There’s a new Hellboy movie coming out in 2024, believe it or not. The upcoming film puts 12 Strong star Jack Kesy in the title role, the latest to play the famed character.
Hellboy: The Crooked Man adapts one of writer Mike Mignola’s most popular stories of all time. It should be no surprise, then, that Mignola regards it as his favorite Hellboy story.
Mike Mignola explains why Crooked Man is his favorite Hellboy story
Released in 2008, The Crooked Man sees Hellboy in the Appalachian Mountains, where he must help Tom Ferrell carry his father’s remains to a church. However, near the church waits The Crooked Man, a miser who returned from hell as a devil, waiting to collect Tom’s soul after he bargained for a protective witch-bone as a child.
It’s that Appalachian setting that appealed to Mignola, who sought to recapture the feel of one of his favorite classic stories.
Debuting in the ’60s, Silver John was an American fictional hero created by Manly Wade Wellman, a science fiction and fantasy writer who was popular in pulp magazines at the time. Silver John is a Korean war veteran who lives in Appalachia, roaming the land and encountering various creatures and superstitions from folk talks.
At a surface level, the impression Silver John stories left for the Hellboy character should be obvious. Silver John, like Hellboy, is a loner who survives his encounters with a knowledge of the mystical, unparalleled courage, and a kind heart.
Though Hellboy has grown and evolved into his own deep mythological character over the years, it is fascinating to see a story tied so closely to his roots. That tie to a simple yet effective story is what makes The Crooked Man such a beloved and seminal Hellboy tale, and what makes it perfect for the next film.
“To this day, The Crooked Man remains my favorite Hellboy story,” Mignola says. “And while I had some idea what would happen with these characters beyond that one story, I never seriously considered doing a sequel till—one day I saw a beautiful Zach Howard drawing of a forest, and all those characters came rushing back. The Return of Effie Kolb was another one that seemed to write itself, and I’m happy to finally see them collected together.”
Hellboy: The Crooked Man & The Return of Effie Kolb releases June 19. The next new Hellboy story, The Fortune Teller, will be part of Dark Horse’s Free Comic Book Day offerings.
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