This week’s Comic-Con International celebrates 25 years of Hellboy by placing Mike Mignola’s most famous creation on the cover of their annual events guide — while publisher Dark Horse Comics has taken the occasion to announce three new Hellboy-related titles.
“From the beginning I knew Hellboy was going to be a book about monsters fighting monsters,” Mignola said in a press release. “I started off with a 4-page teaser about a shabby dog at a gas station turning into the Egypian god Anubis, and since I got away with that I just kept going—the Baba Yaga, the Penanggalan, demonic Mexican wrestlers, Irish goblins, flying Japanese heads—there’s a whole world of monsters out there, so still plenty of work for Hellboy to do.”
Here’s the cover Mignola and colorist Dave Stewart created for the official San Diego Comic-Con International Events Guide:
Interestingly, while the character debuted in his first miniseries in the fall of 1993 — Hellboy: Seed of Destruction — the character’s actual first appearance is in San Diego Comic Con Comics #2, which Dark Horse published earlier that year. You can find it on eBay if you’re willing to pay a pretty penny. The story will appear in the CCI souvenir book at this year’s con.
As for the new titles, here are the details:
Crimson Lotus five-issue mini series
Mike Mignola (W), John Arcudi (W), Mindy Lee (A), Michelle Madsen (C), Tonci Zonjic (Cover)
Issue 1 on sale date: 11/21/2018
Before she became Lobster Johnson’s biggest foe, the Crimson Lotus was a young girl whose family was caught up in the Russo-Japanese war. Thirty years later, the Lotus exacts her revenge with terrifying international ramifications, and two spies must try to chase her through China before they become flies in her web.
Hellboy and the B.P.R.D.: 1956 five-issue mini series
Mike Mignola (W), Chris Roberson (W), Yishan Li (A), Mike Norton (A), Michael Avon Oeming (A), Dave Stewart (C), Dave Johnson (Cover)
Issue 1 on sale date: 11/28/2018
Pressure is mounting within the bureau to uncover the Soviets’ secret plans, but a suspicious cover-up leads one agent off the radar in search of answers. Meanwhile, demonic Soviet occult leader Varvara pushes her team to follow her own whims, and Hellboy is sent on the mission that would lead to his infamous misadventures in Mexico. But even more clandestine plots are at work—both inside the B.P.R.D. and out. Three different storylines are interwoven in this espionage saga.
Hellboy Winter Special 2018
Mike Mignola (W/Cover), Fábio Moon (W/A/variant cover), Gabriel Bá (W/A/Variant cover), Tonci Zonjic (W/A/C), Ben Stenbeck (A), Dave Stewart (C)
On sale date: 12/12/2018
Three wintery tales featuring a Mike Mignola and Ben Stenbeck team-up about a New Year’s Eve séance gone wrong when Hellboy visits a family’s English home, Fábio Moon and Gabriel Bá revisit B.P.R.D.: Vampire with a new tie-in story, and Tonci Zonjic returns to write and draw Lobster Johnson.