Mike Mignola’s new Hellboy book breathes lockdown boredom into giant, robot life

In March of 2020, Mike Mignola was drawing up a storm. The Hellboy creator spent his pandemic days crafting dozens of works of pop art in his instantly recognizable style and auctioning them off, with all proceeds going to charity. There were renderings of strange original figures, characters from Adventure Time, Pokémon, Marvel and DC Comics, and, of course, lots and lots of sketches of Hellboy.

One of those sketches is taking on a new life, growing bigger, robot-ier, and maybe even Hellboy-ier in the new miniseries Giant Robot Hellboy. What’s it about? Well, it looks like some scientists kidnapped Hellboy and put his mind in a giant robot body. What’s he gonna do about it? Well, he’s a giant robot, so he’s probably going to punch some stuff. But he’s Hellboy, so he’ll probably be grumpy, unimpressed, and lovable while he does it.

There are no downsides here, people.

“Giant Robot Hellboy is my very obvious nod to all those Japanese giant monster movies — which I actually have no particular love for,” Mignola shared in a Dark Horse Comics news release. “What I DO love is listening to Geof Darrow and Art Adams TALK about those movies — so really, I guess this series was inspired by those guys.”

Image: Mike Mignola

Image: Dark Horse Comics

“[Giant Robot Hellboy] was never intended to be more than [a sketch],” artist Duncan Fegredo told Polygon. “Sometime later, Mike approached me about another Hellboy one-shot, maybe split into two short stories? As we talked, the one-shot turned into two issues, again subdivided into shorter stories. Mike suggested one of the shorter stories could be about that throwaway quarantine sketch. And so Giant Robot Hellboy grew, pushing aside the other now forgotten stories, two issues became three. Well, he’s still growing, and as I write this I’m also developing Mike’s plot for what comes after…”

“Giant Robot Hellboy really has taken on a life of his own,” Mignola told Polygon. “I know where he is going and, with Duncan, it’s going to be a wild ride and a whole lot of fun getting him there.”

Read on for five whole pages of Giant Robot Hellboy #1, courtesy of Dark Horse Comics.

Giant Robot Hellboy #1 hits shelves on Oct. 15.