Hellboy vs. Etrigan the Demon by Val Semeiks and Bob Almond

Cool character mashup that I wished DC Comics and Dark Horse had done back when they were releasing crossovers of their various properties like The Mask. I asked Val Semeiks who did most of the art on Alan Grant’s run of The Demon for DC Comics back in the 90 to do a pre-show commission of Etrigan fighting Hellboy to pick up at TerrifiCon 2023. I decided I wanted to have the inking done by second person and reached out to Bob Almond who was also going to be at TerrifiCon and asked if he’d be willing to do it which he happily agreed to.

I don’t know if Mike Mignola got any inspiration for creating Hellboy from Jack Kirby’s The Demon when he first conceived the idea for the character, but I think there are some similarities between the two demonic characters. Both are demons who fight to protect humanity from the forces of Hell and other paranormal threats.

Val was really good about sending regular updates on the commission and I picked it up from his table in person the first day of the show and brought it over to Bob’s table to make the exchange. We all got a picture together at Val’s table with the commission before Bob put it in his portfolio for safe keeping.

Bob began inking the commission after the show and when he finished the piece shipped it in the mail to my home address. Very happy with how it turned out in the end and it was a pleasure meeting two great talents like Val and Bob in person!