Some new exciting stories are coming from Dark Horse Comics in 2021, including four volumes of the essential Hellboy Universe! Each of the featured stories written by various writers is going to be picked by creator Mike Mignola. The first volume will be released in July 2021.
This fascinating hero came onto the scene in 1993 and has been a hit ever since. Hellboy is a cambion, a half-demon, who files off his horns. Even though he goes by Hellboy, his actual name is Anung Un Rama, and he has been on earth from hell since he was a baby being raised by Professor Bruttenholm. The big red character has been adapted to three feature films, two animated films, three video games, and more.
The stories chronicling the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense (B.P.R.D.) will have new covers from Mignola and Dave Stewart, an award-winning colorist. The four volumes titles will be Hellboy Universe Essentials: Hellboy (July 2021), Hellboy Universe Essentials: B.P.R.D. (November 2021), Hellboy Universe Essentials: Lobster Johnson (March 2022), and Hellboy Universe Essentials: Witchfinder (July 2022).
In the first volume, fans can look forward to reading the Chained Coffin, The Third Wish, Pancakes, The Nature of the Beast, The Corpse, The Baba Yaga, A Christmas Underground, The Ghoul, and The Troll Witch stories.
On choosing the volumes, legendary creator Mignola said.
“In some cases—B.P.R.D. and Witchfinder—it was pretty easy to select the one “essential” book. Hellboy was more complicated, as there is so much ground to cover. In the end, we chose to go with a collection of short stories rather than a single graphic novel to give more of an overview of the character. We chose certain stories that say important things about his background, but also some that just show what he does and how he does it. A couple of stories are in there just because they are my favorites.”
Mark your calendars because the first volume of Hellboy Universe Essentials: Hellboy will be in comic shops on July 7, 2021, and bookstores on July 21, 2021. You can pre-order yours here now.