Hellboy <\/i>is one those series that has always left me with mixed reactions. The concept is stellar \u2013 the possible future ruler of Hell \u2013 nicknamed Hellboy when he was transported to earth by a ritual gone awry \u2013 is unwilling to accept his destiny because of his sympathies with humankind. His decision triggers events throughout the planes, and also, because of his involvement with the Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense, he has made himself quite a lot of enemies in the netherworld. Writer\/artist Mike Mignola draws inspiration from horror stories, folklore and local myths and legends from around to world to come up with a rich supporting cast for the series. The story of Hellboy is a series of quest-stories, each of which contributes to explaining a bit of back-story and also in building up the world the characters inhabit. Mignola obviously has a plan for his baby, and he is taking his time unfolding it to the readers. <\/p>\n
But what gets my goat is that Hellboy, as a character, is ruefully underdeveloped. In spite of leading a life filled with supernatural elements, the character has little or no regard for the consequences of his actions. His standard modus operandi in dealing with anything at all is to punch and shoot, no questions asked. This adds a level of shallowness to the storylines that I\u2019ve been unable to come to terms with. I mean, what\u2019s the point of all this world building and plot development if your character is a one-trick pony? <\/p>\n
That does not mean I do not read Hellboy<\/i>. I follow the series very closely, even though it is tough to keep track of all the miniseries and spinoffs that are being churned out. Initially it was just Mignola doing all the writing and artwork, and my oh my, the man is a design god! Alan Moore summed it up perfectly when he said that Mignola\u2019s work combines Kirby\u2019s comicbook sensibilities with German expressionism. The work in Hellboy is the cumulative output of a man who has experimented with his craft for the better part of two decades and has developed a style that\u2019s minimalist and unique. In short, when you see Hellboy<\/i> for the first time and see Mignola\u2019s chunky blacks adorning the panels, you feel like there is not other artist who can do the character justice. <\/p>\n
But then, for the past couple of years, Mignola has been involved with other aspects of his character. He is, I believe, closely associated with the production of both the Hellboy movies, and the animated series, and the various merchandising aspects of his brainchild. It would be a wonderful world if an artist could just sit at his chair and draw and everything would fall into place, but let\u2019s face it, page rates and royalties (and even original comic art sales) aren\u2019t enough to make ends meet, especially if you\u2019re striking out on your own. So one cannot begrudge Mr. Mignola his lack of output, he has a business to run after all. What makes it all good for the fan is that he is personally supervising the choice of artist for the ongoing stories \u2013Hellboy<\/i>, its companion BPRD<\/i>, the limited series Lobster Johnson <\/i>and Abe Sapien<\/i>, and also co-writing most of them. There has been quite a gap between the last Hellboy <\/i>series \u2013 \u2018The Island\u201d, and the latest \u201cDarkness Calls\u201d, and apparently that\u2019s because the previous artist short-listed for the job did not quite make the cut, or the deadlines. Editor Scott Allie tells us in the letters page of Darkness Calls #1 that after the artist turned one issue in, he was replaced by British artist Duncan Fegredo.<\/p>\n
Duncan Fegredo has had a checkered career. His work on Grant Morrison’s Kid Eternity<\/i> and Peter Milligan’s Enigma<\/i>, two miniseries published in the early nineties, brought him critical recognition, but not really the kind of fan following an artist of his caliber deserves. He then went on to do painted covers for a number of series, Shade the Changing Man, Lucifer, Star Wars<\/i>, to name a few. But in terms of a career-defining assignment, Darkness Calls is definitely the first to come Fegredo\u2019s way. I was skeptical at the choice \u2013 like I had mentioned before, Mignola had always been the definitive Hellboy artist, and though there had been other artists doing short stints on the character ( as with the miniseries \u2018Weird Tales\u2019, a collection of short horror tales involving the character and written and illustrated by a gazillion different guys, including the likes of Alex Maleev, P Craig Russell, John Cassaday, Scott Morse and JG Jones) , Darkness Calls was core <\/i>Hellboy, and it was difficult to envisage anyone else carrying off the mood and tone of the character.<\/p>\n
When I flipped open the first page of Darkness Calls, I gasped.<\/p>\n
This was not Mignola. This was like someone who had captures Mignola\u2019s aesthetics, the spirit of Hellboy, so to speak, and made it his own. This was Mignola Reloaded. Ok, enough with the clich\u00e9s already, yeah? Fegredo brought a manic intensity to the proceedings with his keen eye for detail. For instance, a forest scene that occurs in the first issue. While Mignola would probably have filled in blacks for the most part, and trust me, he can convey a LOT with minimal brushstrokes, Fegredo literally goes apeshit with his detailing. You can almost see the individual leaves crackling under Hellboy\u2019s feet as he tromps through them, while in the background the bony branches of trees alternate as spider-webs of dark and light. Fegredo got all the tricks of the trade right – the Mignolian leitmotif of an aspect panel transition to a close-up of a sculpture or some ancient gaping creature. His designs are fantastic \u2013 I don\u2019t know how many of them were Mignola\u2019s, but considering the kind of talent he has on display, I wouldn\u2019t be surprised if he was given complete freedom to come up with his own panel layouts and character sketches. And trust me, the artwork just gets better, more confident and intricate as the series progresses. It is as if Fegredo, unsure of how people will react to his interpretation of this iconic character, had held himself back in the first issue and then feeding off the positive reactions, just cuts loose. <\/p>\n
Ok, the story, which in case of Hellboy has always managed to disappoint me. Darkness Calls begins with some characters you wouldn\u2019t know were relevant unless you have read the stories that came before \u2013 thankfully, there are editorial notes that explain which segment of Hellboy some piece of dialogue references. Then Hellboy enters the story and there you go, that same old pigheadedness about the character – he refuses an offer by a group of rather disgruntled women saying, \u201cLeave me alone!\u201d puffing on his cigar, not making an attempt to understand what they are asking of him. Then things begin to get interesting, when an old, old foe makes a bargain to have Hellboy transported to her world. It\u2019s Baba Yaga, the old witch from Russian folk tales, who Hellboy had blinded once upon a time and who wants his life in return. <\/p>\n
It\u2019s interesting to note, at this point, that there are two American comic book series that uses Baba Yaga as a pivotal character \u2013 the other being Fables<\/i>, another excellent series that you should be reading, and the characterization of the lady in both the series is dead-on \u2013 she\u2019s evil, she\u2019s powerful, she\u2019s old and there are very few ways to keep her off-balance. In the Hellboy series, Baba Yaga is shown, much like her original Russian version, as traveling around in a pestle. Which gives me this insanely happy feeling in my tummy because this <\/i>is the old witch I know. <\/p>\n
So we have Hellboy stuck in Baba Yaga\u2019s Russia, and it is but obligatory that we see other characters from Russian folklore popping up as well. Remember Koschei the Deathless, whose soul was hidden by Baba Yaga in a very, very secure location? Vasilisa the Beautiful, who was helped by a fairy godmother throughout her life and was one of the few girls who could actually escape Baba Yaga\u2019s clutches? Don\u2019t worry, I haven\u2019t given out any spoilers, just that these two characters make their appearances. There are others, but you can find them out for yourself. <\/p>\n
The story goes on towards a predictable climax \u2013 Hellboy punching with all his might. There is another revelation, but more importantly, while he\u2019s exiled in folklore-Russia, things are afoot in his\u2026our world, when something really really evil is being let loose. Darkness Calls, like ALL other Hellboy miniseries so far, ends on an incomplete note, with threads of stories to come. Like I said, this becomes frustrating for a casual reader who wants to read a story with a beginning and an end. Ah, well, so we wait for the next Hellboy series to come by, I guess. And read the BPRD stories that are coming out pretty regularly. *sigh*<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Hellboy is one those series that has always left me with mixed reactions. The concept is stellar \u2013 the possible future ruler of Hell \u2013 nicknamed Hellboy when he was transported to earth by a ritual gone awry \u2013 is unwilling to accept his destiny because of his sympathies with humankind. His decision triggers events […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-808","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beatzo.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/808","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beatzo.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beatzo.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beatzo.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beatzo.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=808"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beatzo.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/808\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beatzo.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beatzo.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beatzo.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}