Anybody have a good comic place in County Clare, Ireland? I really want to keep up on Hellboy In Hell, but the only place I know closed last month. I live in Ardnacrusha, tiny town, I imagine I'll have to drive. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
>>82916084
I'm so sorry mate, but there's literally one issue left. Might as well just buy it online when it comes out.
>>82916130
Damn. I'm so far behind. I suppose I'll have to. Pity, Hellboy is my favourite. Thanks all the same.
>>82916130
only one issue? shit where have I been?
Irish people read Hellboy?
>>82916214
It's a good comic. Mike Mignola is a talented writer and artist and he crews up with many others of similar ability. Also, he's really nice and very funny. He gave my daughter a Hellboy figurine. Doesn't matter what country you're from. Good entertainment is good entertainment.
Hellboy, bringing people together across nations.
Never read Hellboy, except that crossover with Batman and Starman. Where do I start?
>>82916407
Easy. Start at the beginning. Seed Of Destruction. Mind, it was written by Byrne if I recall. He's far more wordy than Mignola. Conqueror Worm is where it really gets steam in my opinion. Seed gives you a lot of backstory, and it is well written, but don't let it set the tone for you.
What is Hellboy? (never read the comics or seen the movies, just images of him).
>>82916165
>>82916191
It's not just you guys. It really feels like there's one last act missing.
>>82916407
Why is this a question? Buy the thing that says 1, keep on reading.
Caveats are read past volume 1, cowritten by Byrne. It doesn't read like Hellboy normally reads. Many aren't keen on it in retrospect.
Start BPRD after Conqueror Worm. Come back to us after that for something more in depth.
>>82916690
Are you actually for real?
He's a demon summoned to Earth by the Nazi's towards the end of WWII, but the Allies got him instead. He was just a little baby demon at the time, so they adopted him. Because they weren't pricks. He grew up to be the worlds greatest paranormal investigator. He works for the FBI of the supernatural, and most of his coworkers are weird too. And then things get nuts as he starts to learn why his hand is made of stone. Why Liz Sherman can control fire, and why Abe Sapien is a fish man. It got complicated.
It's a fantastic blend of pulp fiction, myth, literature, and so much else along the way.
>>82916690
He was a demon summoned by Nazis, but then some Allied troops rescued him, and he was raised in the US by Professor Trevor Bruttenholm with a good set of values, so he's a really great guy. Eh fights demons and monsters and doesn't afraid of anything. It's a fantastic series, you should read it.
>>82916737
Yeah. I've been reading Hellboy since the 90s. Kind of like losing an old friend, oddly. I can't believe it's coming to the finish.
>>82916690
Hellboy is a half-demon bad ass who fights all kinds of supernatural shit. He's Catholic, raised by Professor Bruttenholm (pronounced 'Broom'). His basic good nature inspires Hellboy to imitate him, but he's far more violent. He doesn't have a terrible lot in the way of superpowers, aside from aging differently and incredible resilience, and his indestructible right hand. There's more, but you got to read the comics to see. I doubt you'll be disappointed.
>>82916856
Is he really Catholic himself? He gets along famously with priests and respects the church, but I'm not sure he's Catholic himself.
>>82916808
>>82916768
>>82916830
Don't bite my head off guys, I'm trying to learn. Sounds fun.
>>82916880
According to Mike he is. He actually had a scrapped short with young Hellboy taking his first communion with the Professor as his guardian. Apparently not much happened in it so it was tossed, but frankly I'd have liked it just to flesh background out more, you know?
>>82916888
Well, odd of you to do two posts stating nearly the same thing but not really.
Anyway. Didn't mean to bite. Sorry. (Two of those posts are me. Yeesh.) I just don't get how often people look at a series with numbers on it and don't know where to start. It's just very odd to me. Granted, Hellboy has tons of spin offs, side stories, etc. Hell, the main spin off, BPRD, is twice as long as Hellboy itself, easily. But it's still weird to me.
And plus, I'm just surprised that somebody on /co/ of all places didn't even know the, at least, bare bones of what the series is. Honestly, it's utterly fantastic. Read it.
It's got an offbeat sense of humor too. For instance, HB is out to the public. The world knows who he is. And nobody gives a shit. He'll ring a bell, and somebody will open up and look at him funny. And then have to look at his coat to figure out he might work for the BPRD. HE'S A FREAKING DEMON. It's just magic stuff.
>>82916933
Considering I wasn't 100% on this aspect of one of my favorite characters, I absolutely know what you mean.
Mike still doesn't get why Pancakes is so well loved. Mignola is a silly man who often doesn't know what he has. But he makes it work.
>>82916974
Actually I'm new to /co/. I'm a bit of neophyte. I only got into comics these past few months because of my coworkers. I work in a power station as a technical engineer. Usually we don't have much to do, so comics are a good way to pass the time.
>>82917035
Read some Hellboy. I think I have a mega link with all the Mignolaverse stuff, but you should really buy it, it's fantastic.
>>82917035
Neat. Well, glad you found this place. Sort of. As you've figured, /co/ is a gaggle of cocks. But we can be well meaning cocks who'll help a guy out while being cocks.
Seed of Destruction up until Conqueror Worm, than start BPRD with it up until the Warning/Darkness Calls. That'll do ya for about the first 20 trades of material. Come back after that for the rest.
Some other people have a massive image maccro that explains things fairly well. I just.... I don't have it. Sorry.
>>82916992
Yeah, his carrying rosaries and saint medals and such isn't an affectation from his adopted dad. Well, not entirely. That's actually his religion. It's supposed to be part of his basic concept. Mignola is Catholic, and thought it was funny if there was a demon superhero who was Catholic too, and it kind of built from there with input from his friends (mostly Byrne and Purcell; Steve Purcell was his dorm mate in art school and they went to church together).
>>82917090
Here's one, it's the most recent one I could find quickly.
>>82917131
He's had nonCatholic things helping him out too. It's funny, because we know for a fact that the Catholic faith isn't exactly the whole story in Hellboy. We know other things work, we know there are other layers to the truth of the world too. So it just never clicked for me that, yes, he's Catholic.
>>82917133
I hate whoever says Weird Tales isn't canon. It is, it's just a bunch of random stuff that'll never matter, and that's fine.
>>82917183
I also don't like how this so drastically breaks up the Plague of Frogs finale trilogy as well as the... other.... trilogy.
(Do we have names for either trilogy? If I recall, we were given a name for the Warning/Black Goddess/King of Fear arc in the letters column, but I don't recall what.)
>>82917166
According to Mignola, it's based on the Catholic belief that every religion has some things to offer. Like, pagan gods aren't actually considered fiction. They're either demons or very powerful spirits. As such, Hellboy sees no contradiction in his religion and dealing with figures like Baba Yaga.
>>82917294
True. There's definitely an element of that.
It just seems the Ogdru Jahad and such just utterly break that to a degree.
Hey, beliefs are funny, and I'm not questioning HB's. Just explaining why I didn't get that his were actually exactly catholic.
>>82917069
>>82917090
>>82917133
Thank you guys. I'm intrigued. I'll read what I can find, and if I like it, I'll be sure to buy. What I'm hearing sounds pretty damn good, so I imagine I will.
>>82917294
It's like the first commandment says, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me" which doesn't preclude the idea of other gods, it just says that they've got nothing on the big Y.
>>82917327
Watch out for the monkeys.
Monkeys are nothing but trouble.
>>82917326
The Ogdru Jahad are more of a reference to Lovecraft. In the cosmology of Hellboy though, they're just other god-like beings, but not literally gods. It's how a half-demon from the Abrahamic concept of Hell is able to be capable of beating them. They're not actually gods.
>>82917389
Is there context for this or is this something I've got to read?
>>82917392
I'm a sucker for big universes with combined mythologies. It's why I like the Dresden Files, even though they're not the best written books.
>>82917365
Exactly.
>>82917414
It's a particularly perfect half page out of Conqueror Worm. Classic Hellboy humor.
>>82917414
I don't know how much context will help you with that one.
Here's a short story mentioned in >>82916992 that's pretty popular.
>>82917365
>>82917392
I'm just saying that Hellboy seems to have rewritten the early Bible in ways. The Ogdru Jahad seem to be too big a part of the creation myth of this universe to just be skipped. That and the weird time Angels walked the Earth in a way not in the Bible and so forth. More everything in The Island than simply the Odgru Jahad themselves.
>>82917481
With any universe that incorporates this many different mythos and traditions, there's got to be some editing of the source to make them all fit together.
>>82917470
I love that with all the other crazy shit that eventually happens, as weird and dark and black and complex as things get, at some point these two really did figure they were fucked, and all plans would go wrong, when Hellboy had a pancake.
>>82917069
If you do, please post it. My Hellboy collection has more holes than a molemen dispensary. Getting comics where I live can be an exercise in frustration.
>>82917526
It's from the chronological dumps, so they're in that order, not necessarily the best reading order.
https://mega.nz/#F!fNZmmC4D!HyV78B7Y0MV-jz2xbFaNfA
>>82917481
A lot of that is based on apocryphal stories about angels, which do occur in the Catholic testament and tons of other texts. It's really just Mike blending his religion with his love of obscure mythos, HP Lovecraft, and just his own spin on it all. In his legendarium it all makes sense. It doesn't have to be doctrine.
>>82917470
That is ridiculously cute.
>>82917564
I know it makes sense to us and Mignola. I'm just saying it should make HB do a bit of a double take at his own religion and say "okay hold up."
Bare in mind, he's said Hellboy is Catholic, not that the Catholic faith is true in Hellboy.
>>82917595
Maybe the in-universe Catholicism is a little different than real life Catholicism. Either way, I don't think Hellboy really cares that much about all the crazy shit he's seen.
>>82917635
I think ever since he decided he better figure out what's going on with himself, he's cared.
And I figure it's the same Catholicism.
(Didn't some ooold story hint that a lot of random demons and creatures are the children of the Ogdru-Hem? Am I imagining that? It's 4 AM fuck me.)
>>82917587
We may be spoiling you on the goofy/weird Hellboy moments. They don't happen too often, which makes them all the better for their timing and rarity.
>>82917678
There is still a pretty good amount of humor. It's usually darker humor but it's there.
>>82917635
According to Mignola, he does care. He just rarely expresses it, primarily because it doesn't make for great stories. Who want's to see Hellboy in confession or attending mass when he could be assbeating apocalyptic super monsters? I'm Catholic and even I'd find that boring. He's a freaking superhero, he needs to be heroing shit up. Though to be fair, apparently some pages were cut for the same reason as the comic about his first communion. They kind of broke things up and just weren't as entertaining. Mike still managed to work in the pathos, but he had to tone down religious aspects in many ways since his publishers felt it'd alienate people. To me, that's a fucking crock. It just gives another side of an excellently complex character.
>>82917755
I mean he doesn't care about the monsters and stuff, and sticks to his beliefs.
>>82917755
Editors can be a bitch, but I suppose in this case they're kinda right. It's just not terribly fascinating or fun.
>>82917561
Thanks muchly.
>>82917773
Oh, I'm so sorry, I misunderstood you. My apologies.
>>82917860
Nah, I totally agree with you. I would love to see Hellboy's Catholic side more. Just a panel here or there would be great.
>>82917875
I'd actually like to see the first communion. I'm picturing Broomy all proud. The communion bread and wine burn him a bit at first, bit Bruttenholm just puts his hand on his shoulder. It could easily be just a simple two-pager. Hellboy does consider him his dad, even if his biological father is a demon. It'd be subtle but show the professor's influence on him.
>>82918020
I'd love to see it be a military communion.
Like the priest coming to the base, and just giving his sermon in one of the barracks, and the soldiers letting the li'l Hellboy go in the front, Bruttenholm staying in the back, all proud and what not, and Hellboy listening to the story of this guy that's a lot like The Lobster. Instead of burning people with a claw insignia, Jesus healing people with his holy hand and stuff.
While they run out Hellboy's just like "I bet The Lobster could beat up the Carpenter." Or something cute like that.
im from ennis.. hello mr.ardnacrusha.....only place i can think of is sub city in galway, maybe limerick has somewhere tho. not clare i know
