“We’re going to break stuff that can’t get fixed"
July 26, 2015 7:48 PM   Subscribe

 
Hellboy has fought the long defeat for two decades and counting. His endless loss is the reader’s gain.

"Aw crap."
posted by Artw at 8:18 PM on July 26, 2015 [7 favorites]


As we remember him.
posted by Artw at 8:20 PM on July 26, 2015 [8 favorites]


I really miss Guy Davis' work on B.P.R.D.. I also wish Hellboy in Hell came out more than 3-4x a year.
posted by Asbestos McPinto at 8:21 PM on July 26, 2015 [2 favorites]


I haven't read a Hellboy book in about ten years and wow now I am definitely going to pick some up.
posted by griphus at 8:22 PM on July 26, 2015


I really miss Guy Davis' work on B.P.R.D.. I also wish Hellboy in Hell came out more than 3-4x a year.

Laurence Campbell and others have been doing a stand-up job in his absense, but yes. And also yes, but Mignola, so what are you going to do?
posted by Artw at 8:23 PM on July 26, 2015


I think it was egypturnash I was talking with the other day when we came to the conclusion that it's Dave Stewart's coloring that actually ties the entire thing together visually.
posted by Artw at 8:25 PM on July 26, 2015 [2 favorites]


There's magic in Hellboy timing.

Abe: Is that a monkey?
Hellboy: He's got a gun!
Monkey: Oook oook! BLAM BLAM BLAM

You could write an entire book around those three panels. What led up to them, the choice of width, the coloring. SO GOOD.
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 8:39 PM on July 26, 2015 [8 favorites]


Guy Davis is amazing and I hate that he has a single moment's rest. Draw more! Forever!
posted by Pope Guilty at 8:46 PM on July 26, 2015 [1 favorite]


Mignola was the first comic creator I specifically got into as a kid thanks to Rocket Raccoon and Gotham By Gaslight. Every couple years I'll realize how far behind I am in the BPRD books and scramble to catch up.

My appreciation of Hellboy is helped along by the fact that, unlike his imprint-mates at Legend Frank Miller and John Byrne, Mignola doesn't seem to be a raging asshole.
posted by thecjm at 8:46 PM on July 26, 2015 [9 favorites]


/wonders if Dave Sim was ever asked to join.
posted by Artw at 8:51 PM on July 26, 2015 [4 favorites]


Dammit, I never read these but I loved the movies. My introduction to Mike Mignola was the illustrations he did for his excellent collaborations with Christopher Golden, including Joe Golem and the Drowning City and Father Gaetano's Puppet Catechism.

Makes me wish I'd kept up with the Hellboy comics too. Next thing I want to get into (when I find the time) is Baltimore, or, the Steadfast Tin Soldier and the Vampire.
posted by Existential Dread at 9:28 PM on July 26, 2015


From the article:
Long-standing industry rumor has it that the artist was the subject of a creative custody battle between Mignola and his Hellboy movie collaborator Del Toro, with the Pacific Rim director ultimately coming out on top; that film boasts Davis’s distinctive creature designs.
I can't parse this at all. Mignola and Del Toro were in a "creative custody battle" over Davis' designs? And Mignola lost, so Davis left the book?
posted by Ian A.T. at 9:32 PM on July 26, 2015 [2 favorites]


Ian A.T. - more like a custody battle over Davis' time. If he's doing design work for Del Toro, no time to draw BPRD.
posted by thecjm at 9:45 PM on July 26, 2015 [3 favorites]


I wish the article had been a bit more about Hellboy, and a little less about how Marvel and DC always have the heroes save the day. Granted, the writer needs to set up that standard to show how far from it Hellboy has strayed, but even so, it's refreshing and fascinating to finally get a story where the world is ending, full-stop, and the heroes are reduced to fighting holding actions. Even if, somehow, the BPRD manages to "win" the world Mignola created (and destroyed) will never be the same.

Better yet, it's not some Emmerich-ian disaster porn end of the world being created. Each loss, each disaster carries with it weight and sadness. The destruction of Munich, with the Krauss being driven around his old neighborhood, seeing the souls of all those who died, Liz Sherman's retreat from the world after her quasi-victory that evidently destroyed large parts of Indonesia, it feels real, it feels overwhelming. I can't wait to see what comes next, but I never want it to end, which is pretty much the highest praise I think I can give.
posted by Ghidorah at 9:56 PM on July 26, 2015 [4 favorites]


I can't rave about the Crooked Man enough. My favorite Hellboy story. If you've haven't read it, you should :)
posted by triage_lazarus at 10:17 PM on July 26, 2015 [2 favorites]


oh, wow, this has me really wanting to do the read through, but 50+ volumes seems like soooo much. I've probably read about ten volumes, somewhere in the late nineties, though...
posted by kaibutsu at 12:33 AM on July 27, 2015


I always really loved Mignola's work in Triumph and Torment. It sparked a fantasy of writing my own Doctor Doom story that I still daydream about a few times a year.
posted by neuromodulator at 12:46 AM on July 27, 2015 [3 favorites]


Artw: "I think it was egypturnash I was talking with the other day when we came to the conclusion that it's Dave Stewart's coloring that actually ties the entire thing together visually."

Crap. I wish the only MeFi anywhere around me would actually read their MeMail, where I introduced myself. I wish I could toss off such statements.
posted by Samizdata at 5:57 AM on July 27, 2015


I really miss Guy Davis' work on B.P.R.D.

Opinions will vary, but I've never really been a fan of his artistic style. It always seemed a bit, I dunno, scribbly around the edges. I much prefer Mignola's style.

One of my favorite Hellboy vignettes is Pancakes.
posted by Fleebnork at 6:44 AM on July 27, 2015 [11 favorites]


oh god the panel of lil Hellboy and the dog that is roughly as big as he is
posted by griphus at 7:24 AM on July 27, 2015


One Hellboy story that I always come back to in my mind is The Wolves of St. August. I just really love it.
posted by Kitteh at 7:57 AM on July 27, 2015


My appreciation of Hellboy is helped along by the fact that, unlike his imprint-mates at Legend Frank Miller and John Byrne, Mignola doesn't seem to be a raging asshole.
thecjm

Well, it should be noted that Byrne scripted the first Hellboy series, Seed of Destruction.
posted by Sangermaine at 8:44 AM on July 27, 2015


Which is how we know Mignola is the better writer. Maybe he needed those trainer wheels to get going, but he's so much better when he loses them.
posted by Artw at 8:47 AM on July 27, 2015 [2 favorites]


I really need to catch up on the world of Hellboy, I'm at least a year behind. In a weird way, because it's been consistently great for so long, I have a tendency to start overlooking it, and I always kick myself when I eventually catch up and remember what I've been missing.
posted by jason_steakums at 9:18 AM on July 27, 2015


Thank you for this article. I had no idea the Hellboy story was so epic and cohesive. I was under the completely incorrect assumption that it was like any other long-running title that never really had an over-arching plot. I am so excited to be wrong as now I have an amazing lengthy comic to read all of! This is a great day.
posted by wyndham at 11:56 AM on July 27, 2015 [1 favorite]


John Arcudi Probably deserves a nod here as the writer on most of the BPRD issues that moved the plot along - I'm not sure to what extent Mignola points him in a vague direction and he goes off and does it.
posted by Artw at 12:53 PM on July 27, 2015 [1 favorite]


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