand anything 😅 but also some cool revelations about the true nature of his arm. I enjoy original drawings, but it is impossibile to not notice how wonderful the last story is drawn, every page a little piece of art. Can't wait to continue the story!

[Jesus Flores · Rating 4 out of 5]

Las primeras historias son sobre hellboy y un par de misiones que hace para el Buro Paranormal, la de Conqueror Worn esta interesante pero al final se sobrecomplica solita.
Luego son historias de Hellboy y su identidad, y las tres son muy buenas, realmente explican quien es Hellboy, lo de su parte en el fin del mundo, y porque no quiere, y quienes si quieren.
4 stars

[Tiago Coxo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Strange places might just be one of the best collections of weird and dark in the history of Hellboy. From the return of Rasputin and Hecatte, to the many ancient forces trying and failing to kill Hellboy to avoid the end of the world, this has been the perfect treat for every gothic / eldritch enjoyer