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!!!

David Peterson

Riley Rossmo

Steve Seeley 

Vic Malhotra

Tyler Crook

Peter Snejbjerg

Joe Querio

Dennis Culver

Kyle Strahm

Ricardo Venancio

Richard Pace

Ben Oliver

  

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....

Thanks to Griffin Hartter for sharing on Facebook...  

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...

Acker is very talented and I am interested on his approach to Beast of Burden. He plans on going with the animated approach to this one, and I think that is great. A CGI/human hybrid would only result in a Beverly Hills Chihuahua & Dogs and Cats mockery of a movie rather than something potentially cool like Who Framed Roger Rabbit. It is also good to see movie companies looking towards smaller publishers like Dark Horse, as well as comic books that involve more than super heroes. Acker has been working with Guillermo Del Torro on an animated feature, so that makes me feel like the guy has some potential cause Del Torro doesn't just work with anybody. I can't wait to see how this one pans out. Since this is an animated feature I would assume that this one is 2 to 3 years off... so for the time being click here to order the Beast of Burden Collected Edition and enjoy the press release announcing the details below....

The project is an animated adventure about the baffling behavior (tail chasing, barking at “nothing” at all) of our favorite four-legged friends. In the charming town of Burden Hill, there might be more to these animal antics than meets the eye. The town is inhabited by the supernatural, and when its paranormal activity becomes even more abnormal than usual, it’s up to a group of fearless canines called the Watch Dogs to protect its citizens – and humanity – from the mysterious things that go “bump” in the night.

Here’s the rest of the relevant portions of the press release:

Acker is the latest filmmaker Reel FX has attracted to its growing animation slate, which already includes the Day of the Dead-themed project, The Book of Life (Guillermo del Toro producing/Jorge Gutierrez directing), which will be released in theaters by Fox Animation on October 10, 2014; and Turkeys (Jimmy Hayward directing, starring Owen Wilson and Woody Harrelson), which will be released in theaters on November 14, 2014 by Relativity Media.

Reel FX recently announced that Warner, the Academy Award-winning producer of the animated blockbusters Shrek, Shrek 2 and Shrek the Third, had joined the growing movie studio as President of Animation.

Warner notes, “Reel FX is continuing to partner with some of the leading filmmakers in animation. Shane is an immense talent and will bring his fresh vision and approach to this adaptation of ‘Beasts of Burden.’”

Says Acker, “It’s a pleasure to be working with such accomplished producers and filmmakers on this incredible project. There is a real independent spirit at Reel FX — the studio is full of energy and fresh ideas — which is necessary to bring this unique story to life.”

Thanks to /Film for making my day...

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...