Hellboy Library Edition, Vol. 2: The
Chained Coffin, The Right Hand of
Doom, and Others (v. 2) by Mike
Mignola by Mike Mignola
Hellboy Volume 2 Hard Cover Edition
Since Mike Mignolas Hellboy first hit the stands in 1993, it has become a
cultural sensation, racking up a dozen Eisner Awards and inspiring
numerous spinoffs - from a novel line, to video games, to feature films.
Now, Dark Horse is pleased to present the comics that started it all,
collected in deluxe hardcover editions. Sized at a generous 9 x 12, and
handsomely bound to match The Art of Hellboy, each volume contains the
equivalent of two full trade paperbacks.
Personal Review: Hellboy Library Edition, Vol. 2: The Chained
Coffin, The Right Hand of Doom, and Others (v. 2) by Mike
Mignola by Mike Mignola

When Hellboy isn't saving the world from imminent destruction, he's doing
a lot of little odd jobs across the world.
And by "odd jobs," I mean brief paranormal cases involving fairies, flying
hunters, homunculi, "pamcakes" and disembodied heads. "Hellboy Volume
2: The Chained Coffin and The Right Hand of Doom" collects two volumes'
worth of the demon anti-hero's assorted adventures, ranging from a fairy
changeling to a devilish plot to conquer the world. All in a day's work.
Assorted short stories take Hellboy all over the world, and confronting
many different problems -- a baby kidnapped by the faery folk,
underground fiends, the malevolent witch Baba Yaga, a werewolf trapped
by a centuries-old curse, the Saint Leonard worm (a dragon), a spectral
huntsman followed by berserkers, a Japanese house full of bouncing
heads, a seance gone horribly wrong, and the supervampire Varcolac.
And Hellboy heads to the ruined church where he was found -- only to
dream of a dying witch, her holy children and a devil that sought the witch's
"chained coffin." Turns out it has something to do with Hellboy's own
origins. Not to mention an ancient, mysterious drawing provided by a priest
of the "right hand of doom" -- which looks suspiciously like Hellboy's own
hand.
And two bigger jobs loom over Hellboy -- after losing her fire powers to a
strange homunculus, Liz Sherman is slowly dying. To save her, Hellboy
sets out to find the homunculus, only to find that his crazed megalomaniac
"elder brother" is planning to use Kate to bring a new, vast homuculus
body to life.
And a demon (which looks suspiciously like a housefly) sealed into a box is
stolen from a secret compartment, and is soon "serving" a human master.
Turns out they want to lure Hellboy to that place, in the hopes of stealing
the evil, apocalyptic powers that he has already renounced.
Mike Mignola is awesome at full-length graphic novels, but his shorter
works are even better -- these are lean, compact little action stories with
nothing more or less than they need. And it's sort of nice to see Hellboy's
more ordinary cases -- if you can call these ordinary -- with foes like a
changeling, a werewolf, the fairies and even a dragon.
Mignola's writing doesn't suffer from the shorter format, especially since he
happily adapts some folktales to fit his world (legends, fairy tales, saints).
There's wonderfully sick dialogue ("I'VE LOST MY ARRRRRRMMM!" "I'm
sorry. Really. But... do you really need it? I mean, you're already dead and
we've gotta go...") and some poignant moments (Hellboy musing on his
"destiny"). Naturally, also plenty of bloody, horrific moments including a a
chapel haunted by werewolves, a vampire that can "eat the moon," and a
man turning into a giant lizard.

Hellboy is basically your average investigator in most of these stories -- he
goes in, gets the job done and fixes things (occasionally being mistaken for
Father Christmas). He's a nice straightforward kind of guy with a gruff
manner, but Mignola reminds us at times that he has some unhappier
facets ("You know how I live? I never deal with what I am").
And Mignola gives us some glimpses into where the "favorite son" may
have come from, and the destiny he is still determined to avoid forever. It's
pretty ghastly at times. At the same time, we get the hilarious "Pancakes"
story, in which Hellboy's reluctant first bite leads to, ahem, hell-raising
results.
"Hellboy Volume 2: The Chained Coffin and The Right Hand of Doom"
collects many of Mignola's brilliant briefer stories, with a full range of
Hellboy's smaller-scale cases.
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