Hellboy Turn 20, Gets Some Awesome Fan Art Creations Courtesy Of Multiversity Comics

Hellboy is one of my favorite characters and could possibly be one of the most popular characters in the history of independent (not DC & Marvel) comics. Big Red is easily recognized not only from his adventures on the pages of Dark Horse Comics (courtesy of the great Mike Mignola, but also from the two films based on his comics by famed filmmaker Guillermo del Torro. The two movies made booku bucks and have lead to Red being more popular then ever. So it is no surprise that our old buddy is getting the full fledged bday barrage from not only DH Comics but tons of other outlets that spotlight comics as well. But few have gone just as far as Multiversity Comics in honoring the comic. Multiversity had over 80 professional artists do their best Hellboy pieces in honor of the 20th anniversary. They were posted daily through the Month of March, all leading to the grand celebration in April. The work that resulted is amazing, as each artist uses their unique styling to create vastly different yet familiar versions of the bug guy. Most DO NOT really look much like Mignola's original art, but they all feature some unique aspects put forth by Mignola through the years. At the end of the month Multiversity made a huge roundup of all the posts (over 80... wow) in one page, which makes for some really cool viewing and makes it a lot easier to compare and contrast all the pieces. You can find that full post by clicking here, and you can see my personal faves after the jump. There are many great pieces, so make sure you visit the above link to see 'em all. Happy bday Big Red... 20 years down, many more to go!!!

Movie Characters Get The Manga Makeover Courtesy Of Matsuda Yuusuke

Manga is not exactly my cup of tea... I don't particularly enjoy the style of art that is often employed in Manga books. But I do like the looks of some of that stuff... especially when the characters that are being drawn are to familiar to me. Japanese artist Matsuda Yuusuke does a great job converting some of my most favorite classic movie characters into Manga versions of themselves, and it makes a world of difference in garnering my interest. Hellboy, Hellraiser, Predator, Robocop, Alien, & Terminator all get the makeover, and some of them are really cool (especially the Alien one). You can see more of his work on his webpage (the art is great, but all the text is in Japanese!) by clicking here. Check out the results after the jump....

Graffiti Artists Dose DV Takes Tagging To Hell With His Mignola Inspired Mural

I love coming across awesome time lapse videos of major art project because they provide a glimpse into what happens to be hours worth of work in a few mere minutes. I love the artistic process... but it can be a slow one. So to speed it up, see a blank slate and then finished piece, and only have to dedicate a few minutes to seeing how it was constructed is a perfect scenario for me. Take this video from artist Dose DV. He decided to construct a huge mural in Lakeside, England and decided to make the piece even cooler by adding a 7 foot Hellboy portrait. This piece is crazy, and I love the grid style approach that Dose DV uses to proportion Big Red's facial structure. This is the kind of thing that I never knew artists did, and it was really cool to see this (as someone who is not very artistic myself). Check out the video and some pics of the completed project after the jump...

Is 'Beasts Of Burden' Finally On Its Way To The Big Screen?

 

Independent comic companies are a plentiful bunch, but there are a few of the so called 'smaller' companies that are putting out tons of great material to compete with Marvel & DC. Image is riding high with The Walking Dead, which helps fund a plethora of their other creator owned books. Dark Horse is the other major player in the second wave of comic publishers. They have a monster property in Hellboy, and they use that main character to drive most of the titles they offer. Due to Hellboy's horror/supernatural influences, Dark Horse tends to dabble into this area more often then not. One of the cooler titles that they have come out with is 'Beasts of Burden, which is a title that appeared in a bunch of 'Dark Horse Presents...' collections and a mini series of its very own, as well as a cross over one shot with Hellboy. The base of the story is a group of five dogs and a cat who investigate paranormal activity in the town of Burden Hill. The book is extremely well written by Evan Dorkin and drawn by Jill Thompson, and it is a lot of fun. Now it is possibly getting the big screen treatment from Shane Acker, the director of the the underrated CGI/animated movie '9'...

Check out more from the official press release after the jump...

Hellnuts 2 by Raid 71

I love some good geek art, but really love some good geek art that was created for a good cause. There is an English charity entitled Artists V Cancer that is selling some majorly cool geek prints and original pieces of art in order to raise money for the fight against cancer. There are many cool pieces available (click here to see the full show run), but the one that stood out to me came from artist Raid 71. It is called Hellnuts 2 and re-imagines some of Mike Mignola's Hellboy characters as the Peanut gang. Well thought out and executed, this is a killer piece. And to get one of the 100 prints created for the show it will only cost you 35 bucks... and it is for a good cause. Click the above link and pick up a piece to support the cancer battle, and click after the jump to see a bigger version of the Hellnuts 2 poster...

Hellboy by Sean Hartter

Sean Hartter is back at it again with another Alternate Universe Movie Posters, this time for a Hellboy movie that would star Bo Svenson as Big Red and a supporting cast of Christopher 'Count Dooku' Lee, Britt 'Amazing Boobs' Ekland, & Lee J Cobb!!! Not to mention being produced by William Peter Blatty & directed by Jesus Franc... I would watch the hell out of this flick. Damn Sean, you gotta stop... your killing 'em over here!!!! Click after the jump to see the full pic....

Wow, These Crazy Ecuadorians Really Know How To Party On New Years Eve!!!

When my boy Edson sends me an email with a tip for CCD, I usually pay close attention. This is exactly the reason why. Edson sent me this crazy email from over at io9 (damn corporate blogs with their funding and their traveling staff... wait, what?) about the practices of people in Ecuador prior to the New Year. In villages all over the country the people construct huge paper & wood figures known as "Anos Viejos" (Old Years) to be burnt in celebration of the change in calendar. But here is the thing that makes these paper constructs so fucking cool... they make them in all types of images, especially nerdy fanboy faves!!! Don't believe me? See for yourself... click after the jump to see some of the geekiest "Anos Viejos" from this years New years celebration...

Yup, Guillermo del Torro Has Been Batshit Crazy For Quite A While...

Need proof that the man behind the camera of such visually disturbing movies as Pan's Labrinth and the Hellboy films is truly batshit insane? Look no further then his 1991 Mexican Alka Seltzer commercial where the maniac director uses his 30 seconds of commercial for a stomach medicine to have himself (yup, thats him!) turn into a full on werewolf due to a stomach ailment. Yup, I just wrote that. He becomes a werewolf cause he got heartburn. Check it out:

 

Holy shit. Nic Cage may be the craziest mofo in Hollywood, but del Torro is certainly up there. Thanks to /Film for the screenshot & link to this wonderful video.

The Brave & The Bold: The Lost Issues Does The Supernatural Justice

The Brave and The Bold: The Lost Issues is an excellent idea for a blog that is brought to us by Ross. Ross uses MS Paint to take certain aspects of comic covers and come up with team ups for Batman ala the way they used to in DC Comics The Brave & The Bold. At first he only used DC characters from the particular era of the orginal run, but soon after he started popping Marvel characters as well as all other types of cool people from different mediums into the team ups. They are a great quality and look fantastic... and you can view all of his posts by clicking here. Since it is CCD's All Horror Week, I chose to highlght the supernatural type covers that Ross has presented throughout his run. I hope you enjoy them. Please check out Ross, tell em CCD sent you and make some suggestions in the comments section below that you would like to see... we will pass em on to him!!!

70's Ghost Rider & Bats

Gargoyle & Bats

Big Red & Big Blue



Bat... it's whats for dinner in the swamp!!!



This is a cover even Suydam would be proud of!!!

The real Mephisto... not Peter Fonda from Nic Cage's Ghostrider

Real Vampires don't twinkle in sunlight... they try to kill superheroes

Damien Hellstorm, the Son of Satan... badass!!!

Who Is The Guy In All Those Costumes & Makeup??? Oh, Thats Just Doug Jones!!!

Abe Sapien. The Faun. The Pale Man. The Silver Surfer... if you have ever seen these characters on the big screen in their respective movies (Hellboy I & II, Pan's Labyrinth, Fantastic Four 2:Rise of the Silver Surfer) than you have seen Doug Jones in action, even if you didn't know it. Under all that makeup and digital effects lies the man who truly brings those characters to life... and frankly, the actor that makes those movies as great as they are. Jones steals everything he is in, and its a combination of his sweepingly graceful body motions and ability to bring humanity through layers of latex & paint. The dude is just a beast, and he is the best at what he does.

I had the pleasure of meeting Doug at the 2010 Big Apple Comic Con last week. When it comes to celebrities, Jones is really a breath of fresh air. He is so nice, and caring when he speaks to you. When Tommy & I came up to his table and asked him for an interview, he damn near hurdled the table to get in front of the camera for us. No begging or pleading necessary... he was more then happy to oblige. Also, let me be clear, it was not because no one was coming up to his table. He was constantly getting visits from fans, as you will see in our video clip (a fan bum rushes our interview for like 2 minutes... hysterical). Listen to Doug's thoughts on playing characters in makeup, bringing the Silver Surfer to life, recommending lines to the director that disn't get into the FF film, what kind of comics he read as a kid, whether or not he will appear in Guillermo del Torro's anticipated Lovercraftian opus "At The Mountains of Madness", and much more. We chatted with Doug for quite a bit, and here are the videos to prove it. Watch for yourself:

So, Doug has tons of stuff on the horizon. Make sure you pre-order a copy of My Name Is Jerry (click here), check out Carnies, and Pretend Time on Comedy Central. Also make sure you have seen Hellboy I & II and the animated Hellboy Films, Fantastic Four 2: Rise of the Silver Surfer, and Pan's Labyrinth. Thanks for all the love Mr. Jones... we wish you all the best!!!

Monster Faces with the man himself, Doug Jones

P.S.- On a side note, I brought my son Mikey to the con the next day and Doug was unbelievable towards him. He came around the table, hugged him, took pictures, and even gave us some autographed pictures for nothing!!! He signed Mikey's Silver Surfer picture "Listen to the hero in your heart" and he signed my photo of the infamous Hellboy 2 "Drunk Karaoke" scene "You know I can't smile without Mike". I can not wait to get Ron Pearlman's signature on that pic to complete the piece!!! Very cool dude. Thanks for all the love!!!!