Via Looper, Dark Horse Comics have announced Mike Mignola, Matt Smith, Chris O’Halloran, and Clem Robbins will reteam this December for “Hellboy Winter Special: The Yule Cat,” a new story inspired by Icelandic Christmas folklore. Set in 1990, the comic sees Hellboy head to Reykjavik to investigate child disappearances, and reports of a giant beast. “Could it be the infamous Yule Cat of Icelandic lore?”
Smith, who wrote and illustrated the comic, said “I’ve made no secret about my love for the Icelandic Sagas. They’re at the heart of ‘Barbarian Lord,’ my first foray into comics,” adding, “It makes sense that Hellboy would go there. Something would pull him there eventually. The epic landscapes, the trolls, and the fantastic history—it’s all a fitting backdrop for our man. Then there’s this cat. It’s big, it’s mean. It’s not going to like Hellboy treading on its grounds, and the hard feelings will be mutual.”
The story picks up soon after Smith’s previous series, “Hellboy: Bones of Giants.” He states, “Hellboy likely hasn’t forgotten about the wrath of old Norse giants. But a giant, child-eating cat—that would be something new.” Mignola adds in the press release, “Matt Smith’s great. I have been very fortunate to have him working on Hellboy and thrilled that he came up with a story of his own, especially a holiday story about a monster cat! Merry Christmas to me and to everybody who loves this kind of thing. He does it so well.”
The comic will be released on December 6, arriving shortly before the conclusion of the three-part “Giant Robot Hellboy.” It will have a main cover by Smith, and a variant by Mike Mignola with colors by Dave Stewart. And in further Hellboy news today, it was announced Ketchup Entertainment have acquired the distribution rights to Millennium Media’s upcoming movie reboot Hellboy: The Crooked Man. The film, directed by Brian Taylor (Crank) and starring Jack Kesy (The Strain) as the 1950s era version of the hero, was adapted by Mignola and Christopher Golden from Mignola and Richard Corben’s comic of the same name. It is still unknown when the movie, which wrapped filming in May, will be released.
