The saying “there are no second acts in American life” seems very true in comics 1. So true in fact that one can only point to the scant few creators who have managed to reinvent themselves. Kirby was famously on his third career track when he reinvigorated the superhero genre with Stan Lee (and would go on to do celebrated work in science fiction a decade later). But most creators in American comics either keeps refining their style until the last moment or lose all career prospects. In the arena of commercial art, just as much as in the strips and comic books, people enjoy the warm safety of the predictable. Hellboy Artist Collection: Richard Corben, however, is proof that one does not have to redefine oneself by losing that which makes you special – a devil (like a bat out of hell) will suffice.
The book collects all of Corben’s Hellboy-adjacent work with writer Mike Mignola, from the shorts in “Double Feature of Evil” to the longer myth-narrative of “The Crooked Man”2 in a nice, large-sized hardcover. One reading these stories for the first time wouldn’t know that the man drawing these was well in his 60s when the collaboration began (starting with “Makoma” in 2006) and well-past 70 when the last work saw print (“The Mirror,” 2016). Indeed, I wasn’t much of Corban fan when I first read these, the young(er) and foolish(er) version of me first experienced Corben when my mind wasn’t developed enough to appreciate him, but reading his Hellboy taught me to love Corben’s artwork. And made go back and appreciate his earlier efforts as well.
Now, one can always tell a Corben page. Like all the true greats he had a style of his own, but that personal style never pigeonholed him into one place. I believe it was in the Comics Books are Burning in Hell podcast that someone brought up the point that Corben was absolutely unique in his ability to translate his craft into nearly every facet of comic book publishing. Here was a man who was as comfortable at the well-managed horror clichés of the Warren magazines as he was at the SF perversions of Heavy Metal or the outré violence and sexuality of the underground comics scene with the likes of Slow Death. He even had a short stretch in the world of semi-superhero comics: doing twisted versions of Hellblazer, The Hulk and (a personal favorite) Punisher: The End, possibly the most “gaze into the abyss” comics ever published.
I believe that if he was born a few decades earlier he would’ve made an hell of a full-page Sunday strip artist (assuming someone was always on guard to cover nude extras). A few decades later – a king in the webcomics scene. Even Kirby, who had worked in nearly every genre throughout his career, never strayed too far from the mainstream world of American monthly comic books.
There is nothing particularly new that the world of Hellboy offers to Corben – strange monsters, exotic location, lots of big actions and some cheap jokes. It’s a comics ready-made for his thematic obsessions (both creators seem to share equal love to Edgar Allan Poe). There is something certainly lacking compared to other Corben ventures – the world of Hellboy is much more chaste. Corben is very much a creator led by his id, which usually involves ladies with often-ridiculous boobs (and men with big cocks and even bigger muscles). Not in this collection though.
The other big difference from other Corben works is the coloring. Granted, he didn’t always color his own work (in Banner the coloring is credited to Studio F, for example), but he usually does. And that coloring is just as important to the identity of a "Corben Work" as the pencils and the brushes (just ask Jose Villarrubia). Corben brings to mind a particular palate and a sense of character, with his figures often looking like molded clay figures, with a particular sense of mass. Here, he is colored over by Dave Stewart 3, in order to make the work more in-line with the other Mignola collaborations.
So it’s Corben tamed and Corben colored by others. It shouldn’t work. It does work. It works because Mignola finds in Corben a creative partner to do things he didn’t really do anymore. Throughout this collection the stories are far more energetic than Mignola’s own, there’s a lot more room for punching and bloodshedding, something Mignola started with but quickly renounced in favor of atmosphere. But, more importantly, there’s humor. There’s some damn fine jokes in these stories – not particularly well-written jokes but well executed. Corben’s art sells some stuff that’s real plain and elevates it to a new dimension.
Take the death of the human villain in “Sullivan’s Reward.” He starts the page with a wide grin, no one could draw a sadistic smile that seemingly pulls back a whole human face like Corben, waiting for his reward; then, a huge pile of gold, a literal massive cube of treasure, crashes over him and leaving him flat with a ‘splat’ sound effect. It’s like something out of Loony Tunes. It’s just a simple gag, but Corben knows how to take us on black journey across six pages, knows to show the dude’s half face in the shadow as the cube comes on top of him, knows to show just the arm and the tiny pair of glasses alongside a small pool of blood.
Or take the ending of “House of the Dead,” after a grueling night of fighting any type of monster possible, being reminded of his greatest failures, a crushed and blown over Hellboy sits down for a drink when Frankenstein’s Monster starts looming just behind him. He simply lifts two fingers and speaks as laconically as possible (you can practically hear him through the page) says, “Make it two.” It works. In fact, it works so well that almost distracts you from how well-composed that panel is in general – both the monster and the barman with heads covered in shadows while Hellboy’s eyes are shaded by his own sawed-off horns. Edward Hopper would’ve struggled to make this better.
Since I’ve already mentioned Kirby I shouldn’t ignore how much of him there is in the action scenes. Just look at big fight at the end of “Hellboy In Mexico” – with all the leaping, the close-ups on massive punches and sense of that things are both ridiculous (no one would actually fight like this) and extremely real (but that is the right sense of mass and weight for one body crushing into another). What is Kirby’s action if not wrestling? Something staged for maximum aesthetic demonstration, yet involving real human beings hurting themselves, trying to entertain you.
And in-between all of these, between the exaggerated horror, exaggerated humor and exaggerated action (Corben never draws at anything less than 11) there is something quite sad in these stories. The tales of man who tries so hard to escape what he is. Escape into the ring or escape into a bottle. Both are the same for Hellboy. Before the series got blown-up, before it franchised itself out of my interests 4 there was something quite human and touching about that big red guy. Like The Lost Weekend or Under the Volcano, only with horns and monsters under the bed. And here was Corben, a man known for anything but his subtlety, making it all click anew.
There’s nothing particularly new about Hellboy Artist Edition: Richard Corben, all of these tales have been collected a dozen times over at this point, but it is a worthy reminder. For a true master of the art, age is not an impediment. It is a chance to learn and improve. With Hellboy Richard Corben was born again. And it wouldn't even be his last time.
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