Hellboy will reunite with his father, Professor Trevor Bruttenholm, "just like old times" to investigate reported hauntings emanating from New York City's cemetery for unknown and unclaimed bodies. The adventure is told in February's Hellboy and the B.P.R.D.: 1957 - Forgotten Lives by co-writers Mike Mignola and Chris Roberson, with artist Stephen Green.
Check out this preview of Hellboy and the B.P.R.D.: 1957 - Forgotten Lives, colored by Dave Stewart and lettered by Clem Robins:
Hellboy and the B.P.R.D.: 1957 - Forgotten Lives preview
The cemetery Hellboy and the professor are visiting is a real-life location - Hart's Island, just off the coast of New York City's Bronx borough. The cemetery is referred to, as it is in real life - as a 'Potter's Field.' The term comes from the speculated burial ground of the Christian biblical character Judas Iscariot, who according to legend, betrayed Jesus Christ and was shunned thereafter. The various Potter's Fields around the world are commonly where people with no burial arrangements are buried.
So in this story, Hellboy and Professor Bruttenholm are walking into a mass grave of people effectively abandoned by their friends, family, and much of humanity. That sounds ripe for a spooky story indeed.
The idea of Potter's Fields has been used numerous times in comics - even a three-issue series called Potter's Field by Mark Waid and Paul Azaceta following an investigator attempting to uncover the identities of all those buried on Hart's Island.
This Hellboy and the B.P.R.D. one-shot is set after Professor Bruttenholm has largely left the organization - and by extension, Hellboy. As stated in the preview, he's pursuing his own interests (such as this "urban haunting"), and it offers up a chance for him and his adopted son Hellboy to spend some much-needed time together.
Hellboy and the B.P.R.D.: 1957 - Forgotten Lives goes on sale on February 9.
Hellboy ranks high on our list of the best non-Marvel and DC comic book superheroes.
