{"id":28830,"date":"2023-10-28T09:00:01","date_gmt":"2023-10-28T09:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=28830"},"modified":"2023-10-27T17:20:00","modified_gmt":"2023-10-27T17:20:00","slug":"hellboy-junior-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2023\/10\/28\/hellboy-junior-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Hellboy Junior"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nBy Mike Mignola<\/strong>, Bill Wray<\/strong>, Stephen DeStefano<\/strong>, Dave Cooper<\/strong>, Hilary Barta<\/strong>, Pat McEown<\/strong>, Glenn Barr<\/strong>, Kevin Nowlan<\/strong>, Dave Stewart<\/strong>, John Costanza<\/strong> & various (Dark Horse)
\nISBN: 978-1-56971-988-6 (TPB)<\/p>\n

Although probably best known for revitalising the sub-genre of horror-heroes via his superb Hellboy<\/strong> and B.P.R.D<\/strong>. tales, creator Mike Mignola (Batman<\/strong>, The Witcher<\/strong>, Rocket Raccoon<\/strong>) conceals a dark and largely unsuspected secret: he has a very dry, outlandish and wicked sense of humour\u2026<\/p>\n

Since 1997, whenever nobody was looking, he and co-conspirator Bill Wray (Big Blown Baby<\/strong>, Ren and Stimpy<\/strong>) have concocted outrageous, uproarious and vulgarly hilarious spoof tales which might – but probably weren\u2019t – untold yarns of the scarlet scallywag\u2019s formative days in hell before being drawn to earth and reared as a champion of humanity against the Things of the Outer Darkness\u2026<\/p>\n

Moreover, they convinced the gullible fools at Dark Horse Comics to publish them, first in the Hellboy Junior Halloween Special<\/strong> and again in an eponymous 2-issue miniseries in 1999 which also included many scurrilous and hilarious spoofs, pastiches and pokes at a host of family-friendly favourites from parental favourite Harvey Comics: beloved icons such as Casper the Friendly Ghost<\/strong>, Wendy the Good Little Witch<\/strong>, Stumbo the Giant<\/strong>, Baby<\/strong> Huey<\/strong> and Hot Stuff, the Little Devil<\/strong>\u2026<\/p>\n

With most of the material scripted by Wray, this appallingly rude, crude, compelling compilation bolts all the material together and even springs for an all-new feature, beginning with Bill & Mike\u2019s painfully cruel \u2018The Creation of Hellboy Jr.: a Short Origin Story\u2019<\/em>, before tucking into \u2018Maggots, Maggots, Everywhere!\u2019<\/em> An all-Wray buffet of gastric ghastliness, here the stone-fisted imp, fed up with his meagre ration of icky bug-babies, goes looking for something better to eat. Perhaps, however, he shouldn\u2019t have taken restaurant advice from that sneaky Adolf Hitler<\/em>, whose rancid soul Junior should have been feindishly tormenting anyway\u2026<\/p>\n

After that monster-infested odyssey, Mignola illustrates a mordant, wry adaptation of a German folk tale in \u2018The Devil Don\u2019t Smoke\u2019<\/em> before Stephen DeStefano (Ren and Stimpy<\/strong>) outrageously illuminates agonisingly hilarious \u2018Huge Retarded Duck\u2019<\/em> and Hilary Barta (Starslayer<\/strong>, American Flagg!<\/strong>, Plastic Man<\/strong>) lends his stylish faux-Wally Wood pastichery to \u2018The Ginger Beef Boy\u2019<\/em>, wherein a frustrated crossdresser (sorry folks: it\u2019s an old book and no other term will do here!) creates the son he always yearned for from the ingredients of a Chinese meal\u2026<\/p>\n

Following a stunning Kevin Nowlan (Doctor Strange<\/strong>, Plastic Man<\/strong>) pin-up (by him not of him – that would be silly), Dave Cooper (Futurama<\/strong>) draws \u2018Hellboy Jr.\u2019s Magical Mushroom Trip\u2019<\/em>, wherein our ever-starving imp and his pet ant disastrously attempt to grow their own edible fungus. They end up in deep shiitake when their psychotropic crop brings them into conflict with the big boss. Fans of evil dictators might appreciate and welcome a guest appearance by Idi Amin<\/em>\u2026<\/p>\n

Implausibly based on a true story, Wray & Mignolas\u2019s \u2018Squid of Man\u2019<\/em> details the Grim Reaper\u2019s wager with a mad scientist endeavouring to birth a new Atlantean race from the freshly dead remnants of cephalopods, arthropods, crustaceans, fine twine and lightning, whilst \u2018The Wolvertons\u2019<\/em> details the life and loves of an Alaskan lumberjack, his multi-tentacular alien wife and their extraordinarily hybrid kids Brad<\/em> and Tiffany<\/em>. Wray & Pat McEown (Grendel<\/strong>) spared no effort in their passionate tribute to Basil Wolverton, cartoon king of the Grotesque, so read this one before eating.<\/p>\n

Back in Hell, Jr. regretfully experiences \u2018The House of Candy Pain\u2019 –<\/em> by Wray, Barta, John Costanza & Dave Stewart (Daytripper<\/strong>, Michael Chabon Presents The Amazing Adventures of the Escapist<\/strong>) – when he and fellow imp Donnie<\/em> flee to Storyland and the Forbidden Forest of Festible Dwellings. They should have stuck with the shack made from steaks or Tofu Terrace, but no, they have to enter the Gingerbread House\u2026<\/p>\n

Following a Barta bonus pin-up, Wray does it all for the tragic tale of \u2018Sparky Bear\u2019<\/em>: a cub torn from his natural environment and raised by humans as a fire-prevention posterbeast and safety spokesperson, whilst Cooper-limned parable \u2018Somnambo the Sleeping Giant\u2019 <\/em>proves that even if your village is overrun with demons, sometimes the cure is worse than the affliction\u2026.<\/p>\n

That idea is echoed in \u2018Wheezy, the Sick Little Witch\u2019<\/em> (DeStefano): a poorly tyke whose cute li\u2019l animal friends can neither cure nor survive contact with.<\/p>\n

After surviving a nasty fast-food experience in \u2018Hitler\u2019<\/em> and a mock ad for your very own Spear of Destiny, the all-new \u2018Hellboy Jr. vs Hitler\u2019<\/em> (Wray & Stewart) depicts how the little devil can\u2019t even escort the Fallen Fuhrer to the depths of Lower Hell without screwing up and giving the mono-testicular reprobate another chance to resurrect his Reich\u2026<\/p>\n

After a painted Wray Halloween scene and saucy Hell\u2019s hot-tub pin-up from Glenn Barr (Seekers into the Mystery<\/strong>, Brooklyn Dreams<\/strong>), the mirthful madness concludes with Mignola & Stewart\u2019s \u2018Hellboy Jr. Gets a Car\u2019<\/em> wherein the Hadean Half-pint takes an illicit test drive in a roadster meant for a Duke of Hell. It does not end well\u2026<\/p>\n

This Chymeric chronicle also includes a \u2018Hellboy Junior Sketchbook\u2019<\/em> with working drawings, colour roughs and layouts by Wray, McEown & DeStefano, topping off a wildly exuberant burst of tongue-in-cheek, sardonic and surreal adult fun: a jovially jocund, gut-bustingly gross gas for every lover of off-the-wall, near-the-knuckle fun.
\nHellboy Jr. \u2122 & \u00a9 Mike Mignola. All individual strips, art & stories \u00a9 1997, 1999, 2003 their individual creator or holder. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Mike Mignola, Bill Wray, Stephen DeStefano, Dave Cooper, Hilary Barta, Pat McEown, Glenn Barr, Kevin Nowlan, Dave Stewart, John Costanza & various (Dark Horse) ISBN: 978-1-56971-988-6 (TPB) Although probably best known for revitalising the sub-genre of horror-heroes via his superb Hellboy and B.P.R.D. tales, creator Mike Mignola (Batman, The Witcher, Rocket Raccoon) conceals a … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Hellboy Junior”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[113,163,66,105],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28830","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-comedy","category-hellboy","category-horror-stories","category-mature-reading"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4AFj-7v0","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28830","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28830"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28830\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28833,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28830\/revisions\/28833"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28830"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28830"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28830"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}