Mignola on Hellboy in Love: “I loved the idea of Hellboy just trying to have a relationship.”

Comics
Written By Chris Well

The Hellboy creator talks about the origins of the love story and how it expands on classic Hellboy stories.

“Relationships are a big deal—and a relationship between a regular human and a big red demon guy… There is a lot of ground to cover there. A lot.”

The horror comic book mini-series Hellboy in Love is an occult adventure and unlikely romance where Hellboy is assigned to protect a shipment of occult artifacts from a gang of thieving goblins. But the artifacts are being transported by train to the British Museum by archaeologist Anastasia Bransfield, and she’s not going to let them go without a fight!

Rather than stay behind, she teams up with Hellboy to chase the light-fingered fey through the British countryside and into—a local punk show?

Hellboy in Love is a new Hellboy story from legendary Hellboy creator Mike Mignola, bestselling novelist Christopher Golden, award-winning artist Matt Smith, colorist Chris O’Halloran, and letterer Clem Robins.

“It’s been twenty-five years since Dr. Anastasia Bransfield first appeared as Hellboy’s ex-girlfriend in my novel Hellboy: The Lost Army,” says Golden. “I’ve always thought one of the reasons Mike considered my three Hellboy novels as canon is because of that relationship. Over the years we talked many times about telling the stories of their adventures together, and the day has finally come. It’s Romancing the Stone-style action, occult weirdness, and first love, with gorgeous Matt Smith art! We’re having so much fun!”

‘‘It starts with a goblin train robbery in the English countryside. There’s also a punk show. These were the first words Christopher Golden told me about the story he and Mike put together, and that’s really all I needed to hear,” said Matt Smith. “How could I not be stoked to draw this thing? I’m very grateful to be back with the same creative team as Hellboy: The Bones of Giants.”

Below, we’ve got more info about the story from Mignola.

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About the book Hellboy in Love

Collecting issues #1-5 of the comic book mini-series, Hellboy in Love becomes a trade paperback collection in November. Hellboy and Anastasia Bransfield take on goblins, ghost, and spirits in the acclaimed mini-series by Hellboy creator Mike Mignola and cowriter Christopher Golden. Joining the writing duo on this story of occult adventure and unlikely romance are Matt Smith on art, coloring by Chris O’Halloran, and lettering by Clem Robins.

Find Hellboy in Love on Amazon

About Mike Mignola

Mike Mignola is a comic book artist and writer best known for creating Hellboy for Dark Horse comics, part of a shared universe of characters with their own comic book series, including spinoffs like B.P.R.D., Abe Sapien, Lobster Johnson, and Witchfinder. He has also created other supernatural and paranormal themed titles for Dark Horse including Baltimore, Joe Golem: Occult Detective, and The Amazing Screw-On Head. Over his career, his artwork at Marvel Comics and DC Comics also has included Incredible Hulk, Alpha Flight, Rocket Raccoon, Phantom Stranger, and the Batman vs. Jack the Ripper special Gotham by Gaslight.

About Hellboy

Born in the flames of hell and brought to Earth as an infant to perpetrate evil, Hellboy was rescued from Nazi occultists by the benevolent Dr. Broom. Raised to be the “World’s Greatest Paranormal Investigator,” Hellboy is part of the Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense.

Hellboy is a big, sarcastic, red demon with a blue collar job that involves investigating monsters from folklore, legends, mythology, horror fiction, literature, and everywhere else.

“I just do my job,” he said in Box Full of Evil (included in Hellboy Omnibus #2), “which usually involves me beating the crap out of things a lot like me.”

Created by writer and artist Mike Mignola, Hellboy made his debut in San Diego Comic-Con Comics #2 (August 1993), and has since appeared in various comic book miniseries, one-shots and intercompany crossovers. The character has been adapted into three live-action feature films, two animated films, three video games, and lots of novels and short story collections.

Interview: Mike Mignola On Exploring Hellboy’s Forgotten Romance

Hellboy in Love, a period piece set in punk rock-era London, expands on a forgotten romance from Hellboy’s early years. Hellboy in Love is a prequel to cowriter Christopher Golden’s 1997 novel Hellboy: The Lost Army.

That book introduces the character Dr. Anastasia Bransfield, an archaeologist who also happens to be Hellboy’s ex-girlfriend.

Hellboy in Love jumps back a decade before the events of the novel to reveal how the two met and explore that whirlwind romance at its very beginning.

“Ever since The Lost Army we knew that we would do some kind of series covering the year or so they spent together,” Mignola told IGN. “It was really just a matter of waiting for the right time and, most importantly, the right artist. And once Matt Smith came on board to draw some Hellboy stuff, we KNEW he was the right artist.”

Mignola talked to Screen Rant about the origins of the story. “Chris created the Anastasia character in the first Hellboy story he wrote, and we came up with the idea that HB had traveled around with her, his first real girlfriend, for a year or so. So for years now I’ve known there was this chunk of time we would deal with eventually. It was just a matter of Chris and I finding the right time to do it and figuring out the perfect artist for the job. And Matt Smith IS the perfect artist for this. Sometimes you just have to wait.

“I loved the idea of Hellboy having a girlfriend and leaving the Bureau and just trying to have a relationship. Relationships are a big deal—and a relationship between a regular human and a big red demon guy… There is a lot of ground to cover there. A lot.”

Hellboy Universe Reading Order | BPRD Reading Order | Near Mint Condition

Chris Well

Chris Well been a writer pretty much his entire life. (Well, since his childhood.) Over the years, he has worked in newspapers, magazines, radio, and books. He now is the chief of the website Monster Complex, celebrating monster stories in lit and pop culture. He also writes horror comedy fiction that embraces Universal Monsters, 1960s sitcoms, 1980s action movies, and the X-Files.

https://chriswell.substack.com/
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