Saturday, January 10, 2015

The Amazing Screw-on Head and Other Curious Objects by Mike Mignola (2010)

The Amazing Screw-on Head and Other Curious Objects by Mike Mignola (2010) is my next entry in my journey through my friend John's books.

This is a collection of off-beat one-off comics by the creator of Hellboy. The title comic has more of a super hero bent to it (with The Amazing Screw-on Head saving the world from the machinations of the evil Emperor Zombie), but all the pieces in the collection share the same Victorian horror stylings, dark palates, and sly sense of humor.

I have to admit, my first spin through this one I was amused but not super engaged. The super hero format leaves me a little cold and the other comics, while sort of interesting, seemed more like drawing exercises than a coherent work. After reading Mignola's author notes at the end I went back through the book a second time and got a lot more out of it. Mignola is definitely a fan boy darling, but once I set that aside and jumped into his dark sense of humor and detailed gothic drawings, I really enjoyed this collection.

The main story was originally published in 2002, and after a quick Google search I just learned that a pilot for an animated series based on the comic starring Paul Giamatti, David Hyde Pierce, and Patton Oswalt.  was made in 2006, but never picked up. I haven't watched it yet, but I'm planning to check it out on YouTube when I can.