Hellboy, Vol. 7: The Troll Witch and Other Stories (v. 7) (Paperback)

by Mike Mignola (Author), P. Craig Russell (Illustrator), Richard Corben (Illustrator)
Key Phrases: The Vampire of Prague

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
As a new Hellboy series hits the stands, fans of the world's greatest paranormal detective can find older favorites collected for the first time in the seventh volume of the Hellboy Saga. Hellboy: The Troll Witch and Others collects short stories from The Dark Horse Books of the Dead, Witchcraft, Hauntings, and Monsters, the 2004 Hellboy: Wizard 1/2, as well as the critically acclaimed 2006 miniseries, Hellboy: Makoma by Mignola and comics legend Richard Corben, and a previously unpublished Hellboy story by P. Craig Russell and Mike Mignola, along with sketches and story notes.

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Dark Horse; illustrated edition edition (November 28, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1593078609
• ISBN-13: 978-1593078607
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 6.5 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #107,621 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Depending on your Poison, October 14, 2007

By	TastyBabySyndrome "T(to the)B(to the)S" ("Daddy Dagon's Daycare" - Proud Sponsor of the Little Tendril Baseball Team, USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

The 7th installation in the Hellboy graphic novel releases is something good to acquire, BUT acquiring it depends on what you want from your Hellboy.

First and foremost, the stories herein are mostly collected tales from fragmented places. The Troll Witch, The Hydra and the Lion, Doctor Carps Experiment, and The Ghoul are pieces from the "Dark Horse Book(s) of the..." (Witchcraft, Monsters, Hauntings, and The Dead respectively). These range from five to eight pages depending, and all of them have something to offer. The best piece in the book HAS to be The Troll Witch, and I personally liked Doctor Carp as well. The Ghoul is a Shakespeare adaptation and the Hydra and the Lion is, as Mignola admits in its forward, a bit odd. If you want these and don't want to pick up all of those books, then this is a good way to do it.

Second, there is some random stuff here and some new stuff BUT some of it isn't the best stuff out there.
The Penanggalan is an older story that came out of a Wizard magazine release, and covers a beast spawned from Malaysian folklore. It is a big odd but also a bit predictable, covering ground that Hellboy covered back in 2004. The Vampire of Prague is unique to this series but isn't really one of my favorites. P. Craig Russell did the artwork and, to be frank, it looks a bit rudimentary. When reading Hellboy I guess I've been spoiled and I want Mignola to cover every aspect. The story is small, good to read but normal, and Mignola could have sealed it for me and didn't. I guess that's something that is up to individual tastes.
And the last is Makoma, the longest addition to the book by far, covering some of Hellboy's younger years when he was in Africa. I liked the story and liked the quest artwork of Richard Corben, with everything clicking in that folklore sense that Hellboy often delivers. There's a mixture of Mignola there, too, and that made it worth a read.

And the extras - little etchings of characters and rudimentary cover art - don't really make me want to invest in Graphic Novels. I DO enjoy the forwards that come before each story, telling where the ale came from and how people became involved therein. Mignola is nothing if not a storyteller and this aspect adds to the read.

All that said, I enjoyed the series and thought people would enjoy it as well depending on what they want. If you missed the Dark Horse Book of series then there's a lot of tales here that are interesting and this format is a lot cheaper to acquire. The additions are good but are not necessary in pushing out a storyline and the book, on the whole, is just fragmented tales that cover some of Hellboy's adventures.
Keep that in mind before purchasing.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good, but not Hellboy's best, October 1, 2007

By	CB - See all my reviews

I always await the new Hellboy volume with anxious anticipation, and this one was no exception. "The Troll Witch and Others" is a collection of Hellboy short tales and is generally good, but with a few disappointments; it's not the best volume in the series, to be sure.

There are a number of triumphs in this volume: the title story, "The Troll Witch," a retelling of a Norwegian folktale, is a touching as it is chilling; and the steampunk-tinged haunted house tale, "Dr. Carp's Experiment," is beautifully bizarre. And "Makoma," an African folktale retold masterfully by Mignola and drawn by both Mignola and Richard Corben, is humorous and weighty at the same time.

Others, however, don't work so well. "The Hydra and the Lion," by Mignola's own admission, is just plain bizarre, and "The Vampire of Prague," a tale written by Mignola and drawn by P. Craig Russell lacks the gravitas of the other stories. Mignola notes that he gave Russell a lot of leeway in drawing and pacing this story, and it shows: it's far too slapstick and silly to be a real, classic Hellboy yarn and Russell's artistic stylings just don't fit. Overall, however, this is a good volume of Hellboy tales, although not the best by far. Worth it for Hellboy fans.

5.0 out of 5 stars Great stories, July 4, 2009

By	A. K. Borenstadt - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Five of these are drawn by Mignola and two are not. The stories are all Mignola, though.