Empire | The 50 Greatest Comic Book Characters

The 50 Greatest Comic Book Characters, #35, Hellboy

AKA: ANUNG UN RAMA

There are few characters more original or striking (literally � Hellboy punches first, asks questions� well, almost never) than Hellboy, the genius creation of Mike Mignola, who uses the character as the outlet for his obsession with pulp comics, Lovecraftian horror and tales of ancient folklore and the supernatural. Enhanced greatly by Mignola�s artwork � pitch-black shadows and popping reds � Hellboy is a lumbering but lovable giant of few words (although, �aw, crap� is usually high on the list) who interacts with talking corpses and giant tentacled horrors while trying to deny the destiny he was created for. For the movies, Guillermo del Toro gave Hellboy more inner turmoil and emotions, but the comics version is a blast as he investigates the paranormal in much the same way Gene Hunt investigates crime -fists first!

FIRST APPEARED IN SAN DIEGO COMIC-CON COMICS #2 (1993)
CREATED BY MIKE MIGNOLA

Red skin, horn stubs, yellow eyes, prehensile tail, massive right hand made out of unbreakable stone and a penchant for cigars.

Two words: Ron Perlman. There�s rarely been quite as immaculate a marriage of actor to character, with Perlman perfectly capturing Hellboy�s contrary air of world-weary cynicism, and boundless, childlike optimism, while giving him a truly human edge. No wonder Guillermo del Toro refused to make it with anyone else.

His first appearance in his own comic, The Right Hand Of Doom, was actually written by industry legend, John Byrne, with Mignola restricting himself to story and art duties until he felt capable of writing his own dialogue.

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