Just read the first omnibus, I enjoyed it but im starting to notice a pattern here:
>story starts with exposition dump
>investigating a castle or stone church
>villain appears, monologues
>hellboy or a BRPD member falls through the floor, every, single, time
>hellboy gets his ass whooped
>villain monologues while Hellboy is sarcastic
>turns the fight around at the last moment with a lucky hit
>Liz & Abe do barely anything at all other than be plot devices
>same villain appears later with the same plan and same overconfidence
Does Mignola shake up this formula later on? Also, it seems like hes trying out different styles of writing in every story. Some beat you over the head with thought windows while others using dialogue sparingly
So whats your favorite Hellboy story? And why is Rasputin such a blowhard?
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>page 7
Nah
Mignola has some really cool ideas, but isn't the greatest writer. Honestly, I think Del Torro's movies are a great evolution of the story while retaining the original characters. Hellboy kind of falls of the rails near the end of, before Helboy in Hell. The art style becomes more minimalistic too which really detracted from the cool designs
These stories are really meant to be pulpy with an overall mythos and some cool folklore infused in. The pulp influence means that there is plenty of cliches in there but also just a heck of a lot of cool shit.
>Does Mignola shake up this formula later on?
Yes. I would say though that to get the overall epic you also need to read BPRD. Stuff does change in the book and the status quo changes along with it.
I'm looking to get into Hellboy. Where do I start?
Read the new omnibuses
>but isn't the greatest writer.
Oh come on now he is a good writer. But the books aren't meant to be heavy, complicated, graphic novels. People have this perception that good writing means depth but sometimes the best writers are minimalist and just know how to tell a story with great atmosphere.
He is a definitely one of the better comic book writers and a good story teller for the medium. But a lot of the stories started to feel pretty similar and again I really disliked the great worm and king arther arcs . The early stuff is fantastic. Absolutely loved Hellboy in Mexico
>Does Mignola shake up this formula later on?
Yes, the first story was written by John Byrne. It gets progressively better as Mignola starts scripting everything.
I prefer his short stories of shit happening to a lot of those larger arcs. Hellboy in Mexico is a great story.
I may be wrong but I swear the older trades had more of the short stories intertwined with the main story where as the new omnibuses have seperated them out. I feel like that is a mistake.
Have you read the BPRD?
Not yet. How is it?
BPRD is great. I feel like its continuing story, cast of characters with drama who change as time goes on, feels sometimes better than the Hellboy series sometimes. I haven't finished it yet but getting there.
bump
BPRD it's miles better. Most of Hellboy stories are monster of the week kind of thing. The main thing it's the atmosphere and the narrative imo. Wild Hunt it's a great epic history
>hellboy or a BRPD member falls through the floor, every, single, time
So true it hurts. Still the best none cape universe in comics though.
comfy Hellboy thread
It's seriously weird. I fan only assume Mignola does it on purpose as some kind of joke. I'm hoping the second omnibus hasaat least one story that isn't a short and doesn't involve and breaking floors
So im assuming the unnecessary and melodramatic "ahh im so tired/in pain/ beat up" thought windows are Byrnes doing? Whatta hack
>te hee
>giggle
are they gonna get dicked tonight?
Hellboy is my favorite comic book. I mean there are some specific tropes like you've pointed out but I don't really see those as a negative. Here are some of my favorite Hellboy stories. In this case one- shots.
In the Chapel of Moloch
Heads
The Corpse
Goodbye, Mister Tod
The Wolves of Saint August
Dr. Carp's Experiment
Pancakes
Box Full of Evil is cool too but it might be too long to be considred a one-shot?
Also since I'm in a Hellboy mood, I am offering to do some Hellboy related character sketches. Throw a character my way and I might just end up drawing them. Pic related.
Start from volume 1. But know that it gets better. John Byrne helped with that one and it's not as good. Also the coloring does get better and so does the artwork.
I like that she is watching Suspiria.
Sraw Liz smoking a cigarette. I have a weakness for traumatized girls that stand all rigid and look so distant. Makes me wanna protect them and make them feel safe
THIS!!!
I've read only the one-shots and minis so far. But its this fucking formula all over again.
Mignola is either a hack or Hellboy is supposed to be a fucking idiot.
I would recommend that you keep reading until at least Conqueror Worm or The Island, those two are the highlight stories to me.
I can definitely see how you would interpret a lot of the early stories as simplistic - that's because they are. A lot of the really short short stories play out the same but the best ones are real gems because of some particular twisted or emotional character event.
Core Hellboy peaks at Darkness Calls - imo. I wasn't a fan of Wild Hunt and beyond. That's where I shifted my focus on BPRD and that really is just brilliant.
Sraw?
Mignola does say it's a comic written my a dumb guy in some interviews, so there's that.
to anyone who really likes hellboy, check out triumph and torment. Mignola drew the art for a cool 80s graphic novel for marvel that told the backstory/origin of doctor doom as he teams up with strange to beat the devil.
In the beginning of the story, you see some strange crystalline structures that look eerily like the ogdru jahad.
If you find yourself wishing that marvel made more books with doom as a badass, I highly recommend the infamous iron man comic that bendis wrote a couple years ago. In many ways it feels like a great follow up to the triumph and torment story.
hellboy isn't supposed to be smart. If he didn't have a bigass apocalypse fist and a gun he would probably have been a mediocre janitor at a ymca somewhere. He's not dark and edgy like the formula was in the 90s. He was just a working stiff like everyone else, except his job is killing the things that go bump in the night.
I feel like this is a an important dimension that doesn't really get discussed - Hellboy wasn't conceived and written as some kind of a deep epic. It literally started as a handful of pulpy stories with slightly out-there designs and vague folk inspiration.
It just so happened that Mignola stumbled upon a mix of unique art, melancholy, nazis, the occult, and general folk weirdness that really resonated with a lot of people who drummed up crazy excitement. Now when a new person comes into it just based on impressions, they need to be told >IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE SIMPLISTIC
D is next to S on a keyboard, so im assuming he meant draw. Being a phoneposter aint easy if you have big hands
And that’s way BPRD is so much better, some deaths aside
Gonna say i really hated how Kate went out
I think its meant to echo his Kirby-esque artwork, his villains violently verbally masturbate themselves but ultimately end uo looking like fools, just like an old Stan Lee villain. Rasputin and his cronies are supposed to come across as a predictable tool, I think
I really like the short stories and all the stories after he leaves the BPRD, some good shit. The Island, Wild Hunt etc
Ah Draw, I'm a stupid. Oh well, here she is.
>hellboy or a BRPD member falls through the floor, every, single, time
It's funny because it's true
the corpse is probably my favorite, it's like a ghost road trip story
It's probably the one I hear being thrown around the most as a favorite.
I've read the first two Hellboy omnibus.
What would be the best reading order for everything?
Or just continue with the The Wild Hunt omni, and then the Hellboy in Hell omni. The short stories omnis can be read as you please. either before, after or between. Your pick.
Here's a slightly more clean version.
Trust me, it's not about the story, it's all about the storytelling and damn Mig is nice with it.
Just look at end of hell on earth, it was tad bit poopy, but the moment Mike assumed direct control I was on board again. Story was still the same, but suddenly it was good. He knows how to visually tell a spooki pulp story good and that's his thing.
Now I want to check in he falls through floors in any of the movies
Sometimes people also fall through roofs, or off cliffs. It depends on what's available.
fact: Sidney Leach is criminally underrated and underrepresented.
this is not comfy, I repeat, this is not comfy
There you go talking about intent again.
Also windows-ish.
They did at least include him in one of the animated movies. He's a human metal detector!
When you have a star that take a fall good, you just got to drop him down a lot.
You play with your strengths, it's just good film making.
Hellboy reads like it should be the end arc for decades of build up of comics about the Bureau monsterstory of the week things.
But we never got those stories. It's like we got the cliffnotes and then skipped straight to the end and the apocalypse.
And then it happened again with BPRD.
I mean, I still love all of it but I can't shake the feeling that I've gotten cheated out somehow.
I think Taco’s movies aren’t really an evolution, the tone and atmosphere is way different. Far more comedic, far more goofy. They’re not grim in any way.
He also burned his hands.
That he did. Poor guy.
When was anything hellboy ever grim? This isn't Devilman. Hellboy is fun, its not trying to make you depressed or worried about humanity's future.
BPRD is there do make you depressed and anxious though
>Liz
I hope she and Howards won't cause fire when make love.
So youre saying Hellboy is the exact opposite of a never ending superhero book?
Cool pic.
Just do Abe, Hellboy and Liz looking bad ass. Separate or as a group
My favorite stories are usually the one-shots that are basically retellings of obscure European fairy tales, and Hellboy as the smart alec interloper sitting on the fourth wall talking about how weird it is.
ITs a bad copy of Dylan Dog
What do you mean it’s not grim? It has the atmosphere of a dark fairy tale or pulp horror, with some very deadpan humor. You’d never something like in GDT’s Hellboy without a fucking quip. The movies are the pamcake panel, except literally nonstop. Let’s not even get into how out of place the love plots are in contrast to the source material.
I request Enos playing chess with Johann
Thanks. You got a mix of effort and non-effort in this one.
>Hellboy is fun, its not trying to make you depressed or worried about humanity's future.
have you read hellboy
Sorry, this one is kinda low effort. But it's something.
Thanks mate, appreciate the effort and the serious looks.
No problem. Here's an old request that is kinda related. Buff Johann.
>hating on Hellboy
Contrarians are really trying their hardest rigjt now
you got a twitter or intsa?
Here are all the old Hellboy requests.
I've got a twitter. I have insta too but I haven't started posting there since it's such a hassle.
The worst Hellboy thing is probably the 2019 movie. LEGENDARY AF
The Library editions are really nice
Hellboy in Mexico is objectively the best book.
Prove me wrong.
Yeah.
But how much do thay cost
And that's the last anyone ever saw of him.
Getting the books in any form is expensive as fuck.
I think the library editions might actually be the cheapest option.
I think the omnibuses are the cheapest option but the Library ones are nice and big and hardcover.
I understand that Hellboy is comedic, but Hellboy still had a lot of nice spooky scenes
This is Sidney Leach.
He goes well with Hellboy's ranged options and The Lobster.
His negative is that his loadout doesn't contain a gun and his melee is pathetic, so giving him a way to defend himself will dig into the mission budget.
See
>I enjoyed it
Learn to read, fucktard
I'm not sure he "does it un purpose" but he definitely jokes about not only it, but also his bird panels and his "Hellboy jumping and punching" pose in interviews.
But yeah, every artist has his ticks, like Kirby hands, Crumb scoliosis, Simonson power pose and so on.
>tfw my game just arrived last friday after more than a fucking year since the kickstarter
I absolutely love it and Lobster is B A S E D A S F U C K
Have you read any seinen manga ever? Halleboy aint shit in the depression department
The library editions are better
>seinen manga
You don't read comics?
Setup is always a pain but it really is a pretty dang good game.
Well I mean I'm pretty fond of the one-shot books. But there's a lot of artist variety in HiM.
Lets cut to the chase: I am smarter, better looking, and more well read than you. Youre mother is fat and you are a homosexual. This is indisputable.
It was the best possible monkey's paw (to the point I don't really feel comfortable, it's more like a sidegraded wish I guess?) because I always wanted a X-COM-like BPRD computer game but I'm perfectly ok with a XCOM-ish Hellboy board game, the fact that's closer to nu-com than old-com is made up by the tons of minis I'll get to paint.
Now, just a question: The Visitor can't attack unless he gets a weapon from somewhere else, right? (If so, just give him Hellboy's pistol because it's shit in Hellboy's hand anyway)
Okay, but do you read comics?
Haven't played him a lot but I think he had the prism nuke thing that he could also use to zap things or something?
I could remembering wrong tho.
Hellboy's pistol is made for other agents' hands.
Great with Sidney btw, he gets reloads for free.
Or better yet, if someone with red dice has it in the same room as Leach he gets 9 red dice and +15 damage per turn.
It has neat little figures.
Fuck Dark Horse for finally releasing Hellboy as chunky trades. It is the best way to read comics for someone allergic to hardcover, but I already collected the entire skinny trade Mignolaverse.
*they get
Not Leach.
Take him on a date. Buy him some pancakes.
Yeah, I assumed the prism is some sort of pistol since they use it as that in the comics but it doesn't have the ranged weapon icon.
I haven't played most of the back ups yet, only Kate and Prof Broom, and I mostly use them as proxies for Johann. I'll play another casefile as soon as I get home and I'll force myself to not bring either El Hellboy Cornudo or Lobster.
I'm kinda new to the board game scene, should I assume it works like say, MtG, and that I'll eventually get my own BR nimue or should I shelve out a million bongs and order one along with the Wild Hunt expansion as well?
can't wait to get my hands on this nibba
So are the new omnis actually better than the library editions?
Double dip.
Only thing that's better is that they are cheaper and easier to read.
Is that my man Giurescu?
yeah, I was very unsure about dropping another bunch of money on the Box Full of Evil but once they announced him the temptation was too much, Wake the Devil is my favourite of the larger HB stories. The Koschei looks dope as well but I couldn't find any good looking pictures on the kickstarter page.
Also another thing I was thinking about today, but given those Arcudi tweets and the fact that the expansions jump from Conqueror Worm / Wake the Devil straight into the Wild Hunt and Darkness Calls make me think Mignola is probably unwilling to license the co-created stuff for some reason (which sucks because I really want Daimio, Ashley Strode and Ted to show up in the game eventually)
From Artstation.
Darkest Dungeon ? and also Stygian: Reign of the Old Ones looks intersting if you don't mind play CRPG.
youtube.com
I was wait for Phoenix Point released until they switches to epic store exclusive and change art style. WTF Julian Gollop.
Love Darkest Dungeon and the Phoenix Point build that used to float around /xcg/, but that Stygian game just looks cheap as fuck. Whenever I'm tired of DD, I have Deep Sky Derelicts, which looks much better and scratches the same itch.
She's like... 15 bucks plus + another 15 for postage if outside of UK?
That's pretty fucking bad for one mini but shouldn't break the bank. Is the delivery covered by the postage of the expansion pack if you add it to the Wild Hunt package? If so that sounds good.
Since it's a single mini (and the painting kit depending on how much money I have by then), I'm hoping it all ends up as a single shipping.
The problem is I'm a BR, so not only is a single pound something like 6 bucks, there's all sorts of customs issues (which is the reason I only got the KS box last week and don't even expect the BFoE until next year, december by most optimistic expectations), so I would rather wait for a national (or at least south-american) version of both the Wild Hunt and Nimue.
Yeah I don't think that Nimue will hit retail since they market it as a show exclusive thing.
But if Mantic ever attends some BR event you could maybe grab one there?
And if all else fails I'm sure someone will eventually put one on ebay or something.
I'm kinda hopeful because the BR translator announced they'll have limited edition spooky Johanns (which I didn't see during the kickstarter, othewise I'd have gotten it), so maybe they'll get some Nimues as well (I don't even care if they sell her for the same I'd have paid in GBPs, just the warranty of not having to pay extra custom fees makes me feel safer).
Hellboy is one of those characters that could do a crossover with pretty much any property and be entertaining.
So is Bromhead. I'd love to read more about him. Gotta love actual competent villains.
Not even with your wallet my dude. There are still far too many things I need to buy that I haven't read yet.
>Also since I'm in a Hellboy mood, I am offering to do some Hellboy related character sketches. Throw a character my way and I might just end up drawing them. Pic related.
how about some grody witches, also The Crooked Man is the best Hellboy story
Bromhead's first scene were he shit talks the demon is one of my favorite moments in Hellboy. Wish I could find the panel, it's really short but he's such a smug asshole.
Right Hand of Doom was my first HB book and up and whenever Bromhead shows up I was like "wtf, this dude looks like some perv accountant but he's shitting on a demon this shit has to get pretty serious eventually".
Anytime. And this is a Great effort indeed!
Bump
Crooked Man is the one I refuse to reread. It's just too creepy looking for me.
Hellboy's probably my favorite comic book hero out there. I've never been able to word it well, but I've always loved how he rebukes all the flowery prophecy and and philosophical doomsaying with something along the lines of a tired "shut the fuck up, you're killing people."
Library Editions run about $29 a pop on Instock for a very good amount of content and some of the best quality physical editions you'll ever find for a comic.
>Have the floppies
>Find the trade at a Half Price Books, grab it for a friend who also reads Hellboy because hey, i've got the floppies and I just collect HB stuff in omni/library format
>Eventually cave and start getting trades for spinoffs
>See this
And that's how Sledgehammer 44 became the one that got away and my current comics holy grail.
Are those the tall skinny ones? I hate that shape
Corben is arguably the most talented artist Mike has worked with throughout the entirety of his Hellboy stuff besides Dave Stewart
I'd recommend reconsidering. It's like a perfect size to really make the artwork pop.