The Crooked Man’s Comic Book Influences in New Side-By-Side Images [Exclusive]

It’s been an interesting year for the comic book genre with major franchise team-ups and genre reinventions. However, if you like your stories dark and full of horror, the latest film in the Hellboy franchise, Hellboy: The Crooked Man, will soon be here to shoot the genre straight through the heart. The first trailer for the adaptation was released earlier this month. Now, in the wake of The Crooked Man’s San Diego Comic Con panel on Saturday, Collider has an exclusive side-by-side art comparison of the hellish story it’s based on by creator Mike Mignola.

Provided by Millennium Media, the three comic panels set up the haunting atmosphere while previewing the dreadful allure of the Crooked Man. The first two pieces show a young boy describing his encounter with a witch named Effie. The pair is seen doing a ritual together as the presents of the Crooked Man can be felt from the shadows. The boy even admits to wanting to become a witch himself. The final side-by-side segment depicts the chilling sight of a crucifix imprinted on a shovel. Each shot shown here is a near perfect recreation of the comic, being a great display of the folklore horror that this film encompasses. Mignola isn’t the easiest artist to replicate given his more moody, elongated and heightened realistic style. However, it appears director Brian Taylor has captured the spirit of Hellboy’s original stories. That makes sense since Mignola was an executive producer on the project. However, Taylor is no stranger to genre franchises himself. His previous work includes Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance and the Crank series of action films.

What’s ‘The Crooked Man’ About’?

The latest theatrical installment in the Hellboy series follows the famed supernatural detective and “a rookie BPRD agent as they get stranded in 1950s rural Appalachia. They discover a small community haunted by witches, led by the Crooked Man.” Hellboy as a character has had a mostly acclaimed cinematic run so far. The two films directed by Guillermo del Toro and starring Ron Perlman were some of the best reviewed comic book adventures of the 2000s. While the films have had a cult following, it never got a third film. However, the series was rebooted in 2019 with Stranger Things’ David Harbour taking on the Hellboy mantle. Behind-the-scenes drama and a poor box office return made the franchise lie dormant for half a decade. That’s, of course, until The Crooked Man hits later this year. While all three previous films have had horror elements to it, like shown above, this reboot looks to dive deep into the character’s comic book roots as well as the lore’s rich macabre aesthetic. Jack Kesy (Deadpool 2) will also be playing Hellboy this time around with an ensemble that includes Adeline Rudolph, Leah McNamara, Jefferson White and Joseph Marcell.

Hellboy: The Crooked Man doesn’t have a release date yet, but it will be scaring its way to audiences sometime in 2024. Earlier during SDCC weekend, Taylor suggested to Collider that the film may release in September. Yet, again, he admitted there wasn’t a concrete release date. Given that this time frame is less than two months away, we should hear more on the exciting front soon. There’s also still no word whether The Crooked Man will release in theaters, on VOD or have a hybrid model.

Hellboy: The Crooked Man

Hellboy: The Crooked Man follows Hellboy and a rookie BPRD agent as they get stranded in 1950s rural Appalachia. They discover a small community haunted by witches, led by the Crooked Man, a devil with a troubling connection to Hellboy’s past. 

Release Date

September 19, 2024

Director

Brian Taylor

Cast

Jack Kesy , Jefferson White , Martin Bassindale , Adeline Rudolph , Leah McNamara , Hannah Morgetson , Joseph Marcell , Nathan Cooper

Writers

Christopher Golden , Mike Mignola