Wednesday 30 September 2009

Hellboy (comics)


Mike Mignola has created many things, but none so accomplished or respected as his Hellboy series. Both writing and drawing the entire main series himself (up until 'darkness calls'), Mignola crafted a unique world through his mastery of the visual narrative medium.
What I love so much about his pages is the atmosphere stirred up through his timing. Dialogue is spaced through the panels in a sparse, reflective manner, simplifying the reading of the page while enriching the world it illustrates. With no huge speech balloons obscuring the art and directing the hierarchy unnaturally, the eye is free to soak in the rich artwork and vivid colours. Other comic artists will have silent panels to describe a pause for thought, or to let the environment or action take centre stage, but Mignola is unique in his employment of small square panels dotted throughout his stories at key points, containing small designs or portions of architecture, rarely of any importance to the plot, but instrumental in making the story that much more real and tangible.
Hellboy is an essential comic, but on it's own terms, bending rules and unashamed of it's origins in pulp ideas. It is a pure example of the art, unpretentious and yet fanciful and experimental.

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