Even though I may have been primarily confused when reading the first omnibus of Hellboy, I still enjoyed the adventures of the butt-kicking red demon set to take on evil and find out more and more about his true self. Hellboy’s adventures were far from over, though. Many more stories were waiting in the second omnibus, a collection of various stories initially released in the paper comic format before coming together in one big book. Creator Mike Mignola and many of his talented artists took me on another ride through the world of Hellboy. They may as well have left me excited for what will come next, as many of the issues I had with the last omnibus have primarily been fixed in the collection of stories presented.
Hellboy has been kicking butt and taking names working for the B.P.R.D for years. One day, when it feels like he’s lost his mojo, Hellboy leaves his job to find out about himself and his origins. Unbeknownst to him, danger follows him wherever he goes. Whether he likes it or not, he’ll have to use his smarts and wits to outsmart the constant dangers he seems to end up in.
The Stories presented in the Omnibus could be even more intriguing than the ones presented in the first Omnibus. I’ve mentioned before that getting into the stories in the last omnibus was more demanding because they were too complex for me. I like complex stories, but the Hellboy stories before required too much brain power to comprehend what was happening half the time. This time, while the complex storytelling is still present in these stories, the complicated plots are much less, and the stories are more accessible to follow than last time. The dark, religious, and violent stories can lead to exciting character progressions from our main lead. The dark tone is still there, and it's much appreciated. There are new characters and environments to explore, and each one of the stories builds upon one another until the omnibus ends, which leads to excitement to see what comes next for Hellboy.
The Characters, like before, are less memorable and impactful than our main lead. Still, credit where credit is due: the characters aside from Hellboy make much more of an impression in this Omnibus than in the last. Hellboy will get the most attention as the stories document his journey of fighting evil, learning about who he once was, and saying the zippy one-liners that most readers associate with the character. Other characters make decent impressions, such as Rodger, Hellboy’s Partner in crime, and some villains, such as a giant eel fish with mermaid enslaved people she orders around to do horrible things. Hellboy will get more attention than the rest, but the other characters work decently in their way.
The Illustrations are where things get interesting. Most of the time, the art for most comic panels is by none other than Mike Mignola himself. Meanwhile, Mignola has passed the torch to other artists to draw their interpretation of Hellboy in their unique art style. As expected with Mignola’s comic drawings, they use lots of deep blacks to make other colors like red stand out to the reader’s eye. The character designs are graphic but leave much room for complex expression in a character's posture or emotions. Two comic book artists, Gary Gianni and the late Richard Corben, illustrated two remarkable Hellboy stories in the omnibus. Both artists take different approaches to create the look of a Hellboy story from Mike Mignola’s original drawings. Gianni’s use of a more sketchy look makes characters look more realistic and grittier. On the other hand, Corben uses lighting to make the illustrations feel three-dimensional. It's nice to have a change of pace to see Mignola’s illustrations while giving other artists a chance to redefine Hellboy in their visual style. It makes for a more exciting omnibus.
I was harsh on the first omnibus of Hellboy, but this is an omnibus of stories that I enjoyed even more than the first set of Hellboy stories. They are still complicated in some ways, but I had a much better job following what was going on in this collection of stories as they were much easier to read, and the complex religious subtext was much less than it was before. The illustrations are excellent, as usual, and the variety of Hellboy stories illustrated by different comic book artists was quite the treat. I am eager to check out more stories of Hellboy as I know that his journey is far from over. This Volume Two omnibus is my favorite now, thanks to the engaging storylines and varied illustrations. I can’t wait to see what else is in store for Hellboy in the future.
(Final Grade: B)