Mike Mignola, the legendary creator behind Hellboy, is back with Bowling with Corpses and Other Strange Tales from Lands Unknown, a hardcover anthology launching his new Curious Objects universe. Blending original stories with folklore-inspired tales, this collection is a must-read for fans of Mignola’s signature style—especially since it’s a rare treat to see him writing and drawing again. Running 112 pages, I found myself falling in love with this quirky and quaint collection.
While this book is an anthology, it doesn’t have a table of contents but instead rolls from one story to another. Each story has a title card as well as a definitive “The End” in some format. That gives the entire book a fairy tale feel. It helps that most of these tales read like fables, with their only connection being they’re part of this new world we’re being introduced to.
Kicking off the book is the story “Bowling with Corpses,” a delightful story about a boy who leaves home and goes on an adventure. He does not know what he’s after or where he’s going but ends up running into corpses who ask him to bowl. It’s a kooky start to a story that feels quintessentially Mignola. It’s also one of the longest stories with interesting twists, turns, and many creatures.
It’s time to bowl.
Credit: Dark Horse
From there, Mignola uses two tales to flesh out the creation myth of this world. It’s a world founded by a dragon that asked the World Tree for a new world and out sprung a world built on three rivers. It’s raw and compelling, with enough to hang future stories on.
From there, the stories feature kings, ghosts, killers, and those who cannot die. The stories don’t necessarily connect, but they give us a sense of the gods running around, the supernatural elements that are quite real, and the notion that people live as best they can with so many strange things shifting their stories. There’s a medieval element to all the tales, with characters wearing the type of garb you’d expect from that era, but from where they come isn’t like anything in our world. Oh, and animals can talk, it seems!
Mignola ends the book with a map, which connects back to the creation myth and gives the reader hope for many more tales. While Mignola admits in the afterword he didn’t want to do a map originally, it’s a nice touch that opens up your imagination after ruminating on all the different stories here.
Like any good collection of tales, I wanted to put this down and return to it, though I sped through to the finish. Since you’re picking up new characters and scenarios to overcome every few pages, I lost sight of what it all means. Maybe it’s due to the tales not connecting in any specific way, yet I can see the beauty and value in each tale. Without a singular thread drawing you through each you end up feeling a bit lost or unsure what it all means, when it’s about washing yourself in this new universe.
The art is, without a doubt, one of the biggest selling points of this book. Mignola hasn’t lost his striking visual style with creature creation, which is as good as ever. You might find his skeletons familiar from his Hellboy work, but there are plenty of new-looking creatures to enjoy here. Joining Mignola on art is colorist Dave Stewart and letterer by Clem Robins, who both do an excellent job throughout. The world generally has a crooked sense about it, from the crooked buildings and staircases to the fantastical environments. Above all else, this world feels lived-in and robust.
Bowling with Corpses and Other Strange Tales from Lands Unknown is a delightful anthology that showcases Mignola’s storytelling and artistic brilliance while introducing a strange and compelling new universe. Although the lack of narrative cohesion might leave some readers adrift, the enchanting tales and gorgeous visuals more than compensate, making it a must-read for fans of Mignola and folklore-inspired fantasy.
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