Hellboy In Hell Issue #10 Page 8

Mike Mignola - Hellboy in Hell Issue #10 Page 8

Issue 10 of Hellboy in Hell (HIH), "For Whom the Bell Tolls", serves as the final issue in the core Hellboy epic. The story is structured as a fairy tale told by those who witnessed the story - Hellboy does not speak a single line of dialogue nor does anyone to him. In this episode, he accepts his destiny as the Beast of the Apocalypse, only to use that power to destroy the power structure of hell itself, first by killing its ruler, then sacking the city of pandemonium. Even amid all of the death and destruction, upon reading it I couldn't help but think that it was a quiet issue. Perhaps it was the voice in my head narrating this book - I imagined a frightening story told in hushed tones.

That's what drew me to the artwork in HIH: Mignola is able to express his thought and involve the reader in the experience with simpler shapes and expressions as compared to earlier in his career. Hellboy is at his least realistic but most iconic form. No need for backgrounds on this page, which centers Hellboy in his prophetic form. The demon in the lower left panel represents the reader, and we are all in awe of his arrival.

I’d gone to sit at a window, so I was the only one to see it coming... A giant striding across the mountains, wrapped in flames. Then I saw a Leviathan rise out of the sea...