Nazi-punching, devilishly funny and wonderfully weird, Hellboy is the superhero that the tabletop – and the rest of the world – needs right now. James M. Hewitt offers a peek at what his upcoming co-op comic-book adventure has in store

RAISING HELL

Words by Matt Jarvis

Anung Un Rama is a half-demon detective of the supernatural summoned from Hell to Earth in the early 17th century, but he’s perhaps never felt more relatable than in 2018. Maybe it’s because Hellboy – as he’s better known – has a burning hatred for Nazis and equally heated passion for punching them with his indestructible Right Hand of Doom, a pastime seemingly on the rise. Or is it possibly because his ironic sense of humour gels perfectly with a world of nonstop memes and in-jokes? It could simply be that it increasingly feels like the world’s greatest paranormal investigator is needed to just make sense of the last 12 or so months.

It’s something that writer and artist Mike Mignola probably didn’t see coming when he created the series in the early ‘90s, drawing on a mixture of pulp adventures, supernatural horror and detective stories to craft darkly twisted tales. 25 years, dozens of books, two blockbuster films directed by Guillermo del Toro and an upcoming big screen reboot later, Hellboy doesn’t quite stand alongside Batman, Superman or Iron Man in the pantheon of modern superheroes. Instead, he’s become a comic-book figure of a different kind altogether, symbolising a more distinctive and downright stranger ilk.

It’s this singular tone that James M. Hewitt insists is at the heart of his upcoming co-op board game based on Hellboy, which is set to heat up crowdfunding site Kickstarter in late April.

“One of the things we were keen to do from the start was make sure that we’re definitely sticking to the comic vibe rather than the movie,” Hewitt says. “Don’t get me wrong: I love the Hellboy movies, but they’re very much a different slant on things. The Hellboy comics, for anyone that’s not read them, they’re kind of dark, twisted fairytale detective stories at their core.