Hellboy, Vol. 4: The Right Hand of Doom

By Mike Mignola

1947 in NM, 2 year old HB is playing with Mac the dog, and requesting noodles, when he's told breakies is ready. He's ready to deny any liking for the pamcakes being served, until he tries it, and changes his mind. In the capital city of Hell, it's loud with uncommon cries, and the grand duke being updated by Mammon of HB having tasted the pancake, and they had no chance of getting him to turn, now. The stories which follow, has one based on St. Leonard the Hermit, the Flying Huntsman, and the Green Giant, along with references to Norwegian folklore.

Eng. 1954, at the Osiris Club, which HB is asked to help the men in regards to killing a dragon. 1 of the men continues to explain, this dragon is the St. Leonard worm, and 1400 years previous it murdered and ate kids, animals, and military men courageous enough to go after it. When a monk attempts to stop it, and succeeds, he also becomes hurt, and wherever his blood fell, lilies sprouted. HB is skeptical til reaching the woods, and seeing some lilies around a statue, next getting whacked by the snaking dragon, then it traps and wraps him against the statue with its bod.

Fortunately, the serendipitous accident of the statue's sword breaking loose, and killing the dragon by stabbing it through the skull occurs, the Osiris Club learning this by the old woman seeing it. They resign themselves to not knowing HB's true self, yet regardless of it being good or bad. NY, 1956 HB has gotten an offer to conduct research with a genius Norwegian folklorist, and college bud to Trevor, who isn't forcing HB to accept, but would consider it a favor if he'd agree. A week after, HB gets to Norway, and Prof Aikman shows him all the historical weird sites.

They conclude with the area most known for people hearing King Vold passing, HB a lure, hopefully, in Aikman's opinion. HB isn't optimistic about if this fool did show, he wouldn't have to combat him, Aikman naively thinking the god would be friendly. When King Vold shows up, Aikman has HB hide and accepts a task from the King to care for his lame wolf til he returned. When he leaves, HB realizes the shit Aikman got them into, the Prof thinking it'd be an easy way to make gold, HB having to fling the prof away when the wolf goes half man, and attacks.

Whilst HB struggles against the changing wolf, Aikman realizes King Vold's pack were Viking beserkers, he then noticing HB knocked down, and the Viking staring at him. Just in time, King Vold returns, and gives Aikman the gold, 1 burning a hole through his hand. When HB returns, Trevor admits regret, but HB learned something, as Trevor had suspected he would, Aikman ending up as a beggar, unfortunately.

Heads is heavy on Japanese Folklore, Goodbye, Mister Tod is Lovecraftian, and the Varcolac is a retelling and is about a Romanian vampire. A house in Kyoto has a terrible history to the point of the village around it dying off, and now only demons living there. 1967, HB's sleeping outside when a man knocks his face with some pebbles waking him, and inviting him to his home, since it's safer than being out near the woods at night. The man intros the other travelers as they're telling stories, HB listening as 1 lady tells of a man getting a box which he should never open, hides, but his hubby finds and opens, he immediately dying.

The wife becomes crazy and lives like an animal. After this chestnut HB feigns sleepiness and is led to a private room. He next goes back out to request water and discovers all the traveler's now don't have heads. HB goes outside with the bodies and chucks them in the lake next going to see if any heads were lying about.

HB hears them chatting about seeing whether he was sleeping, planning on eating him, the 1 informing the others he'd gone with their bodies. HB shoots 1, incredulous about their plan to use him as food. The heads becomes desperate to learn where their bodies are before sunrise, they not making it as they annoy HB by biting his clothes. HB tells them where their bodies are as they burn away.

Portland, 1979 HB gets the story about Tod being a great medium til he began taking drugs, and then faking his readings. Now, though he is stuck looking mummified as a huge mass has half-formed from his juices, HB helps get rid of the creature with herbs being burnt, but Tod explodes in the process. Yorkshire 1982, HB discovers Countess Ilona after nearly 7 years about and he's readying to stake her when the floor collapses. Countess is accompanied by man skeletons, they taking him to the master, Vârcolac. HB notes his enormity as Countess talks him up. Then, HB realizes Countess has vision-quested him, so he stakes her as she tells him to stop.

The Right Hand of Doom alludes more to HB's hand, and Box Full of Evil builds on his hand, and where he stood with the Beast of the Apocalypse stuff. Spain, HB meets Malcolm Frost's son, his pop having tried to kill HB when he'd been brought to Earth, but he failing to get anyone to side with him, dying shortly after his public shaming. His son gives him 1 of his pop's notes, it having writing in Lemurian, and told of his Right Hand of Doom. Adrian Frost then requests to hear HB's origin story.

HB relates how quickly he'd grown, and joined BPRD, going through the quick timeline, reaching Rasputin, HB having the dream where Satan takes his ma, and looks at him, and afterward fights Hecate, and not really thinking about whether more will happen. Adrian brings up the valid point of why they'd let him be, HB threatening to cut the hand off, but Adrian noting wherever he hit it, wouldn't keep anyone from using it. After, Adrian blesses HB before he leaves, marveling at the weirdness of life. England, HB is getting a story from a Mr. Heath regarding an odd experience the previous night at 12, he unable to speak, and seeing a pleased looking ghostly figure carrying a hand candle, and he unable to move til after 11 in the morning, then learning it had occurred to his staff, as well.

Abe determines the candle hand is real, and the effects he'd felt had been from the hangman's burning hand. Mr. Heath also admits to getting a vision of a house like the 1 from Poe's Fall of the House of Usher. Scotland, a hubby and wife have given their last possessions to Satan, they just having gotten the ancient box with a demon inside, the man also providing the hard to locate key. Upon opening, the woman thinks he'd swindled them, inhaling the fly from inside it, and next having godly powers.

The man shows he's protected from her wrath though, and how he'd used a pendant, and knew the demon's name, which he'd read on the inside of the box. The man, Bromhead is offered the info of his house providing a hidden fortune to get more riches and become powerful as he wishes. The demon then tips him off to a harbinger of apocalypse, who wears an invisible crown, and happens to already be near the premises. HB is walking up to the house with Abe, the 2 chatting about how fishy is was Mr. Heath had a vision of this place, HB having been there once before, way back when.

After knocking HB optimistically dreads the possibility, the 2 bozos inside had opened the box. Upon going inside, and shouting for Guarino, it's quiet, so Abe suggests they wander to the 2nd floor. It's still quiet, til HB sees a monkey with a gun, Abe getting shot, and Bromhead coming out to bind HB, since he knew his true name. HB recognizes Bromhead, and he finishes his incantation to show HB's crown, his little demon fetching it.

When the demon puts it on, he allows Bromhead to beat up HB, but not to death, til they get his hand cut off, his blood by death possibly contaminating their power over it, otherwise. Bromhead is given the sword to cut the hand with, as HB is being spiritually led to follow the voice of a goblin, who reminds him of what his true name meant, Anung un Rama, which HB doesn't know, the goblin, with a small group around him, tells HB it isn't his true name, then. This prompts HB to ask what the demon thought he was doing with the sword he now held over him. HB next punches the sword into breaking, then clocks the demon a few times.

Abe deals with the monkey having bound him against a wall. Getting free he ends up throwing the monkey through the brick wall after shooting him, the monkey falling onto a crap ton of gold coins, and chests. As Abe walks through the house in search of HB, he sees Bromhead running toward him, the ass denying knowing where HB could be located, he locking himself in a room and praying to his demon master, who seems to answer by partially changing him into a lizard. HB beats the power out of the demon cousin, and also crushes the box-fly as he fell after it out a window.

Dripping from the pond, HB releases the fly to his lord, who sticks him in his frozen prison once more. He offers HB his crown back, but he refuses, so the lord tells of keeping it for him in the hall of hell, his crown remaining there, which HB didn't care about. He locates Abe, who is ready to chill in a hospital for awhile, and tells HB of Bromhead getting bricked behind a wall. Kate travels to England, and meets HB at a cemetery, updating him of Abe's better health, and mentioning how BPRD wasn't impressed with his report, but he isn't going to share his personal details for them. HB shows Kate the note, before releasing it to the wind, after having explained his plan to continue to ignore references to his path, the note getting picked up by a crow, which he decides to ignore by offering to check out a haunted castle with a ghost lady riding a donkey indoors. Another amusingly entertaining installment!