Review—From the Pages of Hellboy: Koshchei the Deathless #2

In which Koshchei discovers that his soul is in danger, and where he meets Baba Yaga, who sends him on a quest.

Baba Yaga is an ancient Russian witch. You know her: she only has one eye, rides in a cauldron and lives in a hut that stands on a chicken leg. She is also cunning and deadly, and has an important role in this comic.

In this second issue, we have already watched Koshchei as he turned, successively, into: an unbeatable soldier, a king, a betrayed corpse, a revived and re-stitched fellow with his soul hidden at the end of the world, and a man who raised an army to pillage and to conquer, seemingly forever.

Then he began having nightmares, fearing that he had become evil and condemned his immortal soul. Searching for a way to redeem himself, he met Baba Yaga. She now sends him on a quest, to kill dragons. And for that, he must, of course, follow a magic ball of yarn, meet with magical fellows and solve riddles as he goes along, stories within stories.

If he gets there in time, he will stop the last pair of dragons in their attempt to breed and create a new dragon-led era. Seven un-hatched eggs await in a hidden cave, and Koshchei relentlessly follows all the clues to get there on time, before the dragons start to hatch and all is lost for humanity.