Where Hellboy Faces Angels and Demons

Hellboy: On Earth as it is in Hell by Brian Hodge
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Hellboy is usually very entertaining, in almost any incarnation. (Perfect word for him, actually.) The movies. The graphic novels. The books. Hellboy is such a good character, and he somehow makes creepy and scary stuff less so. When the bad guy from hell is on our side, things are gonna work out, right? I'm not a horror fan, but I am a Hellboy fan. And this is a good one.

The author is a writer. He has his own stuff he does. But he got hired to write this, and in situations like that, writing in someone else's universe, the prose and the pacing and the tone can be kinda... average. No shade to any writer who's done that work. Good on them for being published ever in any way. But this is much better than that. I stopped several times to look up once more who wrote this and what else he had out there, because I just liked the sound of it. Things meant to be descriptive were nicely descriptive. Things meant to be emotional actually were emotional. Things meant to be witty were actually witty. Not just suggested, not just in the ballpark, but well done.

It's not that the story is that much better. It's basically pulp fiction, and that's fine, because that's why you pick it up. But there's a lot that's done with the characters--again, in every incarnation--that is interesting and touching and worthwhile, which is cool. And the writing is surprisingly excellent.

I'll give a typical example.

There's a scene where Hellboy goes to talk to a Father Simon about the implications of the events in the story, trying to sort them out, maybe get some advice, and it's a very nice, quiet, helpful scene, useful for both pacing and tone, but it's also a nice buddy kind of moment. And it's smart. In a way, it's simultaneously subversive of religion while also making a case for it.

Hellboy was quite certain that the whole creed, Anglican and Roman and Protestant alike, could collapse tomorrow and it wouldn't make a bit of difference to Father Simon. He would go on as though nothing had changed. He'd put on his collar when appropriate, he'd say Mass for whoever straggled into the pews, he'd sit for hours at a deathbed. He'd sing--rarely on key--and he would pray. Like always. It was who and what he was. My religion is kindness, the Dalai Lama had said, and Father Simon probably could've said it too.

I think that's pretty great. And that's just how the whole book sounds. Solid.

So I don't often give a book in a universe like this a 5 star rating, since even a four means it's a good book, but I feel like a 5 is called for. And lots of other readers agree.

Okay, I don't mean to oversell. The scope is still just the normal Hellboy tale. It's not life-changing. But in terms of quality, it's as good as you could want in the genre. If you like this series or genre, and if you want to show other people that you can find high quality in this type of book, you won't go wrong holding this one up and showing it to them.

Lots of scary demons and angels in this. We go to Rome and the Mediterranean and places not quite in any world. Scary stuff and secret stuff from history and modern mystery with guns. You know the drill. It's good.

Recommended.

View all my reviews