A crooked review and breakdown of Hellboy: The Crooked Man comic

Hellboy has captivated audiences from the world of games, movies, and where it all began, comics. One of the most revered Hellboy comics was the three issue mini series titled Hellboy: The Crooked Man. Creator and writer of the comic and the entire Hellboy mythos, Mike Mignola, has gone on record to say that the Hellboy: The Crooked Man he wrote is his favorite and best work.

The comic is getting adapted to the big screen this year, but how does the original comic stack up, and does it deserve all the praise from both fans and its creator? Let's journey through the horror filled world of Hellboy: The Crooked Man and find out! Spoilers ahead!

The overall story

The story takes place in the Appalachian Mountains in the year 1958, very early in Hellboy's career with the BPRD (Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense), as Big Red himself is investigating a suspected coven of witches in the local area.

During the investigation Hellboy encounters a man named Tom Ferrell, a local of the area recently returned to his roots. Tom finds what's called a witchball, a object laid with a curse upon whoever touches it, which Hellboy missed upon his initial investigation in the area. The witchball is discovered in the home of one Cora Fisher, a girl Tom knew back in the day, and he and Hellboy set out to find Cora in case something bad happened to her. While walking to find Cora, Hellboy and Tom talk with each other, the latter of whom talks about his past serving in World War II, and how he felt he needed to return home.

They reach a cabin where witchballs and other various occult objects are strewn about, and discover a most horrifying site: the flesh of Cora Fisher. Only, there's no blood or gore anywhere within the room, just an empty sack of skin. Tom recognizes the skin as belonging to Cora, and both deduce that Cora simply left her flesh behind and decided to wait for her to return to her body, putting her in the middle of Hellboy's investigation.

While they wait, Tom is asked by Hellboy about the time he saw the devil when they talking earlier, and Tom goes into how this girl he knew named Effie Kolb seduced to become a witch like herself. He made a pact with a local ghost called The Crooked Man, and was unknowingly given a piece of his power when Tom rejected him and set off to serve in the military.

Cora returns in the form of a raccoon, and re-enter's her human body. Upon questioning Cora, she explains that she became a witch out of desperation, but before any further questions can be asked, Effie Kolb is outside on a decaying horse. She informs them that The Crooked Man wants Cora and Tom to come to him, and so the three of them set out to confront The Crooked Man.

On the way to The Crooked Man, Cora is killed by the vengeance of witches who felt that Cora betrayed them, in that same attack that takes Cora's life, Tom and Hellboy are set upon by various creatures spawned from the power of the witches. Tom uses the power he took from The Crooked Man in the form of a lucky cat bone, and both he and Hellboy survive. Effie comes back to tell Tom that since he used the bone for the first time, he now belongs to The Crooked Man.

Tom and Hellboy continue their journey upon which they find an old church where an old blind priest resides. Shortly after arriving, they are all surrounded by witches, but the witches cannot enter holy ground for renouncing God and giving themselves over to The Crooked Man. Speaking of which, The Crooked Man himself makes his presence known, and wants to collect on the debt that he feels is due to him from Tom. Hellboy confronts the entity head on, but is temporarily defeated by him. The Crooked Man then tempts the priest with gold, the return of his youth and sight, and finally a young woman to love, all of these promised to the priest if he gives Tom over, but each gift the priest refuses.

The Crooked Man revives an army of the dead that Hellboy and Tom fight, while the priest realizes that the villain wants the cat bone more than he wants Tom, and thus sets about blessing the cat bone and expunging the evil from within. Hellboy uses a shovel endowed with the power of God upon The Crooked Man, who disappears after the first blow. The witches run away, their master defeated at last.

The next day, Tom and Hellboy go back into the woods where they discover the true form of The Crooked Man; a small, pathetic mass of tentacles surrounded by money. They give the now consecrated bone to The Crooked Man, and The Crooked Man disappears, for good.

They find Effie has turned into an old woman because without the powers of The Crooked Man to back her, she's nothing. Tom and Hellboy leave her, but not before turning her into a horse and writing on her side "Beware! I am a witch!"

Review

Reviewing such a well loved storyline can be difficult because this review might fall into the category of "what else is there to say about that hasn't already been said?" Well, this writer's willing to gamble that there'll be those interested and intrigued by what's going to be said here.

The story itself does take some time to get going, as it's filled with a lot of exposition to lay the groundwork for the characters, the mythology of the Appalachian region, and setting up to the Crooked Man himself. Any good story in any genre must set up their respective world's for the audience to understand what's going on in the beginning of the story, and Mignola does that in a way that makes the reader want to know more and more about the backstory behind the characters.

In this writer's opinion, many Hellboy stories suffer with too much exposition that feels like homework trying to remember everything that's been said and/or revealed rather than having the information flow naturally and not just dumped on the audience. Your mileage may vary if you find the exposition in Hellboy: The Crooked Man to be over explaining things, but the lore of the story and the backstories behind the character's doesn't break things up for this writer.

Once all the exposition is said and done, the story does get a lot better in terms of pacing because the villains, and the Crooked Man himself, are very eerie in the way they speak and act. Effie Kolb is both creepy and, in some ways, alluring in her appearance and delivery of her words, serving as the tempting vixen luring her prey to her side for her master, It's very well done in execution, with the stakes feeling very high and the tension being very consistent throughout the story.

Mike Mignola not only wrote and created Hellboy, he also drew a lot of the comics in which the character and his world was featured. However, there've been many cases where Mignola gave the art duties to other creatives, one of his most prominent collaborations was with acclaimed artist Richard Corben. Corben himself was a well respected artist in the field of comics and graphic novels, known for his horror works throughout his decades in the medium, as well as doing various album covers for musician Meat Loaf, and he took the artistic reins for The Crooked Man story.

The art in the story adds so much more depth and nuance to it that without Corben's contributions, the story wouldn't feel the same. Going back to Effie Kolb, when she's first revealed in the modern day of the story, she's seen riding a horse, where see herself was wearing very ratty clothes that leave little to the imagination. While that alluring nature to Kolb persists in this scene, there's also a nice underlying feeling of uneasiness that comes from how Kolb and the horse she's riding present themselves. The horse is a very pale and bony creature, with it's head in a very unnatural downward angle. Combined with that is the way Kolb moves while she was trying to convince Hellboy and company to join her Master, the Crooked Man. She tilts her head to the side playfully, but it comes across as unnerving.

This writer thinks that the Crooked Man's presence can be felt even when he isn't in the same place, because Kolb, the horse, and the other followers of the Crooked Man all share that same "crooked" appearance and way of moving and talking that makes the eventual reveal of the Crooked Man himself that much more impactful and terrifying.

Despite the few critiques explained in this article, Hellboy: The Crooked Man deserved all the praise it's garnered over the years since it was published, and if the upcoming film can capture that uneasiness found in the comic, then audiences should be happy with the end product.

What do you think? Have you read Hellboy: The Crooked Man? And if so, do you think it's overrated, underrated, or rated just right?