The Amazing Screw-One Head

by Josh M.


When first picking it up I wasn’t sure whether to take the book seriously or do the complete opposite, the dark and brooding artstyle alongside the often ridiculous storylines made it a hard choice to make. Through some questioning about the book I was made aware the author, Mike Mignola prefers to write in a very weird style that should never be taken that seriously, one of the most famous examples of this being his critically acclaimed series Hellboy.


The story takes place during the Lincoln administration (Mignola mentioned in the notes at the back of book the reasoning was that if he were to use a president it had to be Lincoln). The story focuses on one of Lincoln’s agents, Screw-On Head, who can attach himself to whatever body fits the occasion, the idea for this coming from Mignola’s idea for a series of action figures. Screw-On Head is told by Lincoln to stop the heinous Emporer Zombie from claiming a jewel from the temple of Gung. This is about when the true zainiess of the story unfurls, from the hilarious interactions between characters to the plot that includes a turnip containing a paralel universe, being used as a prison by a Demigod. So the story of Screw-On Head is a wacky but short one, it barely takes up a half of the book, the rest is taken up by the aformentioned ‘Other Curious Objects’.


These ‘Other Curious Objects’ include ‘Abu Gung and the beanstalk’. The story is about Abu Gung searching for food, soon coming across a cave with two old and weathered women. He asks if they have anything to give them but is only offered garbage that they’ve needed to eat since they lost all their money from the foolish decision of their now deceased sister to buy magic beans. The sprout from these magic beans went straight through their sister and far into the sky, atop this sprout the surprisingly gulible devil, being tricked off the stalk to his death by Gung. This is the only real tangible connection between stories, Gung being the long dead emporer whose resting place was invaded by Emporer Zombie and his lackies.


The next story, ‘The Magician and the Snake’ is easily the oddest of the stories, surely in no small part the co-writer was Mignola’s seven year old daughter. The story is about a magician and his best friend, the snake (Mignola’s strength may not be making titles). The magician is a powerful wizard but says once one of his spells, that made three shapes disapear reuturn he will die, to the dismay of the snake. Despite the snakes fight against the shapes their is nothing he can do in the end, and his best friend dies.


The Witch and her Soul’ is about two wooden dolls brought to life by the demonic magic of an old woman, but now the Devil has arrived on the scene, revealing the dolls belong to him, since they were made with his power. First the devil shows off no interest in the dolls in any other way than throwing them into Hell for eternity, only changing his mind at the reaction of the dolls. No longer Hell bound the Devil hires them as evil puppets, as long as they agree to “Do something really evil before the end of time-” to which they quickly accept. As they fly off they look back at the mother of their creation, the old woman having her soul ripped down to Hell, knowing they couldn’t help, nor should they, it was her fault after all. Despite the use of the Devil in another one of these stories, this Devil doesn’t appear to be the one as in ‘Abu Gung and the Beanstalk’, that could be because of the trouble he ran into in that story, but it could also be proof the stories are not connected.

The final story, fittingly is one of the longest and involves the events of one of the lesser seen characters in the ‘The Amazing Screw-On Head’, Dr. Snap, one of Emporer Zombies lackies. The story, ‘The Prisoner of Mars’ revolves around Dr. Snap going to help his colleague Dr. Cyclops with a discovery he’d made, only to find his friend gone, replaced by whatever discovery the doctor had been talking about. No longer Cyclops, now with bloodlust on his mind, Snap had no choice, sadly for him his jury didn’t believe the ‘he was possessed by aliens’ story, so he joined his friend in death. Now free to explore the world, more specifically Mars, the birthplace of the start of his problems he meets his old friend Cyclops, only very different. Then again, he was very different himself, now clad in a robot vessel, Cyclops in a Martian one. Now reunited the two friends explained the happenings of their lives, or lack their of. Snap about his execution, and Cyclops his teaching of human anatomy to the residents of Mar. Snap finds concern in giving them this knowledge, quickly realizing his fears were confirmed when they found an Earth invasion plan, which they quickly destroy, along with most of the planets inhanbitants and Dr. Cyclops. The only ones left being the original inhabitants, who granted Snap’s wish of a new body and to be sent home.

The last story truly isn’t a story, just a way to wrap everything up the pages drift through a chapel showing off many connections and references of characters and items used throughout the stories. The stories all feel very weird and never truly done, since the only one that has a real end is Screw-On head, but the read was still enjoyable due to the comedic dialogue and beautiful art, but I only truly reccomend it if you have an appreciation for Mignola’s art, funny yet nonsensical storylines, and/or already love his Hellboy series.