What's your favourite Hellboy page

[gary bolt]

Morna and I recently had a fun discussion centered on the subject of favourite pages in the HB comics. At the time it was "If you could get any original Mike Mignola page from the comics, which one would you choose". Since then I've been thinking about it and looking through all the TPBs and comics we have and the colours are so much a part of my favourites so I guess I'm not really fantasizing about owning a black and white original but just trying to pick a favourite page. It's a tough challenge (for me anyway) because there are so many things I love and appreciate about Mike's drawings. I love the scenes and backdrops, especially when architectural details, statues and artwork are present. I love the humour and dialogue. I love the use of shadow, the references to the natural world, the over-all layout and pacing of many of the pages and the sometimes stark and minimal essentials-only feeling. No page has all the things I like about the drawings and that is why it's a hard choice.

Today my favourite page is from The Third Wish #1. Hellboy has just been swept into the sea by a huge wave. It's a beauty. I find the page layouts and compositions in the Third Wish to be the best. It makes me think The Island will be brilliant.

I’d be interested to hear if any one else has a favourite page.

[Hellsaint]

I like that page where HB makes sushi with the sea creatures. Very exhilaterating.

[Bonesthedog]

I love the page in "Box full of evil" when bromhaed summons him to hs demon form and ulac reads the quote......the art and story were stunning.

That, or page one of Pancakes. :)

[morna]

Well I really can't say what my ABSOLUTE favorite is. I love so many. We didn't get a scan of one that I really love, and want to have, and would pay a really stupid amount of dough for - from Nature of the Beast... but for now ...

today is Third Wish day so without further adoo..

(yes I would pay retarded amounts of money for this one too!)

[morna]

He's a master of visual weight ... particularly appropriate in this composition. So much space and light above that awesome floating rising yearning pose the dense ponderous but lovely and streamlined form of the whale underneath. Look at those negative spaces - luscious! Love the activity in the fish - he really conveys the darting explosive movements of fish in a still frame. The colours in the Third Wish (and the Amazing Screw 0n Head) have gone up another notch... who'd 've expected such sublety and sensitivity in a "mere" comic - not I! So much to love. I could go on!

[Maija]

Hey guys, cool topic and certainly something I've mulled over myself. My brother has all of my TPBs at the moment so I'll have to get back with my answer after the long weekend.

However, just one thing: the posting of scans of inside page art makes me a little uneasy. I'm not sure this would be considered okay. Putting up images of covers, original unpublished art and original pages someone owns seems to be an acceptable bending of the rules but even publishing those online is technically a violation of copyright.

Anyway, I don't know for sure what's acceptable, just offering a caution before everyone starts posting scans of their favourite pages and collectively we end up digitally publishing large parts of stories.

[morna]

oh







that sucks...

edit: but you're probably right. stupid North American society

gotta go, I feel a rant coming on

[Tad]

I think page scans are fine. They're certainly all over the net. But Maija's right: no contiguous pages.

And the cool thing about this forum - if we step over the line, CBM will say so and jnapper will delete the post and no harm no foul.

Posting pages are great advertising for the comics as are the eComics at Dark Horse. I'll have to think long and hard about my favorites. The first that comes to mind is the gallows page from the corpse.

[Tad]

And a webpage that everyone should bookmark:

The Comic Art Community (http://comicartcommunity.com/gallery/categories.php?cat_id=80&sessionid=dc1f2b5afb3949cf880685226733fb27)

[bitplayer]

Visit that site almost daily. Love it.

:D

[Aaron King]

My favorite page is from The Corpse. I don't have a scanner, but it's the page where he's waiting at the crossroads with the gallows. The panels can be read in just about any order since it's a very... pregnant page. The creaking of the rope, the ticking of Hellboy's watch... it's awesome.

[Nick W]

Awww Ignatz, ya took mine. :D The "watch page" in the Corpse is the best.

NW

[Ken O]

I'll have to look through my trades tonight...

[Tad]

Woo! 3 votes for the "gallows-crossroads-watch" page from The Corpse. Woo!

That page manages to duplicate the horror movie moment where the camera pans past a person with no one hear them, then pans back as they turn -- and are instantly face to face with someone/something! Empty gallows then swinging body. Beyond cool graphic storytelling.

[hellboyone]

There's a last page from I'm forgetting which story at the moment where Hellboy is walking away, tiny in the last panel and saying to himself "Right hand of doom...geez." I always loved that panel and that page and it's a big regret that I didn't purchase it when I had the opportunity to do so at the SD Con one year. I recall coming back the same day after I said "damn the finances" to myself to buy the page in question. And by then, it was gone.

It may not be my favorite page, but it's up there.

I might actually own my favorite page (or close to it), a page from CW where there are a bunch of Nazis saying "Revenge". I still recall Mike saying "Good choice!" when I decided to buy it.

The gallows page is great, but I've seen it so many times that it just seems like another excellent Mignola page to me. Because, you know...they're all pretty damn good.

R.

[longmanshort]

Personally, I'd say any page from The Corpse, but particularly either the one of Jenny opening up the underwater box or of the Little People gathered together besides the carved standing stone ... these are the pages that got me hooked on Hellboy in the first place :D

[gary bolt]

Woo! 3 votes for the "gallows-crossroads-watch" page from The Corpse. Woo!

That page manages to duplicate the horror movie moment where the camera pans past a person with no one hear them, then pans back as they turn -- and are instantly face to face with someone/something! Empty gallows then swinging body. Beyond cool graphic storytelling.

That page is definitely one of the very best. So much story telling presented through pictures. It's brilliant. I only scanned a few pages at work and it was one of them.

[morna]

This is the page that put me over the edge... page six. The Corpse was the first Hellboy I ever read and I was intrigued immediately but I specifically remember stopping reading and just staring at the page and thinking holy smokes! This was the point where I fell in love.

Then I got to wallow in almost all of the comics that comprise the TPBs. Ahhh...! but soon the waiting would begin.

[JohnThompson]

My favorite page is from Conqueror Worm, after Hellboy discovers the room of radio operators, dead at their posts, with the murmur of Ogdru Jahad voices still speaking to them through their headphones. The page where he says "This is the worst place on earth."

[morna]

Yeah that's a beaut! Another one of those pacing/storytelling ones with little dialogue. And an awesome pissed off Hellboy face.

[Petersen]

I need to look at the story again, ( I may be fusing several pages) but what comes to mind is the bird page from Nature of the Beast. I love the trees in that story and the lillies, and you can't beat that bird singing

[Johann]

Oh, so many great pages..there are many amazing pages from Wake the devil, issues three, four, and five stand out most in my mind. This may be because they were the first Hellboy comics i bought. It didn't matter to me that I read those first before all others, There is just damn good art in there, that i just fell in love with.- kroenen's Lab, The stabbing of eagle-Giureshcu, the baba yaga, The discovery of Roger, The Hecate fight, The iron Maiden, The crossroads (last page ish #4), and the fight there.

more- second page of the Chained Coffin.
All of Wolves of Saint August
last page of Heads
first page of the Varcolac
Conqueror Worm second and third pages and the majority of the rest.
*Page 6 of Dr. Carp's Experimen*

-just to name a few :)

[morna]

I love Wake the Devil. Ya the exploding horse! Actually the page after the exploding horse is a definite fave. Three stacked panels all those splinters in the air - very atmospheric... long suffering Hb, clearly tired, but he's still got it ... says: interesting horses don't usually explode... love that - cracks me up every time..great colours all icy blue if memory serves. ...so many favorites

[Petersen]

Yeah...I did combine a few pages in my mind, but this would definately be a BIG fave....

Those trees, the statue, the lack of words, still knowing EXACTLY what's going on without those words...

[Mike Cross]

My fav page is the hellboy gallows crossroads from Corpse, as so many others..
favorite cover? Wolves of Saint August DHP where hellboy is bransishing the cross ready to swing..all time best cover...

Mike

[morna]

I need to look at the story again, ( I may be fusing several pages) but what comes to mind is the bird page from Nature of the Beast. I love the trees in that story and the lillies, and you can't beat that bird singing


Ya Petersen I love the nature references and particularly that Hb is in tune with it (just as he's in tune with dead guys). The birds singing and Hb walking in the forest and all of a sudden they stop and you know there's SOMETHING coming. Nice suspense building - brilliant storytelling again. Mmmm, and the blood/flowers thing there for you to put together but not spelled out totally. That whole story is a favorite.

I'm going to risk posting this page*. It's one I would really love to have. I think it's such a brilliant work of art and it would hold up on its own beautifully - on my wall! You can almost hear the hiss of dry grass as the dragon encircles Hellboy. I love the dynamic shapes, the movement, the layout, the compositions in each panel and as a whole - lovely diagonal forces in that last panel... and one of the best ever pissed off hb faces!


*please let me know if this is taboo CBM.(or?) I took out the words so maybe that helps... or maybe that's worse I just don't know
edit 2 Now that I have the tpb back I see that Petersen and I have inadvertently posted consecutive pages. oops :o

[Maija]

no contiguous pages.
Yeah, this is what triggered my alarm because you guys were posting Third Wish pages and even without my TPBs in hand, I'm pretty sure that my favourite page(s) would also be from Third Wish, and pages that come before or after the ones you had already posted! :) eg. I love the second-last page of the story and I love the page in which HB first wrestles with the mermaids and loses the shaman's charm.

However, I think my favourite page out of the entire story is one that doesn't even have Hellboy in it: the second page in on #2 where the mermaid is returning the spearhead to her father's shrine. It's just gorgeous. If I was to own one, I certainly wouldn't mind that one!

But if they were available and I had the money, I'd like to have the "KRANG" page of Mignola's and the subsequent "KRANG" page of Eric Powell's from the HB/Goon cross-over. They may not be the absolute best pages by either artist, but they're still very good and it would be two of my favourite comic book properties together, framed side by side. ;) Plus, I like the gag. It maketh me giggle.

[yukon]

The lily study page for "nature of the beast" from the art of HB. I love that page
any old page from the third wish would do too ;)
I work for a non profit that conducts research on whales, and I've gotten to go out on a research cruise with the humpback scientists, so I'd be tickled to have any sort of Mignola humpback( study? they must exist:)) would be awesome.
oh and there is that gigantic Rhino with teenie HB study in the art of HB, I love that one too ..... I didn't put any scans B/c I wasn't sure that would be kosher... I'm sure you all know the ones I mean.
but now I'm just rambling.

[Johann]

I love Wake the Devil. Ya the exploding horse! Actually the page after the exploding horse is a definite fave. Three stacked panels all those splinters in the air - very atmospheric... long suffering Hb, clearly tired, but he's still got it ... says: interesting horses don't usually explode... love that - cracks me up every time..great colours all icy blue if memory serves. ...so many favorites

That panel is brilliant, i meant to include that but i just said the fight(at the crossroads) ...so that covered it.

Nice Avatars, Morna and Gary :)

[Bonesthedog]

My favorite page is from Conqueror Worm, after Hellboy discovers the room of radio operators, dead at their posts, with the murmur of Ogdru Jahad voices still speaking to them through their headphones. The page where he says "This is the worst place on earth."

You know, that was the page i planned on posting, in almost those exact words, but my internet froze and i had to start over, and chose the one from box full of
evil, with him growing horn/crown. Conqueror worm was the first i ever read, and that one page was the one that has always stuck with me.

[Ken O]

I would want this one. Or the very next page, which I won't post. :D

[gary bolt]

Great page, T-wyrm. You can really feel Liz's emptiness and Abe's empathy for her. I especially like the bottom frame with her sunken eyes hidden in shadow and the beautiful wisps of kinky hair.

[Jan Bentzen]

....so I'd be tickled to have any sort of Mignola humpback( study? they must exist:)) would be awesome...

Well - "Once upon a time" I made a kind of "Mignola inspired" drawing of a whale ("Mignola-like" is a better word, because I don´t think I knew about him then :) ) It´s from a foto taken in Canada - of all places. I found it in the local newspaper. I can´t show it to you, because I don´t have a scanner. But someone on this board has a copy :)

- Jan

[Mikolaj]

A HB page I like the most must be the 7th page of the "troll witch". I just love the way that the doom of the trolls is shown there. And as to a single drawing that mignola did in comics I must admitt that for reasons unknown to me i just can't imagine a more wonderfull drawing then the one of the cthulhu-like crature tentacles from the Batman/Hellboy/Starman #2 pg. 16. I would kill to get it!! :evilsmile

[Ken O]

Yeah. Probably the story that really cemented Abe and Liz in my mind. I'd do just about anything for that one.

[olmanic]

i think it'd have to be from wake the devil somewhere. probably a hecate page. that or the iron madien. i've always been fond of the panel where he snaps off his horns. but i can't remember the rest of the page.

Hell.

I'm going to have to read all the books now and decide. that's a lot of pages.

I say it like it's a chore or something...

hahahaha. good thread you two.

[morna]

Well - "Once upon a time" I made a kind of "Mignola inspired" drawing of a whale ("Mignola-like" is a better word, because I don´t think I knew about him then :) ) It´s from a foto taken in Canada - of all places. I found it in the local newspaper. I can´t show it to you, because I don´t have a scanner. But someone on this board have a copy :)

- Jan
I hear ya! Taking it to work - hope to scan today

[hellboyone]

I would want this one. Or the very next page, which I won't post. :D

Another page I regret not getting the first time I saw Mike selling it...

R.

[HBMomma]

I've always loved the Corpse/gallows page, too; I read it online first, which was interesting because while they did a fine job with it, it was still Stunning when I first saw it in the comic.

Sorry, I suck at scanning, but I also love the first few pages from Conquerer Worm; with no dialogue, just the Poe poem. It just really sets the mood for the rest of the story.

My favorite, though (for right now at least ;) ), is the page where Hellboy finds out they put a bomb in Roger. The two panels where he says "Excuse me?" in particular; those just always come to my mind when I think about what I love about Hellboy. The first one is ominous, "Excuse me?" polite but you can just hear the anger...and then the totally furious, indignant "EXCUSE ME?!?"

I also really like the last page of "Box Full of Evil," the epilogue. He throws that paper to the wind, and a bird snatches it out of the air! And the last panel, with him & Kate & the dialogue on top of the bird he's "ignoring." Perfect!

And Pancakes, too, of course. :)

[morna]

Another page I regret not getting the first time I saw Mike selling it...

R.


I shudder to think how many you'd have if you HAD acquired all those ones you regret not getting! But I agree it's a beaut.

Here's another one I love and would do myself serious pecuniary damage (sorry trying out new word) to acquire - though I would be hard pressed to choose between it and the preceding page. I love the composition, the darkness, the barely visible skull, great expressive tail on HB, and that character of his - being polite, sympathetic and encourageing to dead guys - I love that. I find it poignant that panel that shows the skull in the dark now that Hb has gone away with his torch - the skeletons have reanimated but now are alone again,left to their fate. When the building goes up I felt relief for them assuming they're now free to just be dead. It also confirmed a hunch I'd developed since reading the Corpse - (Almost Colossus was the second Hb I ever read) that HB was able to communicate with dead guys.

Ya and there's piles of skulls - predictable

[gary bolt]

Yukon, here is a scan of Jan's whale drawing. It's a beauty. He very kindly sent Morna and I a copy in a mailing we received from him.

[Neil Hill]

OK, when I saw this thread I just KNEW that I had to join in the fun also! Now, I'm a huge, huge, huge Wake the Devil fan and admittedly the majority of my favorite pages come from that wonderful 4 issue series, but the one page that immediately jumped to mind for me as an instant classic is the page from Box Full of Evil #2 where Astaroth's "mount" comes burbling from the ground and Astaroth himself transforms to reveal his full form. Now you'd think the top panel is the one that I like the most, but it's not. It's the panel of Hellboy turning to walk away and you still see the gigantic plume of smoke billowing from the spot where the creature emerged and then submerged. You get the sense of Hellboy's thoughts: "Aww geez, why are they always pickin' on me? What did I ever do?", or something more like: "To hell with you (literally)!" Also, one can distinctly catch the sulphurus odor of a conjuration not of this earth just having took place. It's layered, it's fun, and the colors by Dave Stewart on that page just bring the whole package very nicely together for me.

Looking forward to more thoughts on this topic. Oh and btw, for all of you that love to hate those of us that are fortunate enough to actually own a page or two of Mignola HB Original Art, start hatin' Andrew (sometimes board lurker), as he owns that page of Liz and Abe from Almost Collosus! Darn that guy :p

[yukon]

awesome whale drawing Jan. and thanks for scanning it Sir Edward. very Mignolaesque. I love the mountains in the background ( looks like pacific ocean we just don't have mountains like that on the east coast) I was planning on doing some little watercolours to donate to the center so they could sell them to make some extra cash ( non profits are ALWAYS underfunded ). Its good to see how other people handle the same subject matter. After seeing your drawing I'm thinking BW inked drawings might be a better option as it would be a little faster to do. thanks for the inspiration :). I'll post one of my dolphing paintings in my art thread later. Sorry for hijacking the thread

[olmanic]

ok you junkies. I read the whole thing last night. everything I have.

and I have to say I am even more in doubt of my abailty to pick a favorite now. All of Wolves is so fantastic. every page is a winner. OC is amazing. All the short stories are fantstic. GAH! the pages at the end of WTD are so cool. And yes, I still love them hecate fight secens. wooh! "one, you're reallly really ugly, and two you have a giant snake body!" hahaha.

and any horn rippnig scene, ( WTD and BFoE) is steller.

ahhhhh. good freaking books. that christmas special has some great wispy pages too.

and Damn you Cortes for having one of the best collections I know of. I love going to his "museum" of a apartment and just ogoling the walls. ggggrrrrrrrrrrr.! :)

[kid cthulhu]

The first page that comes to mind is the one in "The Corpse" where HB is walking towards the gallows, then looks at his watch (tic!), then back up at the pole again, and there's the corpse. Love the pacing, the colors, everything.

And a couple of years back, I took apart two extra copies of both issues of The Third Wish and put them up along a wall in this loft space I lived in at the time. It was really cool to see Mike's work like that, especially that story with Dave's amazing color work. So, I'll have to say any page from that story would be up for nomination as well.

[Maija]

Oh, maaaaaaan! My brother had better not forget to bring my TPBs to the weekend Easter family gathering. I want to look all these pages up. :mad:

[mithveaen]

That page is definitely one of the very best. So much story telling presented through pictures. It's brilliant. I only scanned a few pages at work and it was one of them.

That is also my all time favorite Hellboy page. HB's face close-up is my Windows XP profile image in my laptop :D

[Jan Bentzen]

awesome whale drawing Jan. and thanks for scanning it Sir Edward. very Mignolaesque. I love the mountains in the background ( looks like pacific ocean we just don't have mountains like that on the east coast) I was planning on doing some little watercolours to donate to the center so they could sell them to make some extra cash ( non profits are ALWAYS underfunded ). Its good to see how other people handle the same subject matter. After seeing your drawing I'm thinking BW inked drawings might be a better option as it would be a little faster to do. thanks for the inspiration :). I'll post one of my dolphing paintings in my art thread later. Sorry for hijacking the thread

Glad you liked it Yukon.
Good luck with your whale-piece. Show us a scan when its finished :)
And thank you kindly - Gary and Morna - for the scanning effort :)

- Jan