Within these pages you'll find bizarre investigations into haunted trains, Nazi war criminals, vengeful spirits of drowned witches and an imprisoned sewer goddess as well as an all-new short story by Mike Mignola with Catwoman artist Cameron Stewart. Featured creative teams include Miles Gunter and Michael Avon Oeming (Bastard Samurai) along with Mike Mignola; artist Guy Davis and writer Brian Augustyn (Gotham by Gaslight); Geoff Johns & Scott Kolins (The Flash); and Joe Harris (screenwriter of Darkness Falls) and his X-Men collaborator Adam Pollina (Big Daddy Danger). And if that ain't enough we've included a sketchbook featuring all five artists! Getting the Hellboy spin-off B.P.R.D. off the ground in terms of interest and attractiveness has taken a while, and this second roundup from its pages is perhaps nothing special. But it ain't bad. The characters-- Hellboy's cronies at the Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense--include amphibious Abe Sapien; fire-starter Liz Sherman; Roger, the (humongous!) homunculus; Johann Kraus, the permanently out-of-body medium; and normal human Kate Corrigan, the B.P.R.D.'s consulting folklorist. Like the red demon with the sawed-off horns, they battle evil spirits, revenants, and monsters, mostly, and that necessitates travel to places that, if they aren't exotic to begin with, like Venice in the opening yarn, have become so on account of the eerie and eldritch things currently going on, like the suburb in which little kids who own the same toy monster are disappearing. Different hands have fashioned each of these five stories, and the resultant highly contrasting visual styles constitute one of the book's chief rewards: even when a plot seems threadbare, the story still looks fabulous. Ray Olson Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved Used Book in Good Condition