It's not often that we get to enjoy two Hellboy volumes released within six months of each other. After the groundbreaking "Wild Hunt," however, it's hard not to imagine a short stories volume being something of a let down. I was very much pleased, then, to find that "The Crooked Man and Others" holds its own. There are only four stories in this volume, but each one is a masterpiece of the "wierd tales" genre while also deepening our apreciation of Hellboy and his journey as a character.
*Caution: Spoilers Ahead*
The most important short-story in the volume is the one from which the collection takes its name: "The Crooked Man." In "The Crooked Man" Mignola again reminds us just how much folklore there is to explore in the world by setting the tale in the back-woods of Appalachia. After a long string of stories featuring Hellboy in Europe, Africa, and England, the return to America and American Folklore is welcome change. While the story is unmistakably "Hellboy," the new setting gives the whole tale a distinct flavor from other works thus far.
The defining characteristic is that "The Crooked Man" is the most openly Christian of any of the Hellboy Tales. This is all the more interesting because I found it also to contain some of the most overtly disturbing images in Mignola's world. In "The Crooked Man," we find evil shown plainly for what it is; a bending and perverting of the good. The central image of evil is one that could be drawn out straight out of C.S. Lewis: the devil as the "crooked" or "bent" man (Remember "Out of the Silent Planet). The temptations that the Crooked Man offers are all plain and practical as a Medieval morality play: money, sex, and power. All of these things are goods, but the Crooked Man offers them at a "discount" or in ways or quantities that are not good. He bends them. As Hellboy and the ensemble each reject the temptations thrown at them, they are immediately unmasked and shown to be the "bent" and ugly things they are. More importantly, we see these evils being resisted by the minister in the story with direct quotation of scripture and testaments to God's provision and faithfulness.
The greatest Christian moment in the story is the "eucatastrophe." The Crooked Man demands that one of the characters surrender himself and the magical cat bone that he was given in exchange for selling his soul as a youth. All hope seems lost as the Crooked Man uses this persistent taint of sin to launch continual assaults on the protagonists in a way reminiscent of Psuedo-Dionysius. It looks as though the only way to save the others is for the man to surrender himself. When all hope seems lost, the minister seizes the cat bone, the instrument of evil, and calls out to the Holy Spirit to break its power. Not only is the power of the cat bone broken, it is infused with Holiness and with it the minster inscribes the cross on a shovel which Hellboy uses to defeat the Crooked Man. With the villain on the run, Hellboy and the former witch walk back to the Crooked Man's house where he now appears as he truly is: pathetic and broken. The protagonists return to the Crooked Man the now Holiness-infused bone destroying him completely. Thus, God not only wins in the end but is shown to have power over the tools of the devil to straighten them out and use them to achieve good (think of the Cross).
The only marred aspect of the story (and given its place in the overall narrative, this may be not a blot but an intentional and thought provoking) is that Hellboy and the former witch are not mature enough to extend grace to the Crooked Man's human minion who is left old and broken when her master is overthrown. They instead punish and shame her for the great evil she had perpetrated over the course of the tale. This is odd, considering that they have earlier helped another witch to repentance and seen the salvation of her soul even when her body is destroyed by the vengeful forces of darkness. One wonders if they have ever heard the parable of the unmerciful servant. Still, given that this story takes place early in Hellboy's career, Mignola may intentionally structured the ending in this way so as to highlight the log in the protagonists eye that he will some day have to confront.
All in all, the "Crooked Man" is an extremely dark, but masterful tale of Christ's power to rescue even worst of sinners even at the last possible moment.
Coming Soon: a review of another short story from this volume, "The Chapel of Moloch."
*Caution: Spoilers Ahead*
The most important short-story in the volume is the one from which the collection takes its name: "The Crooked Man." In "The Crooked Man" Mignola again reminds us just how much folklore there is to explore in the world by setting the tale in the back-woods of Appalachia. After a long string of stories featuring Hellboy in Europe, Africa, and England, the return to America and American Folklore is welcome change. While the story is unmistakably "Hellboy," the new setting gives the whole tale a distinct flavor from other works thus far.
The defining characteristic is that "The Crooked Man" is the most openly Christian of any of the Hellboy Tales. This is all the more interesting because I found it also to contain some of the most overtly disturbing images in Mignola's world. In "The Crooked Man," we find evil shown plainly for what it is; a bending and perverting of the good. The central image of evil is one that could be drawn out straight out of C.S. Lewis: the devil as the "crooked" or "bent" man (Remember "Out of the Silent Planet). The temptations that the Crooked Man offers are all plain and practical as a Medieval morality play: money, sex, and power. All of these things are goods, but the Crooked Man offers them at a "discount" or in ways or quantities that are not good. He bends them. As Hellboy and the ensemble each reject the temptations thrown at them, they are immediately unmasked and shown to be the "bent" and ugly things they are. More importantly, we see these evils being resisted by the minister in the story with direct quotation of scripture and testaments to God's provision and faithfulness.
The greatest Christian moment in the story is the "eucatastrophe." The Crooked Man demands that one of the characters surrender himself and the magical cat bone that he was given in exchange for selling his soul as a youth. All hope seems lost as the Crooked Man uses this persistent taint of sin to launch continual assaults on the protagonists in a way reminiscent of Psuedo-Dionysius. It looks as though the only way to save the others is for the man to surrender himself. When all hope seems lost, the minister seizes the cat bone, the instrument of evil, and calls out to the Holy Spirit to break its power. Not only is the power of the cat bone broken, it is infused with Holiness and with it the minster inscribes the cross on a shovel which Hellboy uses to defeat the Crooked Man. With the villain on the run, Hellboy and the former witch walk back to the Crooked Man's house where he now appears as he truly is: pathetic and broken. The protagonists return to the Crooked Man the now Holiness-infused bone destroying him completely. Thus, God not only wins in the end but is shown to have power over the tools of the devil to straighten them out and use them to achieve good (think of the Cross).
The only marred aspect of the story (and given its place in the overall narrative, this may be not a blot but an intentional and thought provoking) is that Hellboy and the former witch are not mature enough to extend grace to the Crooked Man's human minion who is left old and broken when her master is overthrown. They instead punish and shame her for the great evil she had perpetrated over the course of the tale. This is odd, considering that they have earlier helped another witch to repentance and seen the salvation of her soul even when her body is destroyed by the vengeful forces of darkness. One wonders if they have ever heard the parable of the unmerciful servant. Still, given that this story takes place early in Hellboy's career, Mignola may intentionally structured the ending in this way so as to highlight the log in the protagonists eye that he will some day have to confront.
All in all, the "Crooked Man" is an extremely dark, but masterful tale of Christ's power to rescue even worst of sinners even at the last possible moment.
Coming Soon: a review of another short story from this volume, "The Chapel of Moloch."
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