The Dark Horse Book of Horror

The Dark Horse Book of ... #1-4

by Mike Mignola, Gary Gianni, Jill Thompson

Mike Mignola, Hellboy, and a roster of great creators and characters explore the dark corners of the horror genre in 35 stories of witchcraft, ghosts, and the risen dead.
Originally published in four award-winning anthologies, these stories featured the debut of Evan Dorkin and Jill Thompson's Beasts of Burden series, and standalone stories by Kelley Jones, Kurt Busiek, and many others.
In addition to the comics, Gary Gianni (Hellboy: Into the Silent Sea) illustrates stories by legendary authors such as Robert E Howard (Conan) and William Hope Hodgson (The House on the Borderland), and Scott Allie interviews experts in the occult fields, including a seance medium, and witch who specializes in love spells.
Collects: Dark Horse Book of Monsters, the Dark Horse Book of Witchcraft, the Dark Horse Book of Hauntings, and the Dark Horse Book of the Dead

Genres: Horror, Graphic Novels, Comics, Short Stories, Fiction, Anthologies, Graphic Novels Comics

368 pages, Hardcover

First published September 5, 2017

About the author

Mike 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.

Reviews

[Ashley Daviau · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one hell of an amazing omnibus! It has something for every horror fan, no matter your preference. I love that it’s divided into sections, monsters, witchcraft, haunting and the dead. You really get a little bit of everything and it’s a delightful treat. I also really love that it’s not just comics but short stories and interviews with experts in each field as well, it really adds a whole other dimension to this collection. Everything about this omnibus was fantastic, from the content to the illustrations and everything in between. This is a MUST for any horror fan!

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dark Horse put these out almost kind of like annuals about 10 years ago in a smaller digest format. They all follow a loose format of a Hellboy story followed by an old prose story with illustrations by Gary Gianni and closing with a Beasts of Burden story. This is worth a read just for those Hellboy and Beasts of Burden stories. The other stories as with most anthologies are a mixed bag, some good, some not. There's also some interviews with real life mediums and witches which I just skipped.

Received an advance copy from Dark Horse and Edelweiss.

[Quirkyreader · Rating 5 out of 5]

This anthology was one wild ride. The stories and artwork in this omnibus were amazing. And some of the creepers in this collection will make your skin crawl.

[Alexander Peterhans · Rating 3 out of 5]

A reprint of the collected four The Dark Horse Book Of's - Monsters, Witchcraft, Hauntings and The Dead.

As with any anthology, there's not just a mix in styles, but a mix in quality too. I especially liked Mike Mignola's Hellboy stories, and it was interesting to see the first appearances of Evan Dorkin's Beasts of Burden series (although they're not the strongest stories).

Also included are several pieces of fiction, beautifully illustrated.

(Thanks to Dark Horse Books for providing me with an ARC through Edelweiss)

[Quentin Wallace · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love horror anthologies, so I knew right off I'd probably like this one. You have several comic stories, some prose short stories by such authors as Robert E. Howard and Clark Ashton Smith and even some interviews with experts in the horror medium. Top notch creators including several Hellboy stories from Mignola, Beasts of Burden from Dorkin and Thompson and more. Just a really cool collection featuring ghosts, witches, zombies and monsters. Great October reading!

[Pop Bop · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent Horror Anthologies With Something for Everyone.

There are four Dark Horse books on offer - they are the books of Hauntings, Witchcraft, the Dead, and Monsters. Each book is available individually, (they were sort of like annuals), and as of September, 2017, they are all available in a single collected megavolume. Each book stands alone; there is no story arc that runs through the series. The collected megavolume is mostly appealing for its convenience, completeness and solid look and feel.

Each volume has a generous helping of Mignola's Hellboy, the individual tales designed to match each book's theme. (Actually, the Introduction acknowledges that Mignola wrote his stories first and the book's themes took their cues from each story.) Each volume also has an illustrated old school tale drawn from classic authors like Robert E. Howard, (who was much more than just "Conan"), and William Hope Hodgson, (whose mind blowing "House on the Borderland" is worth finding as a public domain ebook). Also, each book has a long episode from the Dorkin/Thompson "Beasts of Burden" series, which is a remarkably appealing series that features a gang of neighborhood dogs who deal with, as it turns out, hauntings, witchcraft, the dead, and monsters. At least to me, in story, execution and depth of characterization, the "Beasts of Burden" contributions were the happiest and most unexpected finds in these books.

The balance of the stories on offer are intended to showcase a few established artists and writers, but mostly to showcase new talents. As might be expected the results are a mixed bag. But that depends mostly on the individual reader's tastes, and what works for me might be of less interest to you. The important point, I guess, is that everything is at least worth looking at, and there are way more hits than misses. (There are a few "Q & A" style interview pieces, one with a medium and one with a Wiccan lawyer, that seemed pretty out of place, but otherwise everything was at least credible.)

There are 35 stories in the complete set, and if you hold out the Hellboy and Beasts of Burden, that leaves more than 25 new items. For each you get a new writer, a different artist, and often yet different colors and letters. That's a lot of variety and a nice way to find some new talent. I was happy with this and generally admired the efforts that were exhibited.

(Please note that I received a free advance will-self-destruct-in-x-days Adobe Digital copy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)

[Kathleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

A phenomenal collection of short comics and scary stories, this book is perfect for a little light halloween reading. The only part of the book that marred my personal reading experience was the interviews with real witches and spirit mediums. While that sort of thing is interesting, it didn't really suit the tone of the rest of the stories. It seemed to go spooky, scary, funny, frightening, emotionless nonfiction interview, spooky, scary, funny. Other readers might appreciate that sort of break in an anthology, but I didn't love it.

I would still highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys comics or horror. I even discovered a few authors and titles to look up and read more work from because their short stories were that good.

[David Cordero · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very nice collection. The Beasts of Burden stories are my favorites.

[Nikki "The Crazie Betty" V. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this! A crap ton of short horror comics that felt so nostalgic and noir. Thoroughly enjoyable with it's many genres of monsters, murderers, cosmic terror, and so many others. Highly recommended to fans of the horror/scifi genre and who enjoy the comic book medium.

Received via Edelweiss

[Alex Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

In general, the comic book stories in this were fairly average (except for the fantastic Beasts of Burden quadrilogy), but the presentation and artwork were all gorgeous.

I didn't appreciate the two interviews, and the latter was bizarrely passive aggressive. However, the addition of illustrated editions of early 20th century weird short fiction was a brilliant idea, and I wish there were other similar collections out there.

[Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection of short stories were mostly pretty forgettable and disappointing but it was about what was expected from a book like this.

What really shined though were the Beasts of Burden stories which were first collected in this book.

I didn't read the hellboy stories since I'm waiting to read them later on in another book so the content was a bit light on for me.

[Samidha; समिधा · Rating 3 out of 5]

Least favourite from my comic book spree. The. Illustrations are diverse and lovely and each art style is so unique, but the stories lack climatic endings and resolutions

[Thaddeus Rice · Rating 4 out of 5]

These are remarkably good shorts, a compilation of compilations, that shows the breadth and depth of horror comics, and really the cream of the crop. This is especially important since short form comic stories are often ignored in favor of longer, sprawling epics, but the medium is well suited to short powerful tales where meaning is compacted into every panel. Good horror, good art, good storytelling, and a good cure for the decompressed storytelling blues.

[David Wagner · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sadly, this is a nope. Quality of the collection is held up mostly by Beasts of Burden, which I already knew all - and the rest varies anywhere from "short funny story, cool" to "please no", with the better part being held up by some solid Hellboy stories (Ghoul, Troll Witch) and pulled down by horridly empty ministories (Salem...).
The "classic short stories" featured have two attributes - once again wildly different quality and they all did not age well. Like, really did not age well. Can´t recommend.

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an interesting mix of grapic novel versus straightup horror short stories. As all collections go some are going to grab you and others will not. I will say this was a clever compilation of all of the various authors efforts and put this one at the top of that three star review

[Lukas Holmes · Rating 5 out of 5]

What's not to like?

[Marcus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great collection of pretty neat stories about the undead, ghosts, witches, and monsters

[Octavi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tiene sus altibajos, como todas las recopilaciones, pero en general el nivel es alto. No decepciona y además incluye relatos ilustrados y entrevistas.

[Nick · Rating 3 out of 5]

- An interesting presentation with decent but not great results

- 'Hellboy' is in here, though I'm rarely satisfied with a Hellboy story, these ones included. Ditto with the art. It's an interesting style, but very repetitive, as the world and plots are interesting, yet repetitive, with lame dialogue, under-powered villains, and unsatisfying conclusions.

- The 'Beast of Burden' stories were new to me and the most intriguing in the book in terms of world-building and plot premise. The actual plots were OK, but scattered and unsatisfying. I wonder if the orange stray cat in this series inspired the orange stray cat in the video game 'Stray'?

- The written stories were mostly a miss, though their inclusion was a neat idea. The toad story was not too shabby.

- There is little that actually scares in here, and a decent dose of humour. More like some creepy, haunting images, such as the 'Hellboy' ghouls, and the fate of the samurai's love in the story 'Kago No Tori'.

- There is some mild, creepy nudity

- 2.7 Stars

[Tyffany · Rating 5 out of 5]

I didn’t realize when I got this book that it was all 4 of the Dark Horse books of Hauntings, Witchcraft, Dead, and Monsters in one collection. I liked all of them. My favorite book was the book of Hauntings, but my favorite stories across all of them were the ones with the dogs!! They were all so thrilling and heartwarming. The one in the Monster book was devastatingly sad though. The Witchcraft book grossed me out hard! Why do witches have to use such gross stuff?! And the imagery in my head from the toad lady story will haunt me forever. I liked most the illustration styles, but some I was not fond of. They made my skin crawl, which I think is the point, so good job. Overall, a great spooky read all of them.

[Simon · Rating 4 out of 5]

i've been reading this off and on every october and while it did feel like an ordeal, i don't regret buying this. I like the different takes the writers and artists have on the themes and the only thing that really made the book kinda lose me were the interviews with paranormal experts.
Having finished it a while ago, it kinda invaded my dreams in the form of a haunted house that switched up it's theme once a week :).
Would reccomend for anyone wanting an eclectic anthology to dig through for halloween
Not unlike a bag of candy. You just need to watch out for pamphlets disguised in goody bags

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good collection. I can't say there were a lot of stories that I absolutely loved, but they were solid, decent stories, with amazing artwork. A segment from each of the sections was given to an interview-type narrative from someone with expertise in the area (of witchcraft, ghosts, etc). Those were interesting as well.

There was one set of stories I did thoroughly enjoy - the "Beasts of Burden" collection, which followed a group of dogs experiencing paranormal events. Imaginative and enjoyable. Beyond that, the rest I am fairly ambivalent about.

[Siobhan Ward · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5*

This is another library find that seemed cool, and I'm glad I grabbed it, since it's pretty far outside of what I normally read.

Overall, it was a cool collection - I loved the variety of authors and topics, and the different themes throughout. I didn't really love the short stories and especially struggled with the interviews. I get the idea of mixing up book types, but it just wasn't for me.

Still a really fun read for anyone who enjoys horror or comics - so much variety that if you don't like one story, you'll probably like the next one!

[Maggie Gordon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love anthologies, comics, and horror, and Dark Horse did not fail to deliver a really great combo of all three! In this book are a variety of stories clustered around topics like monsters, witches, hauntings, and zombies. There are some great writers and excellent illustrators, and even a few non-fiction bits. Almost all of the stories are quite strong, ranging a broad variety of types of horror. All in all, a... well, not pleasant read, but a good one!

[Roberto Diaz · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well crafted collection of spooky season stories by great comic creators

A great roster of creators collaborate in this compendium of Dark Horse anthologies: Horror, Haunting, Witchcraf, Monters.

Standalone stories, ilustrated tales, and continuin characters in every chapter make this an unmissable collection for fans of the genre.

[Sabrina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some of the short story comics were excellent and some were just ok, but overall a solid collection that made be want to explore the work of a few of the contributors. Reminded me of supernatural short story collections I read as a teenager/tween.

[Elizabeth Wilson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some great reads here, not sure about the inclusion of short stories amongst the comics, whether that works to the books advantage. Ultimately this collection felt a little flat for me, not really sure why.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read the individual books gathered in the Dark Horse Book for Horror ~20 years ago, this was something of a nostalgic re-read for me. The quality of these short stories has more consistency than many other anthologies so I would recommend it for lovers of horror and horror graphic novels.

[Kate · Rating 2 out of 5]

This wasn't bad, per se, it just really, really wasn't for me. A lot of the stories I found quite dull and forgettable. And there was a significant amount of animal violence that I just didn't care to stomach. Would not recommend for anyone who is sensitive to that.

[Christian · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bunch of horror stories and some short novels. Many in the mediocre category, but some are decent and there's also some Hellboy stories that are good. I read all the Hellboy stories already and some of the others as well