Hellboy

Hellboy, American comic strip superhero created by writer and artist Mike Mignola. The character first appeared in San Diego Comic-Con Comics no. 2 (August 1993), published by Dark Horse Comics.

Mignola had developed a signature dark and expressive style while working on titles for both Marvel and DC Comics in the 1980s. His first version of Hellboy appeared in a 1991 sketch, and Mignola spent subsequent years developing the character further. After his first appearance in a promotional comic that was given to attendees at the 1993 San Diego Comic-Con, Hellboy was exposed to a wider audience through a guest appearance in John Byrne’s Next Men later that year. Dark Horse published the first Hellboy comic in early 1994, featuring a script by Byrne and art by Mignola.

Hellboy is a large, muscular, red-skinned demon with a gigantic indestructible right hand. The infant Hellboy was summoned to Earth by the resurrected Grigory Rasputin and a cabal of Nazi mystics in December 1944. The summoning ceremony was interrupted by Allied troops, and Hellboy was found and adopted by British parapsychologist Trevor Bruttenholm. Hellboy was raised by Bruttenholm to be a force for good, but his constant struggle against his demonic nature became a feature of the series. Hellboy’s adventures primarily took place within the context of his employment as an agent of the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense (B.P.R.D.), a group founded by Bruttenholm to investigate and combat the supernatural. As the comic progressed, the details of Hellboy’s past were revealed: he was born in Hell to a human mother, his true name is Anung Un Rama, and it is his destiny to serve as the harbinger of the apocalypse.

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The first story, later collected in the graphic novel Seed of Destruction (1997), set the tone for succeeding tales with its collection of monsters, vampires, haunted houses, and otherworldly threats. The various Hellboy stories also featured a robust and colourful supporting cast that included Liz Sherman, a young woman who could mentally control fires; Roger the Homunculus, an alchemically engineered humanoid; Abe Sapien, a 19th-century dabbler in the occult who had been transformed into an amphibious creature; Johann Kraus, a disembodied medium who could speak with the dead; Lobster Johnson, a pulp-era crime fighter; and Kate Corrigan, a folklorist who worked as a B.P.R.D. field agent and administrator. Persistent antagonists have included Rasputin, the Russian witch Baba-Yaga, the goddess Hecate, and the servants of a collection of Lovecraftian entities known as the Ogdru Jahad. Since its debut, Mignola’s “Hellboy universe” has expanded in a succession of miniseries, collections, stand-alone stories, and novels. Spin-offs have included several B.P.R.D. series as well as solo titles featuring Abe Sapien, Lobster Johnson, and Sir Edward Grey, a 19th-century occult investigator whose ghost interacted with Hellboy in the present.

Mignola’s art in Hellboy is a mass of thick lines and heavy shadows, with figures rendered in an almost abstract way, and it has inspired many artists. Seeking to emulate his style, the Disney Company went so far as to enlist Mignola to provide character treatments and concept art for its theatrical release Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001). In spite of Hellboy’s apocalyptic tone and its dark visuals, the series also had its share of comedic moments, as Mignola’s droll wit infused Hellboy with a blasé attitude that belied the fantastic events around him.

Mignola’s comic universe was brought to the big screen by director Guillermo del Toro in Hellboy (2004). The live-action feature film starred Ron Perlman as the title hero, and it was well received by fans and critics alike. Del Toro and Perlman returned for the sequel, Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008). Hellboy and the B.P.R.D also appeared in the animated films Hellboy: Sword of Storms (2006) and Hellboy: Blood and Iron (2007). The Hellboy film franchise was rebooted with the release of Hellboy (2019), a darker, R-rated take on the hero and his supernatural world.