Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews

Hellboy: House of the Living Dead HC
Dark Horse Comics
Mignola & Corben

Following up on a previous one-shot where Hellboy befriends and then watches a Lucha Libre die at the hands of a demon while Hellboy appears to be on a bender in Mexico back in the 1950s. This story is a step in another direction as a man approaches Hellboy and says he is needed to fight a demon or an innocent girl dies. This launches Hellboy into a battle that includes the likes of Frankenstein and other monsters. It's a fun story but I question why it's pushed across as a graphic novel in hardcover format. Overall it's a good Hellboy one-shot to checkout.

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Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews

Hellboy: The Fury #3 of 3
Dark Horse Comics
Mignola & Fegredo

The end of the long running saga in Hellboy hits with the finale to the mini-series called The Fury. This issue truly is an ending in more ways than one. I'm not sure I can write this review without spoiling some of the issue's contents so the high level, spoiler free review is that the book has terrific art, a great fight but a bit of a disappointing ending. Overall the book seems to leave more questions than answers. It will probably get more readers to come back when the series resumes in 2012 but for a mini-series that has been advertised as the ending it falls short of explaining a lot of what has been going on in the book these last few years.

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Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews

Hellboy: The Fury #1 of 3
Dark Horse Comics
Mignola & Fegredo

As the final story arc in this King Arthur storyline begins we have the setup to Hellboy's battle with Nimue as well as a new player for the crown of England. This issue is great because it pretty much lays out the story in as straightforward a manner as any Hellboy story has in the past. Usually the Hellboy stories are heavy on the occult and layered with subtle hints, but this issue pretty much spells everything out for the reader and it works because the drama still builds by the end and the action keeps the issue flowing nicely.

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Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews

Hellboy: Being Human #1
Dark Horse Comics
Mignola & Corben

Hellboy delivers some of the best, self-enclosed, one shots out there today and "Being Human" is no different. The story isn't overly complex and doesn't try to overwhelm the reader with too much information jammed into twenty two pages. Instead, the issue pairs Hellboy with an interesting character from his history and tells a fun and entertaining story. I can't imagine a better selling factor for someone looking to read a comic book.

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Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews

Hellboy: Buster Oakley Gets His Wish
Dark Horse Comics
Mignola & Nowlan

This issue was solicited as the most bizarre Hellboy story of the year. To be more accurate, this is arguably the most bizarre in the history of the character. The book is complete with devil worship, missing livestock, missing kids, aliens, robots, flying pigs, men with cow heads and UFOs. It is a very strange story but a terrific one and done comic book. This comic has a lot to like about it but I can see some folks being turned off by the nature of the odd story. It doesn't exactly feel like the kind of thing Hellboy would get into usually, but all in all it's a good book.

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Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews

Hellboy: The Sleeping and the Dead #2 of 2
Dark Horse Comics
Mignola & Hampton

The short two part series where Hellboy encounters some nasty European vampires wraps up with a fairly straight forward issue. On the one hand the issue disappoints somewhat because it doesn't measure up to the complexity of some of the recent arcs, such as The Wild Hunt. However, there is something to be said for a just a simple, fun story. It all depends on how you like your Hellboy. Either way, the story is a good read that has plenty of action and a good twist of an ending.

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Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews

Hellboy: The Sleeping and The Dead #1 of 3
Dark Horse Comics
Mignola & Hampton

The first issue of the next Hellboy mini series doesn't necessarily pick up where the last mini series left off as set in motion by various stunning events, such as those seen in The Wild Hunt. Instead, this mini series seems to be a bit of a detour as the storyline is set in England in 1966 before Hellboy went solo. This issue offers an excellent puzzle for Hellboy to solve as he falls prey to a common problem he seems to have; he generally underestimates the size of the dilemma until he's up to his neck in trouble. This was a fun first issue.

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Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews

Hellboy: The Storm #2 of 3
Dark Horse Comics
Mignola & Fegredo

On the surface this issue is just like many other Hellboy comics. Hellboy fights a giant of some kind while a demon or two have a long chat about how the world is going to end and what Hellboy's role may or may not be in the events. While this issue may contain those elements it also provides something we hardly ever see in the form of a Hellboy flashback to when he was a boy. This short sequence sets this book apart of many other Hellboy stories and really puts the very core of his character to the test for the reader to judge. This is an excellent issue.

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