Helluv a Week!

I really meant for this to be a weekend post, but one thing led to another and on and on. So with that said here's something I thought was pretty sweet. As you may know I make these little illustrations that a great little comic shop down in Florida then prints up for stickers. The shop of course is Tate's, the illustrations vary from hero to hero and are pretty much just what ever I feel like sketching up at the time. I do get requests from the team at Tate's for special events, only on occasion and for something they need quick. It's a pretty sweet little gig and the pay is awesome!

Anyway a few weekends back Tate's hosted a Dark Horse Day and of course I had already did a sweet little Hellboy illustration months ago. I thought they might use it, but was not sure. Turns out they did. Do you rember the one,here it is in case you need a refresher.



Okay the part that I thought was sweet was that Mike Mignola was present at the event. Surely you know that he created Hellboy right? I am somewhat a fan of his artwork, and by somewhat I am totally a fan of his artwork. You would think being a Batman fan I would have known more about Mr. Mignola's other hero, but my son was actually the person that introduced me to the wonderful world of Hellboy, which I fell for hook, line and sinker. Comics, movies and toys, I loves me some Hellboy. Plus it's a cool thing that my son and I share, because lets face it a lot of times us parents are lame and do not follow all the anime our children are into and they do not always love the heroes we are into. That's all okay, but it is even cooler when there is that one that just clicks. Now, I can't say I have every comic or toy, but I think I have enough to satisfy my desire for the character. With that said here are a few of my favorites that I picked up over time.

First up is the Graffiti Designs Hellboy. This one actually sat for a really long time in our local comic shop before I picked it up. I used to get a chuckle out of the description on the package every time I went. It said something like "Comes with a Big Ass Gun!", loved it. I really like the simple style of the figure. It's pretty honking big, but not too big that he couldn't sort of fit in with some of the other figures on the shelf. I can't peg the scale, but he stands about eight to nine inches tall and could go as a big player in the Batman the Animated Series Universe, though he would tower over even the Clayface figure.



Next, and years later, I picked up this one from Mezco. Hands down one of my all time favorite toys. This thing screams Mignola's style. It is like they reached into one of his comic books and ripped it right off the page. I actually have a couple of these. this one and one with his trench coat that came with a group of Vampire Heads. Plus there is one out there I have yet to get, the Rocket Pack version... well that and the large version. Still I am constantly on the look out to score a good deal on either.



Rounding out this post is this little bad boy. He came packed with a Best Buy release of the animated feature Hellboy Animated: Blood and Iron. Talk about a bonus, how cool was it to kill two birds with one stone?An awesome little animated movie and a sweet figure. This animated Hellboy is from Gentle Giant, actually my first toy from the company and what a toy it is. I love it just as much as the other two. He came with a couple alternate hands, though the open right hand of doom is my favorite.



I never did pick up any of the small Movie Hellboy figures, not because I didn't want to, just they were always sold out every where I looked at the time. I guess I am lacking that scale in the collection. Still I have enough different sizes to keep me happy.



I have a few of the other characters that I will post about in the future, plus a few little figurines that came in another DVD bundle as well. till then I'm leaving you with the sweet part of the whole comic book shop arc of this post. This here is Mr. Mignola at the Tate's Dark Horse Day event...

photo courtesy of Tate's Comics, photo by A. Pants

How cool is that?