Best Art Ever (This Week): Hellboy 20th Anniversary Edition

We make a regular practice at ComicsAlliance of spotlighting particular artists or specific bodies of work, but because cartoonists, illustrators and their fans share countless numbers of great images on sites like Flickr, Tumblr, DeviantArt and seemingly infinite art blogs that we’ve created Best Art Ever (This Week), a weekly depository for just some of the pieces of especially compelling artwork that we come across in our regular travels across the Web. Some of it’s new, some of it’s old, some of it’s created by working professionals, some of it’s created by future stars, some of it’s created by talented fans, and some of it’s endearingly silly. All of it’s awesome.

In honor of this year’s 20th anniversary of the first appearance of Hellboy, the enduringly popular and endlessly entertaining ex-paranormal investigator created by Mike Mignola. One of comics' most idiosyncratic characters with a supporting cast to match, Hellboy is cited by many artists rivaling Batman as the most fun character to draw and reimagine in different styles. Throughout the existence of Best Art we've featured loads and loads of visions of Hellboy and his friends in the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense, and what follows is a compilation of some of our favorites.

For those of you new to the world of Mike Mignola and Hellboy, the entire saga is available in easily digestible paperbacks or luxurious cloth covered library editions from Dark Horse. You will be hard pressed to find a more consistently executed vision of comic book excellence.

B.P.R.D. by Duncan Fegredo

 
 
 Hellboy by Mike Mignola (click to enlarge)

 
 
 Hellboy and Wolverine by Matt Kaufenberg

 
 
 B.P.R.D.’s Liz Sherman by Ryan Sook

 
 
 Hellboy by Arian Noveir

 
 
 Hellboy vs. Rasputin by Scott Morse

 
 
 Hellboy by Chris Stevens

 
 
 Abe Sapien by Dave Stokes

 
 
 Hellboy and Liz Sherman by Dan Brereton

 
 
 B.P.R.D. by Kevin Nowlan

 
 
 Abe Sapien by Cory Loftis

 
 
 Hellboy by Dusty Abell and Norman Lee

 
 
 Hellboy by Steve Purcell

 
 
 Hellboy by M.S. Corley

 
 
 Hellboy by Mike Mignola

 
 
 Hellboy and Abe Sapien versus the Lincoln Memorial by Tom Fowler

 
 
 B.P.R.D. by Cameron Stewart from the collection of Christopher Haggard

 
 
 Hellboy by Duncan Fegredo

 
 
 Abe Sapien by Bruce Timm

 
 
 Hellboy by Max Fiumara

 
 
 Batman and Hellboy by Matt Cauley

 
 
 B.P.R.D.’s Liz Sherman by Faith Erin Hicks

 
 
 Hellboy by Frank Cho

 
 
 Hellboy by Andy Brase

 
 
 Abe Sapien by Joshua Covey

 
 
 Hellboy vs. Anung Un Rama by Andrew R. MacLean

 
 
 ellboy, the Spectre, and Deadman by Ryan Sook

 
 
 Hellboy by Duncan Fegredo

 
 
 Hellboy by Ricardo Arenas-Garcia

 
 
 Hellboy by Francisco Perez

 
 
 Hellboy by Brian Churilla

 
 
 Hellboy vs Fin Fang Foom by Duncan Fegredo

 
 
 Lobster Johnson by Colton Worley

 
 
 Hellboy by Andy Brase

 
 
 Batman and Hellboy by Mike Mignola and Francesco Francavilla

 
 
 B.P.R.D. by Guy Davis

 
 
 Hellboy and BPRD by Abigail Larson

 
 
 Hellboy by Jeff Lemire

 
 
 Hellboy, Liz Sherman and Abe Sapien by Bill Reinhold

 
 
 Johann Krauss by Joshua Covey

 
 
 Hellboy by Mike Mignola

 
 
 Lobster Johnson by James Harren

 
 
 Hellboy by Bill Sienkiewicz

 
 
 Hellboy/BPRD by Dane Ault

 
 
  
 
 Wolverine and Hellboy by Riikka Auvinen

 
 
 Hellboy in Hell by Sean Anderson

 
 
 Lobster Johnson by Mike Mignola and Dave Stewart

 
 
 Hellboy by Travis Charest

 
 
 B.P.R.D. Hell on Earth: Return of the Master #4 by Ryan Sook

 
 
  
 
 Hellboy by Romik Safarian

 
 
 Hellboy by Duncan Fegredo

 
 
 Abe Sapian by Caanan Grall

 
 
 Abe Sapien by Dylan Rose

 
 
 BPRD’s Roger the Homunculus by Max Fiumara

 
 
 Abe Sapien by Fellipe Martins

 
 
 Abe Sapien by Christopher Mitten for Multiversity

 
 
 Hellboy by Thomas Moore

 
 
 Hellboy by Francesco Francavilla

 
 
 Hellboy by Gerald Parel

 
 
 Hellboy by Gabriele Dell’Otto

 
 
 Hellboy/Peanuts mashup by Raid71 aka Chris Thornley for Art V. Cancer

 
 
 Hellboy by Scott Morse

 
 
 Batman Hellboy Starman #1 cover by Mike Mignola

 
 
 Hellboy by James Harren

 
 
 Hellboy and Starman by Mike Mignola

 
 
 Abe Sapien by Max Fiumara and Dave Stewart

 
 
 Hellboy by Mike Mignola

 
 
 Hellboy by Shane Glines

 
 
 Hellboy by Kevin Nowlan

 
 
 Lobster Johnson by Mike Henderson

 
 
 Hellboy by Jonathan Case

 
 
 Hellboy by Mike Mignola

 
 
 Hellboy by Mike Norton for Multiversity

 
 
 Abe Sapien by Greig Rapson

 
 
 Abe Sapien by Dalton Rose for Multiversity

 
 
 Hellboy as a cat by Axel Medellin for The Line It Is Drawn

 
 
 Abe Sapien by Tradd Moore for Multiversity

 
 
 Hellboy by Saumin Patel for Multiversity

 
 
 Hellboy by Brian Churilla

 
 
 Lobster Johnson by Tonci Zonjic

 
 
 Batman/Hellboy/Starman by Tony Harris from the collection of Andy Khouri (that's me - nyah nyah)