Alex Maleev’s ‘Hellboy & The B.P.R.D.’ To Tell The Story Of Hellboy’s First Mission

Dark Horse is getting its Comic-Con 2014 announcements started with some very good news from the realm of Hellboy. The blue collar apocalypse beast's heretofore unseen first mission with the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense will finally be depicted in Hellboy & The BPRD, and by none other than Alex Maleev from a story by Mike Mignola and John Arcudi.

The news comes courtesy of Nerdist, whose post comes with some hype text for the new mini:

A bizarre series of murders and rumors of something worse lead Professor Bruttenholm to send a young Hellboy to a Brazilian village on his first mission. Hellboy and a small group of agents uncover something terrible in the shadows of a sixteenth-century Portuguese fortress . . .

Hellboy & The BPRD is to the best of my knowledge the first Hellboy-starring story from Mignola since he sent his infernal hero to the depths below in the amazing Hellboy In Hell, and continues the cartoonist's stellar tradition of pairing his utterly idiosyncratic creation with complimentary artists. Best known for one of the definitive runs of Marvel's Daredevil, Maleev last drew Hellboy ten years ago in a short story for the anthology Hellboy: Weird Tales. Fans of gorgeous comic book art will be glad to know he's taking on a full-length story, particularly one with the visual cues suggested by the solicit text above.

Maleev talked about synthesizing his style with that of Mignola's, telling Nerdist:

The biggest challenge is having Mike Mignola going over my pages. It’s like being back in art school and having your teacher grading your work. Now I have not only myself and my editors to please, but Mike as well dangling like the Right Hand of Doom over my neck. The project keeps me very much on the edge of my seat.

And...

Mike and I share design ideas of the world in which the story takes place. He has created the Hellboy universe and, stylistically, I have to stay within these boarders. I am free to design some stuff but, in my opinion, a Hellboy book has to be a Hellboy book that Mike has a great part in. I don’t mind that at all. I am not, by any means, restricted by what has already been established. The artistic uphill battle for me is to add my own ingredients without throwing the world off balance.

Hellboy & The BPRD #1 goes on sale in December from Dark Horse.