Cinematic Point Of View

Ever since watching Hellboy: The Crooked Man last month, I’ve been deeply interested in Mike Mignola’s Hellboy comics. Something about that movie really sparked my interest. I’ve been accumulating a few issues and started going through the first Omnibus.

I also picked up this beautiful, five-issue series, Hellboy in Love.

Hellboy in Love, written by Mike Mignola and Christopher Golden, with art by Matt Smith and colors by Chris O’Halloran, is a story that takes place in the 1970s and, as the name would suggest, explores the romantic side of Hellboy.

The story has Hellboy crossing paths with a woman named Anastasia Bransfield, a beautiful and brilliant archaeologist who is drawn to the darker, twisted side of life. He meets her while working an artifact heist and sparks fly.

As I haven’t read a ton of Hellboy yet, I get the impression that this story falls right in line with the usual Hellboy storylines, except for the addition of a human love interest.

Like the Hellboy portrayed in The Crooked Man, this book helped me connect with “Big Red” in a way I hadn’t in the past. I guess it was the romance aspect. I love the lore of each tale and the fighting but this super subtle bit of romance really helped to ground and humanize the series for me. It works.

The story itself is fast and fun. There is plenty of the usual dry humor, monsters, gothic horror, and weirdness. Matt Smith’s artwork is beautiful, and maybe a bit motr playful than normal, but I think it works for this particular story. Chris O’Halloran colors are vibrant and bring each panel to life. I breezed right through this book!

In the back, there are some beautiful sketches and character studies as well. These are alone are worth the prices of admission.

I highly recommend Hellboy in Love if you’re a Hellboy fan looking for something a bit softer and out of the ordinary. I guess most every Hellboy story is out of the ordinary, but you catch my drift.

Have you read it? What’s your take? Can you recommend any others in the Hellboy universe that have a similar vibe?

I’d love to hear your point of view.