Nobody does a better job of collected editions than Dark Horse. The latest evidence is "Hellboy Library, Vol. 4" ($50).
I've already bragged about the first three volumes, part of a series collecting all Hellboy stories chronologically in beautiful, oversize (roughly 9¼ by 12 1/2 inches) hardbacks.
This is the first volume to contain Hellboy stories not drawn by the series' writer and creator, Mike Mignola. But as he and editor Scott Allie assert in forewords, they chose Mignola's replacements carefully and successfully.
The 72-page "The Crooked Man" is an incredibly creepy story adapted from Southern U.S. folklore and drawn by the legendary Richard Corben. A 19-page vampire story set in Prague is limned by the extraordinary P. Craig Russell. No complaints there.
There also is plenty of Mignola -- not only Hellboy tales, but also obscure but gorgeous stories he crafted for various Dark Horse projects that have never been reprinted before.
WWII comes to lifeIrishman Garth Ennis has proved himself a master at telling World War II stories, which he does for Dynamite Entertainment as a stand-alone miniseries under the umbrella title "Battlefields." The stories are then collected in groups of three in hardback. I devoured the first collection, and "The Complete Battlefields, Vol. 2" ($30) might be even better.
The volume includes "Motherland," a sequel to "The Night Witches," about a Soviet combat aviatrix. "Happy Valley" concerns the short lives and camaraderie of British bomber pilots. "The Firefly and Her Majesty" features a cat-and-mouse match between the Prussian commander of a King Tiger tank and Ennis' British Sgt. Stiles, equipped with a modified "Firefly" tank instead of a Churchill -- but still just as irritable (and his Northumberland accent is still just as impenetrable to friend and foe alike).
As usual, Ennis' stories shed light on little-known corners of that enormous conflict. They are more about people, emotions and consequences rather than the patriotic jingoism and invincible, wisecracking Allied soldiers one usually finds in war comics. If it can be said that stories can make you cheer through your tears, it is these.
