A review by otherwyrld
Hellboy: The Midnight Circus, by Duncan Fegredo, Mike Mignola, Dave Stewart
4.0
This is a charming graphic novel set in 1948 when Hellboy is still just a child. After running away from home, he runs into a mysterious circus, one which clearly knows who he is and has an ulterior motive for trying to lure him in. Of course, he escapes from their clutches and runs back to the safety of his adopted father and the B.P.R.D.
There are clear influences of both Something Wicked This Way Comes with the circus, and Pinocchio with Hellboy himself cast in the role of the puppet who wants to be a real boy (including a great dream sequence set inside the whale that swallows Pinocchio). In some respects Hellboy is a classic Pinocchio figure, but in this series we at least get to see what he is like when he grows up, whereas we never see Pinocchio as an adult. (The Adult Adventures of Pinocchio sounds like a porn movie!).
A nice introduction to Hellboy, but probably more like 3 1/2 stars
There are clear influences of both Something Wicked This Way Comes with the circus, and Pinocchio with Hellboy himself cast in the role of the puppet who wants to be a real boy (including a great dream sequence set inside the whale that swallows Pinocchio). In some respects Hellboy is a classic Pinocchio figure, but in this series we at least get to see what he is like when he grows up, whereas we never see Pinocchio as an adult. (The Adult Adventures of Pinocchio sounds like a porn movie!).
A nice introduction to Hellboy, but probably more like 3 1/2 stars