Hellboy: Oddest Jobs

*Book source ~ Free from NoiseTrade

Title ~ Hellboy: Oddest Jobs

Series ~ Hellboy

Author ~ various

Joe R. Lansdale

Illustrator ~ Mike Mignola

Editor ~ Christopher Golden

Publisher ~ Dark Horse

Published ~ 9 July 2008

Genre ~ Anthology | Horror

Pages ~ 241

 Pages in the freebie I picked up ~ 49

My Rating ~ 4 bites and a nibble

From Goodreads:

Longtime contributor to the Hellboy mythos Christopher Golden brings together a crew of luminaries including Joe R. Lansdale (Bubba HoTep) and China Miéville (King Rat), crossgenre sensation Barbara Hambly (The Windrose Chronicles), celebrated mystery writer Ken Bruen (The Dramatist), bestselling science fiction and fantasy novelist Tad Williams (Otherland), and a bevy of other skilled storytellers eager to spin a tale or two about the world's greatest paranormal detective, as some of the biggest names in horror, mystery, and fantasy come together to pay homage to Mike Mignola's Hellboy!

So this is a bit of a cheat. Ok, ok! A big cheat. I picked this up for free but there’s a catch. Only the first story by Joe Lansdale was included in the freebie. I guess they were hoping I’d buy the book, but the joke’s on them. I have no monies. If I did though I would buy it in a heartbeat because if the rest of the stories are even ¼ as good as the first story then it would be totally worth it. I can’t even get it at my library since they don’t have it. I may have to suggest the purchase. I’m 13 for 13 on my suggestions so odds are good they’d buy it.

This really isn’t a graphic novel. It’s an anthology of short stories written about Hellboy except written by a bunch of different authors. I really, really…should I say enjoyed? Because the Lansdale tale Jiving with Shadows and Dragons and Long, Black Trains is scary, gory and quite horrific. But it’s also quite amusing. Well, Hellboy is amusing and that makes the whole thing tolerable because I did mention the horror, right? *shudders* Having never read any Hellboy stuff nor seen the movies (even though we have them) I wasn’t sure I would like him. But if that’s what his character is like in all the stories then I must read more. And for me to praise horror, a genre waaaay down my list, then it must be good.

Edit: I read this freebie last year and I'm just now getting around to posting the review. But I have news! I suggested the purchase to my library and they bought it! So I picked it up last week and I'll be reading the whole thing very soon. Woot!