Halloween Heroes #3: Hellboy

October 29, 11:44 AMColumbus Comic Books ExaminerWesley Smith

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Each day throughout the month of October, we are counting down a different Halloween Hero, the creepiest, crawliest, spookiest and most popular supernatural heroes and villains in comicdom.

Hellboy/Mike Mignola

Created by: Mike Mignola. First in-continuity appearance: Hellboy: Seed of Destruction #1 (1994) (First actual appearance: San Diego Comic-Con Comics #2, 1993).

Hellboy is a demon raised on Earth and working against the forces of evil for the United States government. Hellboy was summoned to Earth as an infant by Nazis during the Second World War. Discovered by Allied forces, he was brought back to the US and raised Professor Trevor Bruttenholm in seclusion, but as essentially a human child. Decades later, Hellboy grew to an adult to work with the United States Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense (or BPRD). Being raised essentially as a human, he behaves much like a normal human would in his circumstance, and does what he can to normalize his appearance, including filing down his demonic horns into stumps.

Hellboy is one of the most popular and successful comic book characters created in the past twenty years. What is interesting about Hellboy’s publication history is that he has never had an ongoing series. He’s had adventures serialized in the anthology Dark Horse Presents and various miniseries and specials, but there has never been an ongoing Hellboy series. Instead, Mike Mignola and other creators have opted to follow the example of the pulp heroes that inspired Hellboy, and produce adventures that can be read as part of a larger storyline or individually as stand-alone stories.

And you cannot talk about the popularity of Hellboy without referencing his two major motion pictures written, directed and produced by Acadamy Award Nominee Guillermo del Toro. Both of the films were successful, but not blockbusters, but the success of the first film on DVD and two animated DVD sequels paved the way for the second film, Hellboy: The Golden Army.

Check back every day in October for another Halloween Hero, and check out the entire list in the Halloween Heroes sidebar on the right.

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