Hellboy: Odd Jobs

by Rick Hautala, Grahan Wilson, Matthew J. Costello, et al.

Book Overview

Following the success of the 1996 illustrated novel Hellboy: The Lost Army, Dark Horse commissioned writer Christopher Golden (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Of Saints and Shadows) to gather some of the brightest creative lights in horror and mystery fiction to produce a prose anthology of Hellboy short stories, presenting original tales of the world's greatest paranormal investigator. The talented team behind this collection includes Brian Hodge (Wild...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1569714401
• ISBN13: 9781569714409
• Release Date: December 2004
• Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
• Length: 117 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.0" x 9.1"
• Age Range: 16 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 11 and higher

Customer Reviews

Super Reader

Another good Hellboy book, like Odder Jobs, this has a reasonable number of Mignola illustrations throughout. There are some good stories here, including one with Bigfoot, some remniscing over a lost colleague because of a scarecrow demon, an encounter with a Medusa, and a ratboss that wants to help the BPRD for employee services reasons. Hellboy Odd Jobs : 01 Medusa's Revenge - Yvonne Navarro Hellboy Odd Jobs : 02 Jigsaw - Stephen R. Bissette Hellboy Odd Jobs : 03 A Mother Cries at Midnight - Philip Nutman Hellboy Odd Jobs : 04 Delivered - Greg Rucka Hellboy Odd Jobs : 05 Folie a Deux - Nancy Holder Hellboy Odd Jobs : 06 Demon Politics - Craig Shaw Gardner Hellboy Odd Jobs : 07 A Grim Fairy Tale - Nancy A. Collins Hellboy Odd Jobs : 08 Scared Crows - Rick Hautala and Jim Connolly Hellboy Odd Jobs : 09 Where Their Fire is Not Quenched - Chet Williamson Hellboy Odd Jobs : 10 I had Bigfoot's Baby! - Max Allan Collins Hellboy Odd Jobs : 11 The Nuckelavee - Christopher Golden and Mike Mignola Hellboy Odd Jobs : 12 A Night at the Beach - Matthew J. Costello Hellboy Odd Jobs : 13 Burn Baby Burn - Poppy Z. Brite Hellboy Odd Jobs : 14 Far Flew the Boast of Him - Brian Hodge Shield support snake lady staking. 3.5 out of 5 Hotel hell, bad books and a demon. 4 out of 5 Nuke man and lost boy. 2.5 out of 5 Ratman wants better conditions. 4 out of 5 Soldier's demon suicide. 4 out of 5 Captain America analogue and old ally possessed. 3.5 out of 5 Fairy's baby snacks. 4 out of 5 Scarecrow spirit monster. 4 out of 5 Evil congregates. 4 out of 5 Drug ring and interbreeding, sasquatch style. 4 out of 5 Garden variety skinless horse monster. 3 out of 5 Coney Island sea creepies. 3 out of 5 Liz learning. 2 out of 5 Grendel re-enactment rampage revenged. 3.5 out of 5

A Good Read

The book was better than I had expected. Having read some of the earlier comics where hellboy is first descovered this is a huge leap of discovery. The first of the short stories leads you to read more and more into how hellboy reacts and thinks. His charecter is dimensional having feelings of Good over Evil and cares for his friends more than he would any thing else in the world. It is a good book and would be well worth the buying.

a pretty piece of Hellboy

Well this book is full of another looks on Hellboy himself and his world. Each story is pleasant and leads to a new contact with the stone handed red tall guy. From childhood to some pretty piece of horror, you'll have all the keys to unlock what was missing to the original comics: a character study...

A Thoroughly Enjoyable Anthology

The Hellboy comics take much of its material from Lovecraftian sources and folklore. Such a literary heritage makes the Odd Jobs anthology an excellent read. Legends, Hellboy, and prose blend quite nicely to produce a multi-faceted look at the greatest paranormal investigator.Highlights include the quirjy humor of Greg Rucka's "Delivered," Nancy Holder's brutal "Folie a Deux," the sad beauty of Craig Shaw Gardner's "Demon Politics," and Poppy Z. Brite's "Burn, Baby, Burn," a rare look at Liz, on of the most intriguing characters in the Hellboy world. But the diamond amongst this collection is "Jigsaw," by Stephen R. Bissette. Horrifying, touching, delicate and perfect would be the best way to describe this story.There are some uneven points in the collection, some repetitive moments; but the strengths are far more common. If nothing else, "Jigsaw" itself is worth the price, and then some.

Not up to Mignola's best, but. . .

I truly thought this was one of the weaker Hellboy collections. After Seed of Destruction, nothing much else will hold up. However, this is still an excellent book, and Mignola again captures the feel and creepiness of Lovecraft. Hopefully, we'll get another mini-series soon.