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The Dark Horse Book of ... #3
The Dark Horse Book of the Dead
Mike Mignola presents a Hellboy yarn combining Shakespeare and graverobbing in this follow-up to Dark Horse's Eisner-nominated books of Hauntings and Witchcraft. Also returning to this volume are Jill Thompson, who won a 2004 Eisner for her painted work in Hauntings, and her collaborator Evan Dorkin, with another occult canine adventure. New additions for this volume include Goon creator Eric Powell, celebrated B.P.R.D. artist Guy Davis, and the artist who spent the last twenty years making superhero comics more scary - Kelley Jones. Cover artist Gary Gianni also returns, mixing prose with comics, with a rare tale by the man ultimately responsible for Dark Horse's biggest hit in years - Conan creator Robert E. Howard.
96 pages, Hardcover
First published June 1, 2005
About the author
Mike Mignola
1,866 books2,610 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.
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
May 13, 2021
"Cuando sois nombrada los hombres tiemblan. La naturaleza se horroriza dejando atras su habitual firmeza. Ah cuan oscuros son vuestros vastos reinos, y vuestos tristes desechos, donde nada reina salvo la noche la oscura noche, y el silencio"
Una buena mezcla entre historias lúgubres y otras un poco mas divertidas.
Aprobado para pasar un buen rato y/o leer entre libros.
Una buena mezcla entre historias lúgubres y otras un poco mas divertidas.
Aprobado para pasar un buen rato y/o leer entre libros.
September 9, 2017
Even the Hellboy story was just OK. I did enjoy the Beasts of Burden story though.
August 6, 2025
A rare Robert E Howard 1933 Old Garfield 's Heart is top ,along with a Hellboy story.Hungry Ghosts is good and funny Death Boy .
January 4, 2024
(3,8 of 5 for some good stories there)
Despite my rating, I enjoyed this. There are a handful of stories, some are good, a few are rather disappointing but most are somewhat good. Again Beasts of Burden story is one of the best, even if it's not as good as from "Book of Monsters".
Here is a quick tour through the stories:
Hungry Ghosts - a nice twist on the end, actually a good one.
Ghoul - one of the weaker Hellboy ones, but the bar is high here.
Old Garfield - is a classic good but simple Howard' short story, I wish that (great) Gianni rather made comics of it, instead of a few illustrations.
Ditch - this kind of story, especially with dogs, always hits my soft spot...
Death Boy - meh
Wallace - surprisingly good Lovecraftian-styled horror from POwell, nice.
Queen - a bit surprise to me, actually a nice postapo fantasy story reminding me Donjon (Dungeon) comic series by its style and art.
Kago No Tori - Liked that, thanks to Davis and Steward visually appealing to me and the Japan-styled "Kytice" kind of story worked great.
Magicians - This "static" story "Like Father Like Son" was also nice
Sleeping Dogs - Beasts of Burde, already mentioned that before, nice.
Despite my rating, I enjoyed this. There are a handful of stories, some are good, a few are rather disappointing but most are somewhat good. Again Beasts of Burden story is one of the best, even if it's not as good as from "Book of Monsters".
Here is a quick tour through the stories:
Hungry Ghosts - a nice twist on the end, actually a good one.
Ghoul - one of the weaker Hellboy ones, but the bar is high here.
Old Garfield - is a classic good but simple Howard' short story, I wish that (great) Gianni rather made comics of it, instead of a few illustrations.
Ditch - this kind of story, especially with dogs, always hits my soft spot...
Death Boy - meh
Wallace - surprisingly good Lovecraftian-styled horror from POwell, nice.
Queen - a bit surprise to me, actually a nice postapo fantasy story reminding me Donjon (Dungeon) comic series by its style and art.
Kago No Tori - Liked that, thanks to Davis and Steward visually appealing to me and the Japan-styled "Kytice" kind of story worked great.
Magicians - This "static" story "Like Father Like Son" was also nice
Sleeping Dogs - Beasts of Burde, already mentioned that before, nice.
October 18, 2017
This is definitely better than the Witchcraft one and I appreciate that there is only one prose story in here [seriously, stop putting prose stories in comic anthologies] but still most of the stories are just okay and nothing really blew me away.
June 8, 2025
Standard disclaimers about varied quality apply, but this has a Mike Mignola Hellboy story, a Dorkin/Thompson Beasts of Burden story, a Very Creepy Arctic Horror story by Eric Powell, and a Romance Turned Horribly Wrong story drawn by Guy Davis. It's good.
June 26, 2009
Some of the art is decent, but overall this entire collection is boring and uncreative; entirely forgettable. The best entry is from Pat McEown, which is surprisingly solid with excellent style and a decent story told through a surprisingly gripping use of almost no details - the brief length is a great way to experiment with minimal characterization, but McEown manages to infuse the entire piece with heart and drive. Neat!
May 24, 2010
A creepy selection box of short extracts from quality graphic novels based around the theme of the walking, hungry dead - plus a dark short story by classic adventure writer Robert E Howard. A good introduction to artists and writers you may not have come across before with grotesque-style woodcut illustrations on the fly pages.
March 20, 2018
Would recommend to any dark horse fans
October 3, 2023
Honestly the worst in the series of Dark horse book of series..the best story is by far the Beasts of Burden story
November 6, 2025
Not bad, the artwork is widely variable, but it’s all solid enough. The Beasts of Burden story was a belter though!
February 23, 2017
Of the collection, Eric Powell's "The Wallace Expedition", Pat McEown's "Queen of Darkness" and Jamie S. Rich and Guy Davis' "Kago No Tori" are the stand-out tales. Top billing aside, Mike Mignola's entry falls short, trying all too hard for clever over substance or entertainment.
Like so many short story collections (or new music albums), the Book of the Dead's short visual tales provide patchy results - a few gems amidst the dross. Alas, three out of the many isn't enough to rescue it - and unless you find a copy going cheap or spot it in the library, I can't recommend it.
In the perfect world, I would give this 1-and-a-half
Like so many short story collections (or new music albums), the Book of the Dead's short visual tales provide patchy results - a few gems amidst the dross. Alas, three out of the many isn't enough to rescue it - and unless you find a copy going cheap or spot it in the library, I can't recommend it.
In the perfect world, I would give this 1-and-a-half
June 22, 2012
I really enjoyed this collection of stories revolving around death and the dead- some are written out in text, others full graphic novel (comics style) artwork... some are funny, poking fun at death... some hit you where it counts and make the tears come to your eyes...
"The Ditch" was my personal favourite... It touched me on a level few short stories/graphics can... about the dead. The forgotton dead, especially...
I was pleased to see the depth and yet the tenderness in some of the tales- for all the fact that they have one thing in common- Horror of Death.
It was a high win, especially compared to others in the series. Good Stuff!
June 19, 2013
A collection of ghoulish tales, each one presenting a different perspective (such as that of a dead dog in a ditch, or a group of expeditioners in the arctic) or interesting twist, or a just plain creepy premise. The art styles change from story to story, becoming the hook that dragged me in in the first place. My favorite was Kago No Tori - or Caged Bird - which features illustrations that mirror traditional Japanese woodblock prints in a modern style.
October 5, 2007
This book is really a collection of small stories from Dark Horse, focusing around death, the dead and the dying. They're fun stories, bite sized, and a bit haphazard, but worth a go through on a night when you need a bit of the macabre.
The art is consistently good from piece to piece, and showcases Mike Mignolia's Hellboy for one of the chapters.
The art is consistently good from piece to piece, and showcases Mike Mignolia's Hellboy for one of the chapters.
November 16, 2009
Each volume has been a little better than the one before. This one was as creepy as Witches but several of the stories had heart as well. Loved Mignola's Hamlet. Once Kelley Jones appears, it's surprising he wasn't included sooner. Sort of relieved there was no interview this time.
August 29, 2011
I just loved this collection of creepy tales, very nicely illustrated, and including a short story by one of my fave authors, Robert E Howard. This book reminded me a lot of the seventies and eighties 'horror' comics, such as Creepy, Eerie, tales of the Uncanny etc. which I loved as a kid.
July 28, 2012
If you're a dog-lover who's a bit sensitive, you may want to pass on this one. I'm a cat person, myself, so that's not my only issue here. I guess this volume was just too much of a downer for me, and not even that entertaining.
August 16, 2009
Do I remember a single graphic short story from this collection? I don’t think I do. Always a fabulous sign, that.
September 18, 2011
This series getting even more awesome
My fave book from this whole stories
My fave book from this whole stories
October 16, 2014
El vívido libro de los muertos en castellano.
Incluye una entrevista al capo de Scott Allie.
Incluye una entrevista al capo de Scott Allie.
June 12, 2011
Gorgeous graphics...
June 3, 2012
Visually its really good but some hit and miss story's sadly
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews