Hellboy: Wake the Devil (Volume Two)

Mike Mignola

Apparently I forgot to review this one, but I’m reviewing it now!  After finishing the first volume, I was very eager to start this one.  Very few questions are answered regarding Hellboy’s purpose, though I think that’ll be a running bag of mystery for most of the series.  Instead, he get a little more insight into the secret project the Nazi’s were working on and we learn a bit more about our main dude in red.  In this volume we also get to meet some Vampires (and of course, Nazi Vampire lovers).  Dracula-type Vampires are my favorite kind of monster, right under Zombies.  I was pretty excited to get to see some Dracula fit into the storyline.  The whole iron maiden part?  Talk about creepy and scary!

I like that Mignola introduces characters such as Baba Yaga and name-drops others such as the Kindly Ones without explaining anything about them.  It’s assumed we know exactly who they are and how they fit into this world.  This, of course, feeds right into my joy of knowing things.  Hellboy’s monologues are hilarious, especially when things go wrong (and they always do)  and the other members of his paranormal investigating team are enjoyable to read.  As with the first volume, the extras at the end of Wake the Devil were awesome.  I look forward to reading more!