my absolute collection: Hellboy French B&W Oversized Special Edition Collection

Pour consulter cet article en Français, c'est ici. Art Mike Mignola, scripts Mike Mignola and Todd Mignola (for Exorcist of Vorsk). All illustrations are ©Mike Mignola. For a complete list of all books reviewed in this blog, please visit the index page.

This article deals with the French special edition collectionpublished by Delcourt of The Third Wish, Hellboy In Hell and Hellboy in Hell The Death Card. These Hellboy stories are published in B&W in a giant size hardcover form (34 x 25 cm or 13.4 x 9.8 inches). To my knowledge, it is a worldwide exclusive collection.

the spines are kind of hit and miss with the third volume

Let's begin with The Third Wish:

This special edition was published in France in May 2005 by Delcourt (ISBN : 2-84789-837-9, 17.50 €, 64 pages).

One of the picture below compares this book to the Hellboy Library Edition Volume 3 that collects this story.
This special edition is limited to 2500 copies (but not numbered nor signed).

As of the original material, only the cover of the second part is reproduced in this edition.

This special edition displays a 4 pages sketchbook bonus section by Mike Mignola. Some of these pencils are included in 'The Art of Hellboy Library Edition' and 'Hellboy Library Edition Volume 3'. Others are perhaps exclusives to this book (left side of the second page and down part of the third).

second and third sketchbook pages

Now let's move on to Hellboy in Hell (issues #1 to 5):

back cover with illustration from cover of issue #3

This special edition was published in France in January 2014 by Delcourt (ISBN : 978-2-7560-5015-7, 25.50 €, 120 pages).
One of the picture below is for size comparison with the last Hellboy comics to date.
This time it's not indicated in the book whether it is a limited edition (no print run).

This book collects Hellboy in Hell issue #1 to #5. As of the original material, only the cover of the fourth part is reproduced in color in this edition (the main cover indeed). However, four other covers are reprinted in B&W at the end of the main content, and constitute the sole extra.

Note that the other cover reprinted in full page in this book is the alternate Year of Monsters cover for issue #1. The second alternate cover for issue #1 is not present in this edition (see the end of this article).

cover for issue #1

covers for issue #2 and #5

second alternate cover for issue #1

Notice also that this book predates by a few months the US collected edition (Hellboy in Hell: The Descent), thus logically is does not feature its cover.

And here is Hellboy In Hell The Death Card (also referred as Hellboy in Hell Volume 2):

cover from the US collected edition Hellboy in Hell The Death Card

illustration taken from interior art

This special edition was published in France in June 2017 by Delcourt (ISBN : 978-2-7560-9748-0, 25.50 €, 144 pages).
One of the picture below is for size comparison with issue #9 of the original Hellboy in Hell floppy. Another picture shows the glued binding. Second and third of cover are plain black.
The printing run of this limited edition is not mentioned.

This book is the French translation of the US collected edition Hellboy in Hell The Death Card. Thus it contains issue #6 to #10 of the original series (including the extra prologue for issue #6), Mike Mignola's postface as well as the short story Exorcist of Vorsk previously published in color in Dark Horse Presents Vol 3 #16. On the other hand, the 16 sketchbook pages have not crossed the Atlantic ocean.
The cover of the US collected edition is the only illustration printed in color in this edition (for the main cover).

left hand side from the cover of issue #9

After two "portrait" illustrations and Mike Mignola's postface (which closes the main part devoted to Hellboy in Hell), we find the short story Exorcist of Vorsk (8 pages), co-scripted by Todd Mignola. Note: this clean B&W version is exclusive to this French edition, nevertheless an original scans version is included in this other book.