Hellboy is one of the most famous and well-known superheroes outside Marvel and DC, and a big part of his instant recognition comes down to the unique and visually striking art of Hellboy’s creator Mike Mignola, which has set the tone for the entire Hellboy mythos even as other artists have come into the fold.
Now, that same legendary art style provides the visual blueprint for Upstream Arcade's just announced Hellboy video game, Hellboy: Web of Wyrd, which looks like it was practically ripped right off the comic page, right down to how it uses large areas of black shadow to define the shapes of the characters and environment.
Judging by the trailer, fans of Hellboy comics will feel right at home thanks to the visual style, created from key art by Mignola himself. But there's more to Mignola's comic art than just a distinctive style (which you can see an example of here).
Dating back to the late '80s/early '90s, Mignola pioneered a style of comic art based on the classic chiaroscuro style of some European comics which relies on a strong contrast between hard, blocked-in blacks and clearly defined shapes in white as well as the style of mid-20th century American comic artists such as Jack Kirby and Alex Toth with a focus on large, easily readable shapes that guide the eye across the comic page.
Mignola's Hellboy art style has become a visual language unto itself for an entire wave of comic artists, branching out far beyond just those who contribute to the world of Hellboy and the BPRD.
Now, that style is coming to Hellboy: Web of Wyrd, the first trailer for which shows off an action-packed showdown between Hellboy and one of the many monsters you'll take down in the 'roguelite' action game (which means that you'll spend a lot of time interacting with your environment for stealth action alongside the monster fights).
And if the trailer and accompanying images are accurate, it looks like Mignola's art style will make a fairly seamless transition to the game - perhaps even setting a new trend of comic book video games that take more direct visual inspiration from the unique art styles on the comic page.
Here's a gallery of images from the game, showing how it adapts Mignola's visual style:
Hellboy is one of the best supernatural superheroes of all time.
