By Mike Mignola, Thomas Sniegoski, Craig Rousseau, Dave Stewart & Clem Robins (Dark Horse Books)
ISBN: 978-1506723983 (HB) eISBN: 978-1-50672-399-0
Towards the end of World War II an uncanny otherworldly baby was confiscated from Nazi cultists by American superhero The Torch of Liberty and a squad of US Rangers, moments after his eldritch nativity on Earth. The good guys had interrupted a satanic ritual predicted by parapsychologist Professor Trevor Bruttenholm and his associates, who were waiting for Hell to literally come to Earth…
The heroic assemblage was stationed at a ruined church in East Bromwich, England when the abominable infant with a huge stone right hand materialised in an infernal fireball. “Hellboy†was subsequently raised by Bruttenholm, and grew into a mighty warrior engaged in fighting a never-ending secret war against the uncanny and supernatural. The Prof assiduously schooled and trained his happy-go-lucky foundling whilst forming and consolidating an organisation to destroy arcane and occult threats – the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense.
After years of such devoted intervention, education and warm human interaction, in 1952 the neophyte hero began hunting down agents of the malign unknown, from phantoms to monsters as lead agent for the BPRD. Hellboy rapidly became its top operative; the world’s most successful paranormal investigator. As decades passed, Hellboy gleaned snatches of his origins and antecedents, learning he was a supposedly corrupted beast of dark portent: a demonic messiah destined to destroy the world and bring back ancient powers of evil. It is a fate he despised and utterly rejected…
It was also a far cry from those halcyon early days, where the devil child grew up in a nurturing if always weird environment and had a fair few fantastic adventures…
This cheery cheeky romp by Mignola, Tom Sniegoski and illustrated by Craig Rousseau gathers 4-part miniseries Young Hellboy: The Hidden Land and delivers a rollicking round of old-world fantasy fun.
In 1947 the hero-struck, comic-consuming little imp is accompanying extremely patient father figure Bruttenholm on an archaeological dig when their plane is brought down by a fellow passenger. This religious fanatic thinks he’s saving humanity from the infernal, but his actions land the survivors on a desolate atoll stuffed with ape people, giant monsters and worse. It’s also on the other side of a dimensional barrier… and for a very good reason…
Separated from the Prof by humongous crabs, dinosaurs, a colossal ape and that really persistent Christian, the little demon almost dies when he’s suddenly saved by a dream…
It’s actually a jungle girl who turns out to be long-missing aviatrix Scarlet Santiago, the “Sky Devil†who’s in all his favourite reading matter…
Although she keeps a big secret from the boy, she introduces him to the monkey folk who rescued her long ago, even as that pesky fanatic answers another clarion call, and awakens the reason the island has been hived off from reality for eons. All too soon an antediluvian vampire queen is marauding again, orchestrating the revival of her empire of blood and working out the fine detail involved in getting back to the earth that so long go banished her…
Can the assorted good guys, jungle girls, great apes and simian shamans stop her before everyone gets it in the neck?
Read on…
Epic and outrageous in the best Willis O’Brien and Ray Harryhausen manner, this manic masterpiece is augmented by a copious ‘Young Hellboy: The Hidden Land Sketchbook’ – annotated by Katii O’Brien – which closes this treasure hoard of hairsbreadth escapes by revealing story-layouts, doodles, roughs, designs and pencilled pages, all accompanied by creator comments and garnished with a full cover and variants gallery by Mignola, Dave Stewart, Rachele Aragno, Wylie Beckert and Anthony Carpenter.
This is another perfect example of comics storytelling at its very best: offering astounding supernatural spectacle, amazing arcane action, momentous mystical suspense and simply huge hairy handfuls of honest fun – something every fear fan and adventure aficionado will enjoy.
Young Hellboy™ and © 2021 Mike Mignola. Hellboy™ and all other prominent featured characters are trademarks of Mike Mignola. All rights reserved.