Since the big red guy first appeared in John Byrne’s Next Men #21 back in 1993 (and I am proud to say that I read that issue when it came out!), I have been hooked on Hellboy.  The creation of writer-artist Mike Mignola, Hellboy is, on its simplest level, about a monster who keeps the world safe from all the other monsters.  But there’s so much more to it than that!  To borrow some text from the back of the recent Hellboy Companion, “since 1994, Mike Mignola’s Hellboy has been one of the most evocative comics on the stands, slowly revealing a bizarre world of Victorian occult societies, prehistoric gods, arcane Nazi experiments, and layer upon layer of enigmas.”  Yeah!  Beautifully illustrated, very literate and a heck of a lot of fun, Mignola’s various Hellboy limited series that have been released over the years are some of the best American comic books out there.

For those of you who may have discovered Hellboy through Guillermo del Toro’s two recent films, there are so many great comics out there for you to enjoy.  Seed of Destruction is the first miniseries, and while one can see that Mignola is still feeling things out, this is a great introduction to the world of Hellboy.  The first movie drew a lot of its inspiration from this tale.  But Hellboy really starts to become the Hellboy that I know and love in the next bunch of (superior) stories.  First there’s Wake the Devil, in which a murder in a wax museum leads Hellboy to vampires, Nazis, and possibly the end of the world.  Then there’s The Right Hand of Doom, which is probably my favorite Hellboy collection.  This volume actually contains a ton of terrific short stories (most notably the classic “Pancakes,” about young Hellboy in 1947 eating breakfast), and two tales that are absolutely to the Hellboy saga: “The Right hand of Doom” and “Box Full of Evil,” both of which shed a lot of light on questions of Hellboy’s origin and ultimate destiny (storylines also hinted at in del Toro’s two movies — in particular the scene with the Angel of Death in Hellboy 2).  All that back-story rushes front and center in The Conquerer Worm, which to me is one of Mignola’s masterpieces.  A remnant from the Nazi space program causes trouble in present day, as a space capsule launched back in 1939, containing something very, very bad, makes its return to Earth.  This series also introduces one of the great characters in the Hellboy world, the enigmatic World War II hero Lobster Johnson, whose full story remains untold (although we’ve gotten a LOT more information lately).

Those are, to me, the “classic” Hellboy tales, the ones that made me fall in love with the goofy guy and all the weird, wonderful fish-men, homunculi, and other strange folk inhabiting these stories.  But part of the fun of Hellboy comics in the past few years is the way Mignola, and an increasing number of talented collaborators, have been able to broaden that world.

The end of Conquerer Worm saw Hellboy at the same point as he was at the end of the second movie (albeit due to ENTIRELY different circumstances) — quitting the BPRD.  This allowed Mignola to launch a new series of miniseries focusing on all the other characters in the B.P.R.D. (Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense), struggling to get by and keep the world safe without their biggest heavy-hitter.  The first two collections of B.P.R.D. tales are OK, but the series found its footing with Plague of Frogs, due in no small part to Guy Davis’ becoming the regular artist.  A menace dating back to the very first Hellboy mini-series comes back in a big way, and Abe Sapien finally begins to learn just who and what he is.  The answers are very very strange, and wonderfully intriguing — though quite diffficult for poor Abe to handle.  The story continued to build over several mini-series that followed, each one better than the last:

The Dead — In which the B.P.R.D. get a new team leader (Captain Ben Daimio, a man who was once mysteriously dead for three days) and a new headquarters (complete with a creepy guy buried in the sub-basement with a rather dangerous idea about how to open a gate to the kingdom of heaven).

The Black Flame — In which the B.P.R.D.’s war with the frog creatures explodes across the world, resulting in terrible devastation.  Liz Sherman begins having awful visions; another Nazi menace rears its head; and the team suffers a devastating loss.  This story is one of the best of the B.P.R.D. run, and served to let readers know that Mignola and his collaborators were not messing around with this series!!  In many ways, The Black Flame made B.P.R.D. (rather than the continuing Hellboy miniseries), the centerpieces of the ongoing Hellboy story.  In my eyes, at least!

The Universal Machine — In which we learn fascinating tidbits about the pasts of Daimio, Liz, and Johann Kraus; and B.P.R.D. agent Kate Corrigan considers making a dangerous bargain to restore life to the colleague who fell in The Black Flame.  The epilogue illustrated by Mignola is heartbreaking.

Garden of Souls — In which the remaining details of Abe Sapien’s origin come to horrifying light; the mystery of Captain Ben Daimio deepens; Liz’s nightmarish visions worsen; a bunch of Victorian men preserved in bizarre technological outfits plot the end of the world; and the key to salvation rests in the shrivelled hands of an Egyptian mummy, restored to life back in the 1800’s.  Wonderfully bizarre and filled to overflowing with innumerable fantastical ideas and images on every page, this series rivals The Black Flame in my mind as the highlight of this series.  There is no other comic like this out there!

Killing Ground — I thought Garden of Souls was the climax to the B.P.R.D. storyline, but things keep building to a fever pitch in this series, in which a violent creature breaks loose in B.P.R.D. headquarters and almost every character finds him or herself at an emotional turning point.  One of the wonders of this series is the way each chapter seems to have its own tone — and this one is definitely horror.  This is one of the best “page-turners” of the bunch, as things quickly turn very ugly for our heroes.  It is also the chapter, along with Garden of Souls, in which so many of the seeds of story-lines planted in earlier series really come to fruition.  And the conclusion is jaw-dropping, both for its emotional punch and for the stunning return of the last character I ever expected to see.  

The Warning — Coming out as we speak, in which we learn more about Lobster Johnson (well, a little more, anyways) and also about the man haunting Liz’s dreams; and little red gnomes release enormous ancient robots on Munich, Germany.  

There have also been a variety of other mini-series and one-shots released in the past few years, all of which are a lot of fun.  The most notable are B.P.R.D.: 1946, in which we learn how the Bureau was formed in the ashes of the second World War; Abe Sapien: The Drowning, a story about Abe’s first solo mission for the B.P.R.D. that connects in striking ways with his origin as revealed in the B.P.R.D. series; and Lobster Johnson: Iron Prometheus, which starts as a fun-filled pulpy romp about this hero fighting Nazis in the 1930s, then becomes something much more in the closing pages.  All of these are terrific series in their own right, but what’s really incredible about them is how each serves as another piece in the every-growing puzzle of Mignola’s Hellboy world.  The villain in Lobster Johnson, for instance, at first seems to be nothing more than an interesting foil for the adventurous Lobster… but attentive readers will note the connection with the mysterious figure who has been haunting Liz Sherman in the last several YEARS worth of B.P.R.D. series. There’s nothing obvious here — no editorial notes, nothing to help underline the connections — but suddenly an attentive reader is rewarded with some huge answers.  (And, of course, lots more questions!)  Same thing with a creature seen in a vision by Abe at the end of The Drowning.  In the context of that particular series, it seems a throw-away detail… just one more bit of weirdness.  But for those of us who have been following Abe’s story over in B.P.R.D., its a staggering AH HA moment.  

So what are you waiting for?  If you enjoyed either of the two Hellboy movies, there’s an enormous universe of great stories out there!!!  Give one of ‘em a try, and I guarantee you won’t look back.

I always like my super-hero/fantasy flicks to have a touch of melancholy. (Probably why I enjoy Superman Returns so much, as I’ve written about previously on this site.) One of the things I really appreciated about the Lord of the Rings movies, and the original books, was that touch of sadness in how, even in victory, magic was slowly leaving the world.

That’s a theme explored, also to great effect, in Hellboy 2: The Golden Army. The idea of a monster who hunts down and kills other monsters is a not just a great “hook” — its also a notion with a great deal of inherent drama and conflict for the story-teller interested in exploring that. Thankfully, director Guillermo del Toro certainly is.

Hellboy 2 tells the story of the fairy-tail Prince Nuada, furious at the way all of the magical creatures have lost their stewardship of the world to mankind, and our pollution and our strip malls and our parking lots. As in the best of adventure tails, this villain isn’t a bwa-ha-ha moustache-twirling bad-guy — he’s a compelling character with a legitimate point of view. This captures the audience’s interest in the story, and also provokes some tough “am I really on the right side?” questions for our hero Hellboy.

As in the first film, the title character is magnificently embodied by Ron Perlman. I really have never seen a comic book character so perfectly captured on the screen as Perlman’s Hellboy. His big red demon-punching, cigar-chomping, cat-loving paranormal investigator is truly a unique creation. Mike Mignola, the creator and writer-illustrator of the Hellboy comics gets a huge amount of credit for that, but it is Perlman who brings the lovable guy to big-screen life.

What else is good about the movie? The fish-man Abe Sapien gets a lot more screen-time than in the first flick, which is great. Selma Blair is terrific as the pyroteknic Liz Sherman — tough and extremely adorable. One of the mainstays of the comic who was absent from the first flick, the gaseous medium Johann Krauss, is introduced here. Of all the characters, his is the most changed from his comic-book counterpart — or, at least, the way I always pictured the character. He’s a lot more aggressive and by-the-book here (in contrast to the impulsive Hellboy). But, despite those changes, I really loved the character in the film. The “clickety-clack” constant motion of his costume (a sort of hazmat-looking containment suit for his ghostly form) really brings the character to life, as does the bizarre voice given him by Seth MacFarlane (whose vocal stylings you might recognize from almost every character on Family Guy).

And the creature effects — WOW. There are dozens upon dozens of beautiful, bizarre, wonderful fantasy creatures on display in this film, and they really bring to life the fantasy world that Hellboy inhabits. My favorite new creature is the Angel of Death that Hellboy & co. encounter towards the end of the film. Its an incredibly creepy character, one totally unlike anything I’ve ever seen on screen before, and its brought to vivid life by Doug Jones (who also plays Abe Sapien). Also adding to my appreciation of the character is the way its featured in a pivotal scene that reminds us that Hellboy is a demon fated to bring about the destruction of the world. This time its Hellboy’s friends who are presented with the question of whose side they should be on — that is, whether they should try to save their friend, even though they know about his destiny. Remember what I wrote above about enjoying melancholy moments? Great stuff.

Is there some not-so perfect stuff to be found in the film? As in the first flick, there is. A few of the comedic scenes (such as a mid-movie drinking scene) didn’t quite land with me. And I thought that Hellboy was a bit too over-the-top self-absorbed at the start of the film (a plot device to start him bickering with Liz Sherman) — I mean, putting her toothbrush in a can of cat-food? A bit too silly.

BUT, over-all, the film is really terrific. I never expected there to be a sequel to the first film…and frankly, I never really felt that film NEEDED a sequel. But now that one has arrived, I’d love to see a third installment. Del Toro will be busy for the next five-or-so years working on the two-movie adaptation of The Hobbit with Peter Jackson…but maybe when he’s done he’ll gather the troops for a return visit to Hellboy? I certainly hope so.

Coming up next week…The Dark Knight! Can’t wait.

May 27th, 2008

I love comic books. And that means that I grew up with a great love of super-hero stories. These days its true that many of my favorite comic books have little to do with super-heroes (looking through my “to-read” pile I see titles like David Lapham’s Young Liars, Stephen King’s The Dark Tower adaptation, Jeff Smith’s new boot RASL, Mike Mignola’s BPRD and Abe Sapien, Ed Brubaker’s Criminal, Brian Azzarello & Eduardo Risso’s 100 Bullets, to name just a few.) But there is still something about a great super-hero yarn that really excites me. (For instance, I’ve been reading and throughly enjoying Ed Brubaker’s run on Daredevil, Brian Michael Bendis’ work on Avengers and Secret Invasion, and Joss Whedon’s Astonishing X-Men.)

That love of a good super-hero tale extends to movies. While working on these new Iron Man cartoons, and thinking about the movies still ahead this summer (Hellboy II, The Dark Knight, and The Incredible Hulk), I’ve been thinking about what makes a great super-hero movie.

Here are my five favorite super-hero movies of all time:

5. Unbreakable — Back when I loved M. Night Shyamalan, he made this fantastic little tale about a man (Bruce Willis) who discovers that he cannot be injured. There are no costumes, no witticisms, none of the silly trappings that have come to be associated with super-heroes and super-hero movies. Just a compelling story with some terrific under-played acting from a great cast (Bruce Willis has never been better than he is here as the sad, empty man who discovers that he is different), and some really interesting scene composition, shot set-ups, and editing choices from director Shyamalan.

4. Hellboy — Adapted from a series of mini-series written and gorgeously illustrated by Mike Mignola, Hellboy follows the adventures of a paranormal investigator who is actually a demon from Hell himself. Who loves pancakes. The comic is a wonderfully bizarre, textured mix of fairy tales, folklore and some good old-fashioned monster-fighting action. The film, directed by Guillermo Del Toro (Pan’s Labyrinth, and the man tapped to direct the upcoming two films based on The Hobbit) is a remarkable realization of Mignola’s comic. The splendid, consistently under-rated Ron Perlman is brilliant as Hellboy, bringing enormous depth and warmth to the character despite all the red rubber makeup.

3. Spider-Man 2 — Like Hellboy, Spider-Man 2 is another film whose greatest strength is the way it is able to distill the essence of a beloved (albeit much more widely-known) comic book character into a compelling film all its own. Tobey Maguire was born to play the stiff, dorky Peter Parker who one day discovers that with great power comes great responsibility. I generally like my super-hero movies to be dark and morose, but what sets Spider-Man apart to me is actually the fun, giddy energy of the proceedings — from the beautiful visual effects of Spider-Man web-swinging through the NYC skyscrapers to the breathless scenery-chewing J. K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson, this movie is a lot of fun. And it has a note-perfect ending.

2. X-Men 2 — Speaking of note-perfect endings, the last shot of this film had me ready, no DESPERATE, to watch X3 right then and there. (Too bad X3 wound up being such a disappointment, but that’s a subject for another time.) The whole rest of this movie leading UP to that phenomenal last shot is pretty dang good as well. Bryan Singer took everything that worked in the 1st X-Men film and stepped everything up several notches in this one. The action is terrific — the sequence in which Stryker’s soldiers lay siege to the X-Mansion with only Wolverine there to defend the students is a powerhouse of a sequence and everything I want to see in a super-hero movie. But it is the story behind the action that sets this film apart from other whizz-bang special effects films. There is Jean Grey’s struggle with her growing powers that threaten to overwhelm her, and her growing fear that she’ll be unable to do so. There is Wolverine’s attempt to discover his past and, more importantly, to figure out what bearing his past has to the person he wants to be. But most compelling is the way the young characters (Rogue, Iceman, Pyro) are pulled between the peaceful message of Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart) and the more violent leanings of Magneto (Ian McKellan). Aaron Stanford plays Pyro, and the way his character is slowly tempted towards the “dark side” is a far more gripping tale than George Lucas’ three-movie similar story about a young Anakin Skywalker. (BTW, I will always refer to this movie as X-Men 2 or X2, but never by the stupid title of X-Men United that the Fox Marketing department for some reason affixed to this film in the weeks before its release. I’m just saying.)

1. Batman: Mask of the Phantasm — In 1992 DC comics launched a half-hour cartoon show called Batman: The Animated Series. It was brilliant. Gorgeous animation and character design married to rich, deep stories that took Batman VERY seriously created a show that grabbed viewers’ attentions and, to me at least, remains the definitive version of Batman. In 1993, a theatrical film based on the show was released to theatres: Mask of the Phantasm. Interwoven stories and flashbacks tell the tale of Batman’s confrontation with a more violent vigilante, The Phantasm, as well as the story of how, years earlier, a young Bruce Wayne abandoned his chances for love and happiness to honor the vow he made to his murdered parents to rid Gotham City of crime. Batman Begins covers similar ground (both films were imspired by the comic mini-series Batman: Year One by Frank Miller and David Mazzuchelli), and while I absolutely adore Batman Begins, to me Mask of the Phantasm is the superior telling of this story. It is astonishingly grim and psychologically probing (the scene in which a young Bruce Wayne, who has begun to realize that his becoming the Batman will dominate and destroy his life, begs his dead parents to release him from his vow, is a chilling moment and one of my favorite scenes in any movie ever). The narrative is sophisticatedly told — the film features intertwining flashbacks within flashbacks long before such storytelling devices were popularized by Lost or films like The Prestige. The animation is gorgeous. The ending is perfectly down-beat yet satisfying. (You can see my focus on the importance of a good film’s ending well.) Mark Hammil is astonishing as the voice of the Joker (who enters the story during the second half of the film). Hammil’s Joker is by far the best film version of this charcter so far — lunatic and dangerous (although I do have high hopes for Heath Ledger in the upcoming The Dark Knight). And speaking of definitive versions of a character, Kevin Conroy IS Batman. I cannot conceive that his performance can ever be topped. He IS Batman. End of story. If you haven not seen this film, go rent it. It rocks.