The Hellboy Project: Hellboy Vol. 3: The Chained Coffin and Others

by Mike Mignola

This third Hellboy collection features a number of stories that appeared as back-ups or as single-issue stories, encompassing the period around the second volume.  Many of these stories take the form of reinventing or revisiting different legends or examples of folklore (mostly British, with some Russian tossed in) in such a way that they include our big red hero.

In these stories, Mignola really shows a strong understanding for what makes these legends so resilient over time.  They are frequently creepy, or bizarre in the way they play out, and are quite enjoyable.  Stories like The Corpse, A Christmas Underground, and The Chained Coffin show Mignola at his atmospheric best.

Other stories here help to explain some of the events that were glossed over in volume 2.  Almost Colossus returns to the sub-plot about Liz Sherman and the homunculus that she discovered in the earlier story, and help to establish Roger the homunculus as a character in the BPRD mythos.  They Baba Yaga story also shows a key scene referred to in book two.

I'm having a good time working my way through these books that I now regret not picking up years ago.