How do I love Hellboy? Let me count the ways.
1. Liz Sherman, Uncontrollable Power. When Mike Mignola’s myth burst its way onto Vs. System cardboard with the Hellboy Essential Collection, the hottest firestarter in comics was given a major ugrade in image. She was rather muted and moody in the books. Our game got her to shed her clothes, and that painting by Dave Johnson is one of the most gorgeous things that I have ever been a part of.
2. Vs. System allows legends of all flavors to be blended together. In anticipation of tonight’s premiere of Hellboy II: The Golden Army, I was actually able to team-up Squirrel Girl and her hungry horde with Liz Sherman and Hecate. What would have been reserved for mere fantasy became a reality… right in our own home on the kitchen table.
3. Hecate was a major star of the new animated feature called Hellboy: Blood and Iron. It is one of the greatest cartoon films I have ever seen, and we had a special connection to it thanks to the cardboard incarnations that we had been turning sideways all day.
4. Guillermo Del Toro is the man. I am especially excited about the brilliant design of the big orchid-headed Angel of Death. It reminds me so much of the Heedless One, from Magic the Gathering. That painting is the closest thing to a fully accurate portrait of my wife that I have ever seen. It is by Mark Zug, and I will leave you with its incomparable beauty now. I have a premiere to attend. The new Hellboy opens tonight, and it is the Hottest Myth on Earth.
5 Comments
July 12, 2008 at 4:09 pm
Okay, so I heard the movie is great and then I heard the movie was a disappointment. That’s two. Break the tie, man. Let us know how it was.
July 13, 2008 at 12:15 am
It was a disappointment.
The first Hellboy is my fave comic book movie ever, this one dumbed things down for public consumption and removed all the occult mythological depth.
Can’t win ‘em all!
July 13, 2008 at 6:02 pm
Good: II
Bad: III
Ouch.
Haha, yeah. That sucks. But The Dark Knight should make up for it! I’m going to hyperventilate on the 18th.
July 28, 2008 at 4:34 am
Your fans demand an update!
January 8, 2009 at 5:15 pm
Update: The movie is better than I thought on DVD, but you need to turn the brightness all the way up to see all the details.