Scott Benefiel

I have always been a fan of the crossover, especially when it's done for the sake of storytelling and not a marketing scheme (although, sometimes the storytelling in those situations can still stand above the marketing). The crossovers in this collection don't seem to be for any other reason than the writers wanted to see these characters interact, and that's what I love.

First up we have Hellboy teaming up with Batman and Starman when a group of Neo-Nazis kidnap Ted Knight (the original Starman) to summon an Elder God. Dig seeing these characters work together while dealing with their differences, the conversation between Bats and HB is one of my favorite pieces of dialogue. Also, seeing Batman and the Joker drawn by Mignola was absolutely fantastic!

Then we have a story in which Hellboy meets the Ghost, a character from Dark Horse's run at creating a superhero universe. It didn't really stick, but characters like Ghost and Barb Wire should have stuck around. I liked them. Seeing Ghost and Hellboy duke it out due to some events that started back in 1939 and a manipulated misunderstanding was a great premise, and well done. Also, this was apparently the first time someone other than Mignola had drawn Hellboy in a full story, and I have to say, I thought they did a good job.

Good collection. Nice mix of Hellboy's supernatural kookiness with some more standard super heroics, but still retaining the pulp sensibilities that makes Hellboy what he is.… (altro)