Mike Mignola wasn’t that keen on comics as a kid. However, he liked to draw, monsters, specifically. Later on he inked some comics at Marvel, drew for Batman and created the series that he would be most well known for. Hellboy was introduced to me by a friend who was mad over this lumpy red monster, and it is simply wonderful due to Mignola’s distinctive style, lush illustration and the fact that there is such cohesion in the entire series.
Let’s talk about his style. Mignola’s work is characterised by his block-like techniques of shading, particularly generous use of black, geometric lines and patterns made by stippling (see Mr Incredible) His use of colours are predominantly dull yet somehow vibrant due to colour blocking. When you see a Mignola, you know that it is definitely a Mignola. His comic book heroes aren’t with rippling muscles, but are somewhat lean and definitely mean. The elements in his illustration also lend a lot to his personal style. As quoted, “All I want to do is draw monsters.” And indeed, his monstrous creations are thought provoking and emotionally stimulating.
His illustrations are gritty, often utilising textures that add to the overall atmosphere. He makes good use of background and setting to convey a character’s inner emotions and character, such as the picture of Ra’s Al Ghul on the right. His facial emotion is blank, yet with a stone god peering at him, he seems a lot more brooding and dark.
“In 1993, he was due to attend a comic convention, and the organisers asked him for a drawing to feature in the convention book. “So rather than draw Batman or Wolverine or whatever the hell I was doing at the time, I just drew a monster,” he says. “There was a space on his belt, and I wrote ‘Hellboy’. I just thought it was funny and didn’t think any more about it.”
At least, not until a few years later, when he started to play with the idea of creating his own character and stories – a trend which had recently surfaced in the industry. “I knew my first impulse would have been to create a regular, normal, human guy who’s an occult detective; but I also knew I’d get bored drawing a regular person all the time.
“So I went back to that first monster drawing and thought, instead of a regular person, what if I do a guy that looks like the devil, as an occult detective? I spent a lot of time designing him so he’d be fun to draw, and the name Hellboy was literally the only one that I ever came up with.”
And thus, Hellboy was born. The very first thing that stuck me was the name, a very befitting title to an amazing character, odd in looks but every bit as humane as the others. Hellboy is righteous yet treading the line between doing good with good methods and the bad methods. I certainly recommend finding the graphic novels at libraries, very worth a read. The plots are imaginative and never cease to awe me.
