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The Light is Winning: Mignola’s Hellboy @ 20 Years Old

Dark Horse Comics Celebrates 20 Years of Hellboy w/ Book and 3.22.14 Worldwide  Event.
Dark Horse Comics Celebrates 20 Years of Hellboy w/ Book and 3.22.14 Worldwide Event.

Dark Horse Comics declares March 22, 2014 Hellboy Day, with a series of world-wide in-store appearances by some of the celebrated franchise’s artists and writers. The event commemorates the first appearance of the red rascal 20 years ago in a 4 page story printed in San Diego Comic Con Comics #2. Series creator Mike Mignola will appear at Meltdown Comics in Los Angeles, information on other events from Portland to Brazil are listed below.

Dark Horse notes that attendees can expect “a slew of exclusive giveaways” and “an all-new sampler comic featuring two classic Mignola tales, “The Ghoul” and “Another Day at the Office,” as well as two new stories by Mignola, Fábio Moon, and R. Sikoryak!”

To further mark the achievement Hellboy: The First 20 Years, an oversized deluxe hardcover presenting Mignola’s art and curated by the artist himself, will be released to comic shops everywhere on March 19th. The bulk of the book presents gallery style pages of Mignola’s cover art minus the logos or text embellishments.

Mignola’s fearless use of dark space and negative areas has become a hallmark of his style. His distillation of detail down to the extremes of light and dark leaves only the most important visual information in the finished piece. Works like the front cover variant for B.P.R.D. Hell on Earth: The Long Death #1 (page 113) are exercises in simplicity with the artist challenging himself to see how few lines can be used to effectively tell the story.

In the book’s forward Mignola notes how he prefers this evolution in his art, the stripping away of any superfluous embellishment, which makes the smattering of early work seen in this volume now appear overwrought. In many cases original art is juxtaposed with finished work and it becomes clear how colorist Dave Stewart’s use of distinct chromatic blocks adds to the austerity of Mignola’s line work.

HELLBOY DAY EVENTS—Saturday, March 22, 2014

 
1.Mike Mignola—Meltdown Comics—Los Angeles, CA
2 p.m.
Meltdown Comics
7522 Sunset Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90046?(323) 851-7223

 2. Tyler Crook, Dave Stewart & Scott Allie—TFAW—Portland, OR
7 p.m.–10 p.m.
Things From Another World—Portland Location
2916 NE Broadway Street?Portland, OR 97232?(503) 284-4693

3. Duncan Fegredo, Laurence Campbell & Mick McMahon—Gosh! Comics—London, England
2 p.m.–4 p.m.
Gosh! Comics
1 Berwick Street?London W1F 0DR
+44 20 7636 1011

4. Art Baltazar—Aw Yeah Comics—Skokie, IL
Aw Yeah Comics
4933 Oakton Street
Skokie, IL 60077
(847) 423-2916
Facebook Event Page:

5. Franco Aureliani—Midtown Comics—New York, NY
2 p.m.–4 p.m.
Midtown Comics—Downtown Location
64 Fulton Street
New York, NY 10038?(212) 302-8192

 6. Tonci Zonjic—The Beguiling—Toronto, ON, Canada
2 p.m.–4 p.m.
The Beguiling Books & Art
601 Markham Street
Toronto, ON M6G 2L7
+1 416-533-9168

 7. Sebastián & Max Fiumara—Moebius Liceo—Buenos Aires, Argentina
5 p.m.–10 p.m.
Moebius Liceo
Av. Santa Fe 2729
Local 13 P. Baja
1425 Buenos Aires
+54 11 4866 6960

8. Fábio Moon—Quanta Academia de Artes—São Paulo, Brazil
Quanta Academia de Artes
Rua Dr. José de Queirós Aranha, 246
Vila Mariana
São Paulo 04106-061
+55 11 3214-0553