Hellboy’s universe is populated by all sorts of strange, magical characters drawn from myths and legends around the world — but also, on a couple occasions, from out of this world. Fans of the characters over the years may have noticed — and wondered about — a group of aliens seen in Hellboy: Seed of Destruction and Hellboy: The Conqueror Worm, and come next year, they’ll get some answers.
Due out next February is The Visitor: How and Why He Stayed, a five-issue series by Mike Mignola and Chris Roberson, featuring art by Paul Grist. (Grist! Seeing his promo art in the trailer, available below, makes you wonder why he’s never worked in the Mignolaverse before. He’s a natural for it. Also, I sure miss Mudman and Jack Staff). The book will feature these mysterious aliens and will “probe into a pivotal moment in Hellboy’s past for a surprising tale that harkens back to the character’s first ever appearance.”
Here are the aliens in question, from Seed of Destruction:
“In Hellboy: Seed of Destruction, readers were given a brief glimpse of a crew of strange looking aliens monitoring the supernatural doings on Earth from way out in space. We later learned that one of those aliens had been sent to Earth to kill him in 1944, but chose to spare him at the last moment,” Roberson said in the press release. “In The Visitor, we explore who those aliens are, why that assassin was sent to kill Hellboy and just what he was doing in all of the years in between.”
The series will be teased in a story in the forthcoming Hellboy: Winter Special 2017 on Jan. 25 before the first issue debuts Feb. 22.
“I remember when I first read Hellboy: The Conqueror Worm,” said Grist. “Halfway through Mike Mignola throws in this character who has been tracking Hellboy ever since he arrived on Earth, who then promptly dies and is dismissed by Hellboy in a single sentence. And I thought NO! You can’t do that! There has to be more to this guy’s life than that! And it turns out there was. And I’d like to thank Mike for asking me to help tell that story now.”
Check out some promotional art and the trailer below:
