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The Dark Horse Book of ... #4
The Dark Horse Book of Monsters
Mike Mignola takes Hellboy on a monster-crunching mission and Gary Gianni provides illustrations for a classic tale of South Seas horror by William Hope Hodgson in this fourth addition to Dark Horse's Eisner-nominated books of Hauntings, Witchcraft and The Dead. Along with Mignola and Gianni, Evan Dorkin and Jill Thompson - who won Eisners in both 2004 and 2005 for their stories in Hauntings and Witchcraft - return to unveil a new painted story starring everyone's favorite evil-fighting strays. Also included is an homage to the great creature comics of Jack Kirby by Kurt Busiek and Keith Giffen, and many more terrifying yarns by some of the most talented folks in comics!
96 pages, Hardcover
First published December 12, 2006
About the author
Mike Mignola
1,839 books2,576 followersMike Mignola was born September 16, 1960 in Berkeley, California and grew up in nearby Oakland. His fascination with ghosts and monsters began at an early age (he doesn't remember why) and reading Dracula at age 13 introduced him to Victorian literature and folklore from which he has never recovered.
In 1982, hoping to find a way to draw monsters for a living, he moved to New York City and began working for Marvel Comics, first as a (very terrible) inker and then as an artist on comics like Rocket Raccoon, Alpha Flight and The Hulk. By the late 80s he had begun to develop his signature style (thin lines, clunky shapes and lots of black) and moved onto higher profile commercial projects like Cosmic Odyssey (1988) and Gotham by Gaslight (1989) for DC Comics, and the not-so-commercial Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser (1990) for Marvel. In 1992, he drew the comic book adaptation of the film Bram Stoker's Dracula for Topps Comics.
In 1993, Mike moved to Dark Horse comics and created Hellboy, a half-demon occult detective who may or may not be the Beast of the Apocalypse. While the first story line (Seed of Destruction, 1994) was co-written by John Byrne, Mike has continued writing the series himself. There are, at this moment, 13 Hellboy graphic novel collections (with more on the way), several spin-off titles (B.P.R.D., Lobster Johnson, Abe Sapien and Witchfinder), three anthologies of prose stories, several novels, two animated films and two live-action films staring Ron Perlman. Hellboy has earned numerous comic industry awards and is published in a great many countries.
Mike also created the award-winning comic book The Amazing Screw-on Head and has co-written two novels (Baltimore, or, the Steadfast Tin Soldier and the Vampire and Joe Golem and the Drowning City) with best-selling author Christopher Golden.
Mike worked (very briefly) with Francis Ford Coppola on his film Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992), was a production designer on the Disney film Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001) and was visual consultant to director Guillermo del Toro on Blade II (2002), Hellboy (2004) and Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008). He lives somewhere in Southern California with his wife, daughter, a lot of books and a cat.
In 1982, hoping to find a way to draw monsters for a living, he moved to New York City and began working for Marvel Comics, first as a (very terrible) inker and then as an artist on comics like Rocket Raccoon, Alpha Flight and The Hulk. By the late 80s he had begun to develop his signature style (thin lines, clunky shapes and lots of black) and moved onto higher profile commercial projects like Cosmic Odyssey (1988) and Gotham by Gaslight (1989) for DC Comics, and the not-so-commercial Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser (1990) for Marvel. In 1992, he drew the comic book adaptation of the film Bram Stoker's Dracula for Topps Comics.
In 1993, Mike moved to Dark Horse comics and created Hellboy, a half-demon occult detective who may or may not be the Beast of the Apocalypse. While the first story line (Seed of Destruction, 1994) was co-written by John Byrne, Mike has continued writing the series himself. There are, at this moment, 13 Hellboy graphic novel collections (with more on the way), several spin-off titles (B.P.R.D., Lobster Johnson, Abe Sapien and Witchfinder), three anthologies of prose stories, several novels, two animated films and two live-action films staring Ron Perlman. Hellboy has earned numerous comic industry awards and is published in a great many countries.
Mike also created the award-winning comic book The Amazing Screw-on Head and has co-written two novels (Baltimore, or, the Steadfast Tin Soldier and the Vampire and Joe Golem and the Drowning City) with best-selling author Christopher Golden.
Mike worked (very briefly) with Francis Ford Coppola on his film Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992), was a production designer on the Disney film Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001) and was visual consultant to director Guillermo del Toro on Blade II (2002), Hellboy (2004) and Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008). He lives somewhere in Southern California with his wife, daughter, a lot of books and a cat.
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
September 9, 2017
By far the best of these Dark Horse anthologies. Both the Hellboy and Beasts of Burden stories were very strong. The tribute to Jack Kirby at the beginning was great. I also liked the Rex Mundi story with fantastic art from Juan Ferraya and the story with the archaeologist couple was fun too.
June 4, 2016
It wasn't what I was expecting, but it wasn't bad. I thought it was going to be information about what cultures they got their inspirations from monsters from, instead it was six short comics (I didn't read the synopsis, lol).
I Witnessed the End of the World - 1 star
Didn't care for this one at all.
The Hydra and the Lion - 4 stars
About Hellboy and Hercules. Different, but interesting.
A Tropical Horror - 0 stars
Totally skipped.
To Weave a Lover - 3 stars
Weird. Dude, was a nutcase.
The Horror Beneath - 2 stars
Thought it was a bad rip off of Tremors
Hidden - 4 stars
Very weird. The Preacher goes to a witch for some type of STD cure, and he calls her a Godless Whore. She has a blue alien baby and ends up killing the Preacher when he returns to kill it. Preacher doesn't stand a chance.
A Dog and His Boy - 4 stars
Definitely the saddest one of the bunch, but still good. A runaway teen is found by a bunch of dogs that speak to each other. He's crashed in Ace's doghouse. He surprises them he when talks to them. The other dogs are leery of his, but Ace takes him under his wing (so to speak) and they spend about a week together before things get weird. Ace spies the kid eating puppies. They realize he's a werewolf. Ace loves the kid, but ends up attacking him. Hunters kill the boy because he killed a person. Ace was badly wounded, but was saved, but heartbroken.
I Witnessed the End of the World - 1 star
Didn't care for this one at all.
The Hydra and the Lion - 4 stars
About Hellboy and Hercules. Different, but interesting.
A Tropical Horror - 0 stars
Totally skipped.
To Weave a Lover - 3 stars
Weird. Dude, was a nutcase.
The Horror Beneath - 2 stars
Thought it was a bad rip off of Tremors
Hidden - 4 stars
Very weird. The Preacher goes to a witch for some type of STD cure, and he calls her a Godless Whore. She has a blue alien baby and ends up killing the Preacher when he returns to kill it. Preacher doesn't stand a chance.
A Dog and His Boy - 4 stars
Definitely the saddest one of the bunch, but still good. A runaway teen is found by a bunch of dogs that speak to each other. He's crashed in Ace's doghouse. He surprises them he when talks to them. The other dogs are leery of his, but Ace takes him under his wing (so to speak) and they spend about a week together before things get weird. Ace spies the kid eating puppies. They realize he's a werewolf. Ace loves the kid, but ends up attacking him. Hunters kill the boy because he killed a person. Ace was badly wounded, but was saved, but heartbroken.
October 30, 2016
Interesting. Fun.
But kind of a short one...
But kind of a short one...
March 31, 2022
The Dark Horse Book of Monsters
(4 of 5 for a nice monster stories collection)
The Dark Horse Book of something is a pretty good short stories collection. Filled with pieces from great authors and artists, it still possesses some flaws of this kind of compilation. Overall it was excellent, only A Tropical Horror, a short story, written, not comics was hard to go through, especially with that old style of writing, that I eventually skipped. I knew Hellboy adventure, but it was still enjoyable. But the top story was A Dog and His Boy, Beasts of Burden story. The art is great and the story, even the short one, is very intense.
(4 of 5 for a nice monster stories collection)
The Dark Horse Book of something is a pretty good short stories collection. Filled with pieces from great authors and artists, it still possesses some flaws of this kind of compilation. Overall it was excellent, only A Tropical Horror, a short story, written, not comics was hard to go through, especially with that old style of writing, that I eventually skipped. I knew Hellboy adventure, but it was still enjoyable. But the top story was A Dog and His Boy, Beasts of Burden story. The art is great and the story, even the short one, is very intense.
October 8, 2018
Really 2 and a half stars. A collection of short stories in a graphic novel format, each one focusing on a particular monster. Some of these stories really felt more like short scenes from a longer work than actual short stories. Maybe it helps to have read these authors' graphic novel series, which I have not, because a few seem to be set in those particular realities. My favorite is 'A Dog and His Boy'. It has great artwork and a fully developed stand-alone story. An ok collection that could've been much better.
February 15, 2024
A good compilation of stories. I liked the sea creature and the Hellboy stories the most. Monster hunting is dangerous work.
July 21, 2019
The first story is a small gem, which was surprising as I normally do not care for Kurt Busiek as a writer. Kieth Giffen's artistic homage to Jack Kirby's artwork is a very nice touch and perfect for the story. The rest of the collection I found immediately forgettable.
January 7, 2018
A delightful collection that rekindled many fears.
March 20, 2018
Clever and well written
September 4, 2018
Rating: 4 stars
October 25, 2019
Hellboy and werewolf were the better stories in the collection. The artwork was good in all of the stories.
November 6, 2025
A solid collection of creature features, and the Beasts of Burden story was a delight as always!
March 26, 2026
some stories i preferred more than others, often leaving me wanting more
but they are so right, monster stories are so much better in graphic form !!
now i wanna read the witchcraft book ..
but they are so right, monster stories are so much better in graphic form !!
now i wanna read the witchcraft book ..
November 20, 2009
The first three collections in this series seemed to steadily improve, but this one dipped back down a bit. The Beasts of Burden story was the strongest of the lot, but nothing else made much of an impression.
August 10, 2011
This anthology was okay, but I really only liked about half the stories ... Hellboy is a given, and then the stories by Busiek and Dorkin. I actually found the Evan Dorkin tale kind of heart wrenching. Actually I take that back, the Scott Allie story was pretty good too.
November 25, 2009
I loved the one about the archaeologists in the desert and the short story by William Hope Hodgson. Oh, and the Beasts of Burden short story.
August 7, 2010
i like mignola
October 27, 2010
Great short stories, great artists. Check out the whole series!
August 24, 2013
Liked the Beast of Burden story but the rest were alright...
April 18, 2014
Couple of okay stories.
September 9, 2015
Some good artists & creators here, but nothing is very memorable. Perhaps the pieces are just too short.
July 23, 2016
A decent collection of monster tales. I liked "A Tropical Horror" by William Hope Hodgson and "The Horror Beneath" by Moore, Reppion, and Green best.
June 7, 2020
Quick read. Nice stories and great art.
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews