One Mad Dog

This hardcover collects the TPB’s “Hollow Earth”, “The Soul of Venice”, and “Plague of Frogs” and includes the first appearances of Lobster Johnson and Johann Kraus.

Hollow Earth Contains:

“Hollow Earth” was written by Mike Mignola, Christopher Golden and Tom Sniegoski with art by Ryan Sook.   After Hellboy leaves the BPRD, Liz checks into a monastery to try to learn to control her powers.  Whilst there she is captured by a strange race of creatures who live under the earth and BPRD agents Abe Sapien,  Roger and Johann Kraus  embark on a mission to get her back. “Hollow Earth” is a good read that has the same feel as other Hellboy books but doesn’t have that same special spark. Ryan Sook does a remarkable job of capturing Mike Mignola’s hellboy universe art style in this story.

“Hollow Earth Dark Horse Extra” was written by Mike Mignola, Christopher Golden and Tom Sniegoski with art by Ryan Sook. This is a short story that explains the origin of  Johann Kraus but it suffers from a rather confusing panel layout.

“The Killer In My Skull” was written by Mike Mignola with art by Matt Smith.  This story features the first appearance of Lobster Jonson who attempts to solve a baffling paranormal closed door murder detective case.  I didn’t really get a feel for the character here but Matt Smith did an excellent job of capturing the Mignola art style,

“Abe Sapien Versus Science”  was written by Mike Mignola with art by “Matt Smith”.  This is a story of scientific vivisection where the subject is Roger. Abe Sapien attempts to rescue roger from this fate worse than death itself.  This is sort of an origin story for Roger and I enjoyed both it and Matt Smith’s artwork.

“Drums of the Dead” was written by Brian McDonald with art by Derek Thompson. Abe and new character Garret are called to investigate paranormal activities besetting cargo ships in an area with a certain link to triangles.  This story features a different art style to the rest of “Hollow earth” but it uses a similar color palette and hence does not look out of place. I enjoyed both the art and story.

“The Soul of Venice” contains:

“The Soul of Venice” was written by Miles Gunter, Michael Avon Oeming and Mike Mignola with art by Michael Avon Oeming. It is the story of an evil vampire who has taken the soul of Venice to win favor with a demon. I enjoyed this story and the art was pretty good too.

“Dark Waters” was written by Brian Augustyn with art by Guy Davis. This is the story of 3 witches that come to light when a town pond is drained and a terrible evil is awakened.  This was my favorite story in the “Soul of Venice” chapter and it also had my favorite art.  I really liked Guy Davis’s pencils especially in combination with and Dave Stewarts coloring.

“Night Train” was written by Geoff Johns and Scott Kolins with art by Scott Kollins and Dave Stewart.  It is the story of a train crash back in the time of Lobster Johnson that leaves a train full of ghosts hell bent on revenge. This is a pretty good story but the best part of it is the really good artwork and use of colors.

“There’s Something Under My Bed” was written by Joe Harris with art by Adam Pollina.  It is a short and fun story based upon the childhood fear of monsters under the bed.

“Another Day At the Office” was written by Mike Mignola with art by Cameron Stewart. It is another short story but this one features zombies and only average art.

Plague of Frogs:

The third TPB collected in this hard cover is “Plague of Frogs”. Unlike the other two volumes collected in this Omnibus, “Plague of Frogs” is  one long story arc rather than a collection of short stories. I think this longer story marks a turning point in the series where when given room to breathe B.P.R.D really finds its own direction. This story features the return of Sadu-Hem and the frog monsters first seen in “Hellboy – Seed of Destruction”, the fulfillment of prophecies and vengeance from “Hellboy – Wake the Devil” and my personal favorite, the origin of Abe Sapien.

 Not only is Plague a great story but it has really good art to. Although Guy Davis’s art does mimic Mike Mignola it has a more delicate and detailed look which when coupled with Dave Stewarts excellent coloring is very pleasing to the eye. I love the way Guy creates a sort of Quasi Victorian steam punk look to things and I love his background work. I have no problem with Guy penciling B.P.R.D especially if Dave is coloring.

 This collected edition also has an extensive extras section with some great sketches and articles all which help this to be a must buy book for Hellboy fans. ISBN-13: 978-1595826091. 8/10