No Hellboy doesn’t need any time off for a vacation, but he was given a day that celebrated the beloved graphic novel character’s twentieth anniversary, and Mike Mignola, who created Hellboy, couldn’t have been more thrilled.
March 22 marked the character’ 20th anniversary, and it was a long ways before Mignola got him up and running. As he told the L.A. Times, he started in the comics biz as an inker, then moved his way up to an artists for Marvel and DC. Eventually he reached a creative crossroads, and decided to launch his own character.
Dark Horse Comics published the first issue of Hellboy in March 1994, and he was inspired by Mignola’s father. “Hellboy is a real working-stiff guy. And that’s my father to me. He was a cabinet maker, and his hands were these dry, callused working hands. I knew I would never be anywhere near as tough as my father. But I wanted my guy to be that guy.”
While Mignola never thought a Hellboy movie would ever get made, Guillermo del Toro did get the big red guy up on the big screen wonderfully in 2004, and fans are hoping there will be a third installment somewhere down the road. So Hellboy got his day at Metldown Comics in Los Angeles, and considering Mignola loves his job as a comics mastermind, we’re sure Hellboy will have his day again.
