November 1, 2007
Strange Places: Hellboy 6 (2006) seemingly promised more long stories in its successor, yet here are four short and two longer tales, the latterdrawn by other artists. InThe Vampire of Prague, art-nouveau-influenced P. Craig Russellmakes Hellboybuff and suchvapory incidentals as ghosts and fire more volatile than Mignola can draw them. Veteran fantasy and horror artist Richard Corben gets the plum assignment here, Makoma, based on an Africanlegend Mignolafound in anAndrew Lang fairy-tale collection. Both artists deviate from Mignolas craggy expressionism but hewRussell more, the more-textured Corben lessto Mignolas limited palette. In consequence, a handsome series looks even smarter.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2007, American Library Association.)