Homework 13 - Hellboy's Humanity

Hellboy stands apart from traditional superhero comics with a distinctive abstracted inky art style, a gritty violent world, and most of all, a surprisingly relatable protagonist. While other series with similarly dark worlds have a tendency to focus on the character’s emotional devastation and struggles, Hellboy recognizes these realities while still making Hellboy hilariously human.

A trademark of this time period for comics was the introduction of more fleshed out characters with personal problems in order for the audience to empathize with and relate to. Hellboy shows this element with the character’s innate desire to be liked by people, which is the motivation for his decision to join the paranormal investigation team, as well as his choice to whittle down his horns to appear more appealing to others. Both of these are very relatable as Hellboy’s desire to be liked is one we can all understand.

However, what makes Hellboy stand out is his realistic, yet very funny, way of reacting to horrifyingly paranormal situations.

In this, the audience can see not a hero with untouchable powers, but themselves after a long day of work or having to deal with people they can’t stand. This doesn’t take away from Hellboy’s struggles at all, either; the humor shows how often he has to face circumstances like this and despite how tired he is of seeing ridiculous danger over and over again, he still throws himself headfirst into peril to protect others.

Hellboy shows a story that shows what happens when people get thrown into impossibly insane situations and how we keep pushing through with sarcastic annoyance. This makes the series an inventive and entertaining experience as the audience goes through supernatural circumstances in an actually realistic way.