I've been reading and reviewing the single issues of Hellboy: Weird Tales, and while I've enjoyed a fair number of the stories, my overall sense was that the series was falling into the trap of all anthology series and serving up somewhat uneven quality. However, the trade collection of volume one has changed my mind. Not only did I enjoy reading the stories that I liked in the first go-round, the rearrangement of story placements actually makes some stories stronger, as they are reinforced by the other stories around them. I'm still not one hundred percent sold on all of these stories, but the majority of the ones in this volume are really good, and the impressive variety of art and story styles is much more evident in this collection as well.
The overriding tone of this volume of Weird Tales is that of humor, or at the very least a more light-hearted take on the concept. Fabian Nicieza and Steffano Raffaele's "Children of the Black Mound" is one of the exceptions, and so is Matt Hollingsworth and Alex Maleev's "Still Born," and these happen to be my two least favorite stories in the collections. Both have beautiful imagery and intriguing ideas, but neither one really gets its point across as well as I'd like. "The Dread Within" by Jason Pearson is also a more serious tale, but it has a pretty heartwarming message at the center of it and I really like it now that I have a better feel for who Liz Sheridan is.
Then there are the stories which are mostly serious throughout but which have some humor thanks to Hellboy's sardonic personality. "Hot" by Randy Stradley and Seung Kim has perhaps the most beautiful artwork of the entire volume, a style that reminds me of Bernie Wrightson but with a touch of the same horrific imagery that Junji Ito brings to his work, and while the story makes Hellboy come off as a little slow in not realizing what he's dealing with, it makes up for it with a seductively wicked villain. Competing with Kim for the most beautiful artwork is John Cassaday, who tells an effective story of Hellboy and a haunted circus and also includes one of my favorite lines from any Hellboy series: "Answer me of I'll kick your clown-ass so hard you'll grow."
However, much as I enjoyed some of the serious stories, the important word from this volume is fun. Eric Powell's tale of young Hellboy and his dog captures the weird sensibilities of The Goon and yet also has a childlike innocence that makes it fun. "Haunted" by Tom Sniegoski and Ovi Nedelcu is a goofy little tale in the Warner Brothers animation style, a little light but plenty enjoyable, and the same can be applied to Andi Watson's "Party Pooper," although it's a little bit more serious and introspective in tone.
The big fun comes from those who take advantage of the weirdness of Hellboy and the BPRD to do some really out there premises. Sara Ryan's story with art by husband Steve Lieber is a smart, witty story about family strife being influenced by mystical tampering, really funny in large part thanks to Hellboy's deadpan lines. "Flight Risk" by Joe Casey and Steve Parkhouse takes off from a hilarious gag in Wake The Devil and plays around with a sort of competitive superscience spirit, mixing the joy of Indiana Jones with the brainy competition of Real Genius. Then there's Mark Ricketts and Eric Wight, who turn in a very funny tale of dead relatives who aren't too dead to nag.
Finally, there are a pair of stories that worked well separately but which are even stronger when paired together. Bob Fingerman serves up a story about Hellboy and his BPRD compadres as working stiffs, and it's a complete departure for the characters which nevertheless works and is really, really funny. Fingerman's take on Hellboy as working stiff contrasts nicely with John Arcudi and Roger Langridge doing a story where Hellboy is a somewhat insensitive star, taking little notice of regular working stiff Abe Sapien. Again, both stories are very much off-the-beaten-path for these characters, but they are really fun alternate takes, which is a phrase that can be used to describe most of Hellboy: Weird Tales.
