Hellboy: Oddest Jobs

edited by Christopher Golden

illustrated by Mike Mignola

-Hellboy Odd Jobs Series, Book 3-

(Milwaukie: Dark Horse Books, 2008)

Trade Paperback, 245 Pages, Short Fiction Anthology

ISBN: 9781593079444, US$14.95

ABCD Rating: ACQUIRE

From the Cover: In 1994, Mike Mignola created one of the most original and visually arresting comics series to ever see print: Hellboy. Tens of thousands have followed the exploits of the World’s Greatest Paranormal Investigator in comics form and novels. In 2004, writer/director Guillermo del Toro made Hellboy the number one movie in the country, reaching millions more fans, and in 2008, the character and the acclaimed filmmaker united again for Hellboy II: The Golden Army. Now, see Mike Mignola’s creation through the eyes of some of today’s best writers in prose.

This collection contains the following stories: “Jiving with Shadows and Dragons and Long, Black Trains” by Joe R. Lansdale, “Straight, No Chaser” by Mark Chadbourn, “Second Honeymoon” by John Skipp and Cody Goodfellow, “Danny Boy” by Ken Bruen, “Strange Fishing in the Western Highlands” by Garth Nix, “Salamander Blues” by Brian Keene, “The Thursday Men” by Tad Williams, “Produce” by Amber Benson, “Repossession” by Barbara Hambly, “In Cupboards and Bookshelves” by Gary A. Braunbeck, “Feet of Sciron” by Rhys Hughes, “Monster Boy” by Stephen Volk, “Evolution and Hellhole Canyon” by Don Winslow, and “A Room of One’s Own” by China Miéville.

My Review: A month or so ago my son (who is four-years-old) and I were flipping through stations looking for something to watch while my wife and daughter slept and we happened on the first Hellboy film. My son fell instantly in love with the film and character and was soon playing Hellboy, assigning his sister the role of the pyrokinetic Liz Sherman and myself the role of merman Abe Sapien. We checked Hellboy II: The Golden Army out at the library and that was all he watched for the nearly three weeks that we had it out. He’s still passionate about Hellboy (he loves the two animated films and we even got him a Nerf gun that he calls “Big Baby”) and I am working on making him and his sister a B.P.R.D. shirt (something like THIS but in glow-in-the-dark). Anyway, while we were at the library looking for Hellboy graphic novels, I cam across this little collection of short stories, and since I too am a fan not only of the films but also the graphic novels (and have been for a while now, well before the films made it trendy … sorry, was that defensive?), and since I am also a fan of the horror genre, the chance to read Hellboy adventures written by some of the best in the genre was something to jump at!

When it comes right down to it, what I really want to talk about in regards to this collection are my four favorite stories in the collection. That is not to say that they all aren’t incredible, they are—Joe R. Lansdale’s “Jiving with Shadows and Dragons and Long, Black Trains” or Tad Williams’ “The Thursday Men” or Garth Nix’s “Strange Fishing in the Western Highlands” are absolutely mind-blowing—but there are four that really stood out to me: “Salamander Blues” by Brian Keene, “Produce” by Amber Benson, “Monster Boy” by Stephen Volk, and “A Room of One’s Own” by China Miéville. These are the stories that stand out among stand outs.

“Produce” and “Monster Boy” both captured my attention because Hellboy is not the primary character. His role in both stories is secondary (yet key) and at the heart of both are children. The perception of such an apparition as Hellboy through the eyes of a child is something fascinating. In both stories, these are children who are still young enough to be fascinated by monsters and not realize that sometimes the monsters bite back. However, in “Monster Boy,” the young protagonist (if this isn’t too clichéd for you) learns that while there are in fact real monsters in the world (he witnesses Hellboy battling a dragon-like beast) sometimes it is the monsters that masquerade as men and boys that are often the most dangerous … and if you are not too careful, you might become one yourself. That is the crux of innocence, is it not? That teetering point between total belief and total realization, and Volk in particular captures that very well.

I guess it was inevitable that “Salamander Blues” would hold a special place in my heart. I am a sucker for alternate explanations for the disappearance of the Roanoke Colony in 1587 (Seth Grahame-Smith’s Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter had a good one) and throwing Hellboy into the mix is simply sublime. I don’t want to give it away, so I’ll leave it at that. Finally, that brings us to “A Room of One’s Own” which is, hands down, a masterpiece of homage and pastiche. China Miéville has my eternal respect for taking Mike Mignola’s Hellboy and throwing him square into the center of one of my favorite pieces of gothic fiction: Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” and casting the eight-foot-tall, red and muscular Hellboy (regaled in one of Liz Sherman’s dresses) in the role of Gilman’s unnamed narrator. The conceit of the story is absolutely brilliant.

This is a fabulous collection of stories, and if you do no more than pick it up and read the four I have singled out, you will be richer for the experience … if you stick around for the others, then you will enter a universe unlike any other, one that is richly populated and wonderfully described by some of the best authors in the business. I now need to get my hands on the two predecessors: Hellboy: Odd Jobs and Hellboy: Odder Jobs.