Superhero Comics have come a long way from being campy and silly to being dark, gritty, and serious. While I do love the comics that are more silly and expressive, I can’t deny that there is a place in the comic industry for stories that are catered to be more violent and horrific for those comic readers looking for a huge refresher. This seems to be the case with the underground favorite known as Hellboy. Originally published in 1994 and created by Mike Mignola, this first omnibus collection of stories is much darker and more complex than your average comic from Marvel and DC in the early days. While being serious in its style and dialogue may derive these stories from being super memorable, there were still plenty of upsides that made reading these stories fun and engaging.
Hellboy is a half-demon, half-human born out of an old church by Nazi Occultists. fast forward to adulthood and Hellboy finds himself working for the B.P.R.D, a governmental agency that makes it their job to track down paranormal and religious threats that are all bent on ruling the world. With a few allies by his side, Hellboy goes through many trials and tribulations to stop the threats while also learning more about his past and his overall purpose in life.
These are stories that are violent and dark but do not ignore to have fun with their concepts along the way by having some funny one-liners and creative horror-like elements. The only thing that may be a bit of a throw-off is how complicated the storylines go. It's not a bad thing to make things complex but it would have been better if the stories had more of a balance so it could be easier to take in the situations a lot better ergo making them a little more memorable. Even with that said though, I give credit where credit is due as the tone and feel hit a bullseye by establishing that these narratives are anything but family-friendly as there will be plenty of violence and deep religious subtext. These different kinds of comic stories that are not gonna appeal to everyone, but they warrant your attention especially considering that they have indeed found an audience since the first issue back in 1994
The Characters are not entirely that memorable except for Hellboy. I just found that most of them kinda fall into bland strong and gritty stereotypes and I felt like I didn’t get to know them all that well. That is except for the main character himself. Hellboy is a fun and likable protagonist who while more down to earth and gritty still finds it in himself to spew out funny one-liners and even show some sentiment when the time is right. The only other characters I would even remotely say were kinda memorable and interesting were the villains that Hellboy fought as they were creative in concept and some of them turn into powerful beings and become major obstacles for our heroes which makes everything all the more engaging. While the side characters could have used some work, Hellboy himself is a great character and his time on paper carried everything and made the complex storylines much more fun to read.
The Illustrations are pretty top-notch seeing as that most of them are coming from Mike Mignola who has previously worked at both Marvel and DC inking the visuals for their respective stories. The first thing you will most likely notice while reading is how a lot of the imagery uses a lot of contrasting blacks to further emphasize how scary and uncertain the world of Hellboy is. It all contrasts with Hellboy's design as his red skin pops out of the pages for a very recognizable way of showing off his character design. The other character designs mostly side to realism with a mixture of blank eyes with little pupils that convey the horror aesthetic. The backgrounds are well designed and give off an interesting mood that is heavily inspired by religious and horrific storytelling all molded into one. The violence is pretty out there and the imagery does go pretty dark when it deems itself necessary. The imagery tries its best to go all out with its style and the result is something unique and overall cool.
Even though I enjoyed reading these ambitious and well-put-together stories from the first omnibus of Hellboy, I wouldn’t say that these are the best comic book stories I have ever read in my entire life. I did feel like the side characters were kinda underwhelming as they didn’t have as much personality and flair as Hellboy does and the stories in general were rather too complex for me to appreciate fully. However, it is thanks to Hellboy’s well-written character, The gritty but beautiful illustrations, and the overall ambition in its premise that made these stories feel satisfying to read. Who knows, maybe I’ll check out the next stories that await Hellboy in the future. I may not be the biggest fan, but I enjoyed Hellboy good enough for what it was even if it may not quite be right up my alley.
(Final Grade: B-)