Sometimes all you need is a little taste of something to make it really enjoyable. Take Hellboy for instance. He isn’t going about with dozens of series or in the hundred’s of issues by now. Mike Mignola does take his time to craft a Hellboy story and more often than not, it ends up pretty damn well good to read. However, the last few months I have been enjoying the one-shots more then the actual story. Mostly because the one-shots usually brings about the best in his writing and more importantly, he gets some damn good artists to do them as well.

Case in point: Richard Corben. Here’s an artist that I absolutely adore but for the longest time I wasn’t sure why. It’s all gorgeous to look at, that my mind can process. But why? Then it hit me with this one-shot, especially with the opening sequence in this. Admist all of the corpses (which there are a lot of) and horrifying monsters; Corben has a great handle on how to give off mood in the story. Through out the issue, he brings a lot of dread and misery with the situations involved….in a good way! The whole sequence where we see what Mr. Sullivan does to his victims for the House is really creepy. Somehow, with the precise drawings on the faces and also the fantastic coloring by Guy Davis; the scene really comes to life all thanks to the art. Hell Corben does some good stuff with the action too; and he definitely wins the award for creepiest panel of the year with the heart under the floorboards. (Don’t ask…) But throughout the entire issue you see how the mood is set with Corben’s (and Davis’s) work.

Mignola’s script is no slouch here though. Again I think now that Mignola’s strength is when he does these quick little stories. It’s like the perfect little meal to have in the Hellboy-verse. No continuity to remember and no revelations on Hellboy’s ‘Destiny’ (or a long rant on his Destiny). Just two, quick tales about Hellboy getting involved in a jam and fighting his way out. It is more pure entertainment to see Hellboy punch monsters and mummies then having any real, complex story involved. Plus Mignola gets to put some more humor into his work which is also a good thing. The comeuppance that Mr. Sullivan receives to Hellboy mocking that he needs to fight Mummies made me laugh a lot. Just a solid script overall by Mignola really, no faults I could find.

Again it’s the small stories that can really bring the best out of a character. Mike Mignola proves once again why, I think anyways, Hellboy seems to work better with short stories now a days then an epic ‘Destiny’ storyline. The two stories in this one-shot is much better then anything I’ve read out of the ‘ongoing’ storyline with Hellboy for the last couple of years. It helps that you have Richard Corben, one of the more underrated artists in today’s world, doing some great stuff here with his pencils and Guy Davis’s colors. If there is any issue or story I would recommend more to Hellboy fans it would be this double shot. Everything you need to know why Hellboy is a great character is in this very book.