Mike Mignola Animated Features:
Hellboy Animated: Sword of
Storms
Picture:
B Sound: B Extras: A Film: B+
The Amazing Screw-On Head
Picture:
B Sound: B Extras: A Film: A
There’s
nothing quite like a Mike Mignola comic book. He brings a perfect blend of graphic
story-telling, awesome visuals, and beautifully strange ideas to the printed
page. In the 1990’s his Hellboy comic
provided a much-needed shot-in-arm to a comic industry beset by hacks with
limited talent and plenty of gold-foil alternate covers to their names. Mignola was fresh, new, powerful. His pencils
evoked the dynamism of the great Walter Simonson with a dark dash of the
brooding Bill Sienkiewicz. It was only a
matter of time before Hollywood found Mignola. The 2004 Hellboy
movie nicely captured the comic book while making a few concessions to the live
action format it was filmed in. Just as
with Hollywood, it was really only a matter of time before the animators found
Mignola.
Hellboy: Sword of Storms (HSOS) and The Amazing
Screw-On Head (TASOH) both
deliver great Hellboy animated action, but for somewhat different reasons. TASOH
succeeds by exactly simulating Mignola’s style for television. It’s as if someone cut-up the various panels
of that one-shot bit of comic genius and magically animated each one. Long-time superhero animation fans may
remember the classic Marvel Comics cartoons of the 1960’s wherein Jack “King”
Kirby’s comic panels were indeed animated in a charming but not so magical
fashion. This present-day process was
obviously accomplished through a meticulous adherence to Mignola’s unique
style. This was facilitated by the
nature of the project—a 22 minute feature is much easier to faithfully render
than a movie length project like HSOS.
HSOS succeeds in delivering Mignola
animated goodness through an excellent script, super voice talents drawn
directly from the Hellboy movie, and
yes, more solid animation. But there are
very few instances where the animators try to match Mignola’s brooding but
dynamic style. HSOS follows its own path, finding its roots in hybrid of Anime and
American animation styles. Both features
provide tremendous entertainment value, and pass the litmus test of managing to
please hardcore Mignola fans.
For those
not in the know, TASOH offers a
super-intelligent mechanical being that also happens to be a Spy, disembodied
head and works for Abraham Lincoln.
Faster than you can say Wild, Wild
West, the president has him on call battling the Emperor Zombie. Paul Giamatti, David Hyde-Pierce and Molly
Shannon are among those handling the voices.
The
picture and sound on both titles are solid. The 1.78 X 1 widescreen presentations on both gives
the illusions of a movie-theater experience, and indeed, while watching one can’t
help but wonder how wonderful both titles would look in a theater on the big
screen. Because it is animation,
especially as richly stylized as it is here in both cases, all it needs to do
is look like the comic come alive. Even
technically both are very impressive.
This also extends to the Dolby Digital 5.1 sound mixes, also available
in slightly weaker Dolby 2.0 Stereo with Pro Logic surround mixes. They have decent sound design and in both
cases, you’ll be wishing for DTS.
Extras
abound on both titles, including short documentaries, interviews with
animators, and explorations into the origins of story and character. HSOS
and TASOH are both essential viewing
for Hellboy and Mignola fans, and should be a welcome part of any completist’s
collection.
- Scott R. Pyle
