Hellboy: The Bones of Giants Illustrated Novel (Paperback)

This novel though I have to admit is not as detailed as the previous Hellboy novel, is still plenty of fun. A heavy read? No, deffinetly not a heavy read. So just read and enjoy. And within a week you can get back to your heavier reading.

Again, this is not like Spawn. X-files, sure with a little of Doc Samson thrown in. But Spawn, no. The two should not even be mentioned in the same sentence unless to dinstinguish the two. No exggaterated capes to trip on from Hellboy. Just a normal overcoat.

The concept is great- Hellboy is called in to investigate the discovery of a gigantic corpse in Sweden, which turns out to be the remains of the Norse God of Thunder, Thor; Hellboy picks up Thor's hammer Mjollnir, is struck by the lightning the hammer can summon, and finds that not only is the hammer now fused to his right hand, but he's now also the unwilling host for the essence of the "Thunder-Bearer"; Good thing, though- It seems as if Thor isn't the only Norse Deity to be making a comeback; Thrym, a vengeful Frost Giant, has also risen from his grave, and he's looking for a do-over of Ragnarok, the legendary "Twilight of the Gods", and it looks like only Hellboy and his fish-man partner Abe Sapien can stand in his way.

If Mignola had handled this in the comic, it would have been solid-gold. Here it just seems stagnant. I really have nothing bad to say about Christopher Golden's writing; He gets the job done, but his style just didn't do anything for me. Avid readers will know what I mean- There are some Authors whose books you just hate to put down, and some whose books you just hate to pick up. For me, Golden falls into the latter category. The only reason I was even able to muster up the resolve to finish the book is because I had no choice! (I finished the last 50 or so pages in the Dentist's office waiting for the Novocaine to kick in.) To his credit, Golden did manage to make the final showdown interesting, but it still wasn't enough for a recommendation. The book has dozens of spot illustrations by Mignola, and although he's hands-down my ALL-TIME FAVORITE artist, they're not his best work, and serve more as mood-setters than actual representations of what is going on in the story at any given time. Kudos to Dark Horse for trying something different, though. The paperbacks are a great idea, especially with the Hellboy movie looming for Summer of 2004, and I'd love to see more, but please give another Author a try...? Maybe Poppy Z. Brite, Edward Lee, or Jack Ketchum?