To celebrate our “20 Years of Hellboy” art contest, which gives every fan with some ambition and a modicum of artistic talent a chance to have their work published in an upcoming Mignolaverse issue, as well as take home some sweet prizes, we decided to bring in some ringers, to show us how they interpret everyone’s favorite kind-hearted devil spawn. We will be posting pieces each day for this entire month, so enjoy our 31 Days of Hellboy!
Tom Scioli is a Pittsburgh-based writer and artist, currently getting set to launch “Transformers Vs. G.I. Joe” for IDW later this spring. Tom just wrapped “Godland” for Image, and is the creator of the amazing webcomics turned original graphic novels/comics “American Barbarian,” “Final Fronteir,” and “Satan’s Soldier.” You can visit his website, his Tumblr, and follow him on Twitter (@tomscioli).
In addition, Tom wrote an accompanying paragraph to go along with his piece. Take it away, Tom!
“I encountered Hellboy comics just weeks before I encountered Jack Kirby’s New Gods comics. In 1994, when I first saw the double-page spread from New Gods #5, entitled “Spawn,” I thought it looked like Mike Mignola’s then-current Hellboy. That’s just how things go. There’s an expansion and contraction of time when you’re a fan and student of comics. One often encounters the second generation work before the original. The present was front and center, the past was in sealed mylar bags. Kirby’s outre 70’s work seemed more current in the 90’s than it ever did in its original historical context. Between Hellboy, Frank Miller’s Sin City, John Byrne’s Next Men, and Mike Allred’s Madman, Kirby’s influence resonated deeply with Dark Horse’s Legend line. It took comics 20 years to only just begin to catch up to what Kirby was doing. Now, 20 years after encountering Hellboy and New Gods for the first time, I was asked to contribute to this series of drawings celebrating Hellboy’s 20th anniversary. I thought it might be a fun exercise to draw a closer connecting line between the common thread I saw in Mignola and Kirby so early in my journey as a student of both artists’ work. It was a good excuse to spend a couple of hours staring at one of my all-time favorite images and seeing what makes it tick.”
Feeling inspired by this great piece of art? Then enter our “20 Years of Hellboy” art contest! Full details are here. Find all of our Twenty Years of Hellboy content by clicking here.
