Customer Reviews

The Hellboy Companion

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The Hellboy Companion is a reference work for the universe of the Hellboy family of comic series (Hellboy, BPRD, Abe Sapien). The continuity of the movies is different, so readers coming to it with only knowledge of the two films are likely to be confused. The book eschews encyclopedic coverage of every bit of Hellboy minutiae in favor of comphrensive coverage of a more limited array of topics. The first two sections give a brief introduction to the character and his world. They detail briefly the history of his creation by Mike Mignola, and his development in the hands of Mignola and others. The next section gives fairly in-depth biographies of all the major (and most minor) characters in the Hellboy Universe, virtually up to date with the latest BPRD limits concurrent with its publication. The next section provides the official timeline of major events. The fifth section focuses on the literary heritage of Hellboy's world, and the mythological inspirations for many of the stories. The last two are bibliographies of source works and the Hellboy series respectively.

Anyone with an interest in the intracies of the Hellboy comics will enjoy this book. It is however, less of a ready reference (only the character bios and timeline might serve this purpose) and more a work to be read and appreciated on its own.

Even plug your mind into a Hellboy book and remember who Ogdru Jahad is but forget someone (or something, depending on your frame-of-reference) like Sadu-Hem? Or have you thought to yourself, "how in the heck did something like THAT happen without anyone really noticing it for a few thousand years?" If you have questions on the tip of your tongue, a need to know more about the connective rights (and wrongs) that come with specific characters, or would just like to understand a little more on the background of all the finest specimens of "frightful" the world has ever seen, then you have come to the right book. In the flip of a page you can see what abyssal creature has appeared in what body, and you can look it up on the timeline and see when it happened. It is a very good thing for people that know and people who are new to the reading, too, because everyone needs to know something sometime.

The book is broken down into several subsections, with each one counting as something:
(1) An intro
(2) Character profiles
(3) The Official Timelines
(4) The Literary Legacy of Hellboy
(5) Further Reading

The introduction is your standard cabfare into the world of goodies, with the exception being that it actually does inform you of a lot of this and that's. It gives a little bit on the growth of Hellboy, on Mignola, and on some things you might not know. Would I buy it by itself? No - and I did not have to, either.

The second section is the most important part to me because it relays the lives of so many things. Around 27 characters are profiled here, and the things that come from them re also talked about. Take, for example, The Ogdru Jahad. Not only does it talk about them but it takes time to talk about the Ogdru Hem, the creation of the dragon and the crystal prison, and the beasties that have risen in its stead. This means that we see Rasputin here, some Abe, Sadu-Hem and Sadu's brethren, the watchers, Ragna Rok, and several other pieces. Everything spelled out, every classification noted. This makes the pieces of stories you may have missed/ did not understand fully come into play, and it makes the game fun. It also collides with the third section, the Timelines, showing you the exact when of it all. Hyperboria and its fall - been there. Atlantis and the little timeout they had when they worshipped the blackened goddess - yup. Anything noted in a book is noted here, giving you a feel for how much time elapses between one playtime and another. It is helpful beyond repair.

Then there is the section that Mignola adds to, telling you what influences him and what you can read to know more, and I really liked it. I liked seeing his idols match up with mine, and him giving props to people like Clark Ashton Smith when others in the literary world forget. If "it is the doom of man to forget," then people like Mike will save us yet.

All in all, you should get this because it is good reading. It connects the dots, has a little fun and adds a lot of detail, and is really thought out. When you look at Hellboy you may think "comic," but dig deeper and you'll see something of far greater significance. Recommended and then some.

This is a very good book for Hellboy fans.You can revue the stories,catch up on things you might have missed,and well,just read more Hellboy,which is always a good thing.