Comics That Deserve Greater Recognition Pt3

Now, I know what you're saying - "Hey! Hellboy's already pretty popular! What gives?"

It's a valid point, but my response is thus:

1) Like you can ever say enough about how awesome Hellboy (and Mike Mignola) are
2) There's a couple things I (and maybe no one else) have never said about Hellboy, so I'm going to take the chance to talk about them.


The first thing I want to say is that I have to sit in awe of Hellboy's success. If you think back to the Nineties (and for some of you that might be hard, what with being very small and all) Hellboy would not have appeared to be a likely candidate for a long and prosperous franchise; after all, it was a new property being marketed by a company best known for comic series based on licensed properties from other media. It was complex, drawing on multiple levels of mythology, history (both real, mythical and totally newly crafted), in a series of mini-series, one-shots and trades, with a semi-regular schedule. It was a dark story, with an uncertain future and a mature direction. All this in the age where Spawn, Youngblood, and Cable ruled the comic racks.

Funny how things work out, no?

I think it's a testament to the purity and long-term thinking Mignola put into this, clearly his life's work, that he didn't take any shortcuts or compromises. As the song goes, he did it his way. And the results? The franchise has never been more popular and it's spawned (ba-dum-buh! I'll be here all week folks!) spin-offs in both animation and of course, two really cool movies, with more hopefully to come.

The other thing I want to comment on is the cleverness of the concept and how it's evolved. At first, the entire concept could have been easily summed up. "A demon gets raised by the government, grows up, and fights other demons." Simple. Gets to the point. And even after nearly 20 years of publication, that's still true - but the layers and evolution of the character (and the rich, detailed world Mignola has crafted around him) have been slowly revealed, while not allowing the core concept to waver even a millimeter. Think about how that compares to other comic concepts, that have completely upended their original mission statement (*cough cough* Authority *cough*) to the point that all the extra detail has actually removed what made the property work.

All this sends a very positive message that bears repeating and shouting from the rooftops: Play the Long Game, and stick to your guns, and you'll win.

Very Late Review: Hellboy, the Golden Army

I finally got around to seeing this last weekend, and I want to take some time to talk about it because it's overshadowed (rightfully or wrongfully) by The Dark Knight and Iron Man and every other comic movie that came out this summer.

I enjoyed this movie quite a bit. Unlike most of the other comic movies of the summer, this one is upbeat, funny, and tongue planted firmly in cheek. The main plot is remarkably straightforward, but that simplicity is used to undercut how much more complex the lives of Hellboy, Liz, Abe and the others have gotten. Now, the problem is that unlike the first movie, the villain is completely forgettable, but not unsympathetic, but you hardly pay attention to it as the plot zips along and you get re-acquainted with the characters and the various sub-plots and internecine dramas.

As far as acting goes, Perlman makes a great Hellboy, and with the prosthetics as they are I never once get the feeling that anything is faked, and everyone else does their job well enough, if not in anyway outstanding. The effects are clean and crisp and really really colourful, and it moves along quickly enough that there's a reasonable amount of tension and action, and a surprising amount of sentiment. This is definitely a movie that is trying to work as both action, comedy, and love story. It definitely succeeds at comedy, as any scene in which HB and Abe drink while singing cheesy 80s love ballads must.

The main complaint I hear from people is how much this movie departs from the comics, and in that respect they are quite correct. Where the first Hellboy film was Guillmero Del Toro's attempt to adapt Mike Mignola's world to the big screen, this movie is very much about Mike Mignola's Hellboy in Del Toro's world, a mythology that has more in common with Del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth than the darker tones normally found in Mignola's Hellboy stories. That said, the world Del Toro constructs is one that is both familiar and strange; a colourful collection of the usual assortment of mystic and fantastical creatures, but one that is very removed from human perceptions and preconceptions of them. It's a very nice touch, and one I enjoy seeing in fantasy movies, where all too often the elves and dwarves and the like are simply humans with slightly exaggerated characteristics.

In conclusion, The Golden Army isn't the world shaking movie that other comic movies are, but it's good lighthearted fun. And that's interesting, given that the protagonist is a scary demon in and of himself.