Hellboy, Vol. 7: The Troll Witch and Others

By Mike Mignola

The 1st tale is based in Malaysian Folklore, and the 2nd is a collab between Mignola and his daughter, she digging the hydra from Disney's Hercules. Malaysia '58, HB is being led by a girl who tells a myth of a woman kicking her head off. The girl shows him the hole she's seen it fly out at night, he acting skeptical. When seeing inside, HB realizes too late the girl is the lure, he getting entangled by the creature.

This doesn't stop HB though, his power exploding the creature after it'd thrown him through the air. Alaska '51, HB is told a story by a fella in a graveyard about Stromo, in '29 Kansas city. A strong man from a circus ended up working with this fella on boats in '36, and now he'd died, a weird monster was being heard around this man, Hercules' grave. Investigating a noise, he comes to a weird kid pulling a tooth from a large monster's mouth, it waking after, and HB having to punch it out.

The little girl disappears, and HB gets BPRD to come get the hydra. At HQ, Trevor is having a field day deducing whether the girl was an emotional manifestation or a god's coat made from lion's skin. Norway '63, a hooded figure invites HB inside, he looking in about some murders, which the figure deduces. HB confirms the townspeople had told him of trolls doing the killing and sending him to the hooded figure, he relating the melancholic tale.

A woman wishes to have a kid, goes to a witch, eats the 1 flower instructed, but gets greedy to have another, and eats the black flower, as well, getting an ugly, furry, black girl. The pretty girl loves her sis, and so keeps her safe from being chucked out, 1 night screaming being heard outside. Despite the ma warning them to stay indoors, the ugly girl goes out to fight the trolls.

The pretty one looks out the window and a troll takes her head and places a cow head on her, she turning into a cow, so the ugly sis gets her head back by killing a bunch of trolls in Trollheim and returns her head. She goes on to marry a prince, but the hooded creature tells of how the pretty sis actually had remained a cow til she died. Next she gives HB a stick which no troll would cross over, this making it easy to trap them in the dawn, a nice, nonviolent resolution.

The next story is based off a Prague Kafka puppet with a gambler ghost legend on a card with it. Aug '82, HB is after a vamp, and inside the building, uses the wrong, more destructive bomb, but the vamp kicking HB's butt in the courtyard, until they crash through a puppet shop window, and HB cuts vamp's head off, but somehow vamp is still able to turn into a bat, this not saving him in time for dawn, though. Long Island '91, HB is taking a tour of a haunted house lived in by a crazy fella who had been in a secret society. When the lady had led him to the door to the basement they uncovered, it turns out being an elaborate ruse to capture HB, and inject his blood into a monkey. Then, the monkey is shot, HB falling out the door where apparently, the lady and team hadn't seen what he had, they seeing it like it'd happened long ago, HB silent and looking at the now cobwebbed needle.

1 of the next stories is based off a collabed Lovecraft story, The Loved Dead. London '92, Pauline from BPRD goes to a residence to ask Mrs. Stokes if her hubby were home, which he isn't, so has her ID the pic she had with her. Mrs. Stokes ID's her hubby, Edward as HB tracks him in a cemetery, the vamp running from him, but not getting far. After beating Edward up, he falls through a cement grave top, then darkness, he getting eaten by worms.

Inspired by Andrew Lang's Fairy Books is Makoma. NY '93 at the NYC Explorers Club, HB and some fellas are chatting about HB's 1st Africa trip, not mentioning the last one..., but HB forgetting as a kid how the animals knew his original name. Makoma leads HB back to an origin story of a man naming himself, Makoma, and his ma becoming scared of him, and after 24 hours, crocs in their village pond are found dead, Makoma walking from the pond with the iron fist. Makoma becomes the guy people go to for advice, and 1 day an old lady supplies him with a bag to put the bones of enemies in for her when he returns at the end of the world.

He travels for years, 1 fool expecting Makoma to be afraid of him, but he punching the fool into submission, then sticking him in the bag, which he does 4 times. Makoma next tries his strength against a demon who then tells him to become his destined self. This incites him to beat him up worse and bind him, Makoma moving on. He reaches what he 1st believes is singing people in paradise, but turns into zombies with buzzing flies.

This leads Makoma to fight them for about nearly 4 months before agreeing to trade the bound demon to end the battle, the creature fire bombing the other, and Makoma continuing to journey for years til growing exhausted. The old lady revives him with a drink, sleeps with him, then provides a banquet in the morning. The lady tells him he'd eaten the giants from the bag, and the boy inside it had been saved from them. Makoma's buddies had sacrificed themselves, so he could go on with more strength, he accepting this, and going next to fight a dragon.

They both falling, and when Makoma dies, mtns, animals, and the released man come out of the bag, he carving the statue of Makoma, the spirit released from the mummy, and leaving the Explorer's Society without a sweet ass mummy. HB is banned from the group, and the man never rediscovers the lost African city. Great story, the only bit which confused me was the number of times HB had already been to Africa, unless this is prequel? Otherwise solid, as ever!