Hellboy: Double Feature of Evil – Page 8

I was not planning to post this page just yet but because of reports on the news today it seems to be a particularly apt time to upload it. There are spoilers aplenty in the forthcoming description in case you have not read Sullivan’s Reward.

This page comes from the lead story, Sullivan’s Reward, in the Hellboy Double Feature of Evil one-shot which came out in 2010. When this page became available I was in two minds about trying tot get it for a few reasons. 1. I already have a page from this story, 2. I was not sure that I could really afford it, and 3. Hellboy does not even appear on it. But when I had it in my hands I am really glad I nabbed it.

The story concerns someone called Sullivan who outwardly seems to be a respectable sort or guy, respectable enough to convince Hellboy to not only come to visit him in Kansas to investigate paranormal activity in a mansion he has inherited but also to precede him into a room in which Sullivan says the demonic entity is present before slamming and securing the door with Hellboy on the inside and he on the outside. Perhaps part of Sullivan’s ability to persuade Hellboy of his seemingly honest intentions is because he seems to be a man of means but it is revealed that the way that he has come by this wealth is by sacrificing down-and-outs to the entity residing in the property. Sullivan is a sleazy lowlife scumbag who has made his fortune by exploiting the vulnerable and preying on the weak. The sweaty look of orgasmic pleasure on Sullivan’s face as the entity consumes a victim in the last but one panel (before remitting the two gold coins) marks him as truly evil. Every panel is a delight to look at from the distorted perspective in the first panel where Sullivan is suffering the torments of the damned thrashing around in his bed to the look of astonished horror on the face of the latest offering served up to the demon inhabiting the house.

The page is a stark reminder of the dangers of unfettered greed – Sullivan hopes that offering Hellboy up to the entity will result in him being rewarded with the motherlode of gold coins – Sullivan’s actual reward is poetic  justice of the darkest kind. The page for me is a warning and cautionary tale and that is why there will not be any more pages from Sullivan’s Reward finding their way into my collection.

Congratulations to Mike Mignola for his Bram Stoker award for Superior Achievement in a Graphic Novel for Bowling with Corpses and Other Tales from Lands Unknown.