Hellboy Day Announced

To celebrate the 25th anniversary of his debut, Dark Horse Comics has announced that March 23, 2019 will officially become "Hellboy Day" to celebrate the iconic character.

"When I created Hellboy way back when, I never imagined he would be around long enough to celebrate a 25th anniversary," Mignola shared in a statement. "I'm grateful to the writers, artists, colorists, and letterers who have joined me in telling Hellboy stories for all these years. And, of course, so grateful to the fans. This thing could not exist without their support, and it's a pleasure every time I get to go out to meet them."

Mignola is slated to appear at a Hellboy Day signing at Earth 2 in Sherman Oaks, California.

Dark Horse will be publishing a 25th-anniversary edition of Hellboy: Seed of Destruction #1 with an all-new cover. Participating retailers will also have a temporary tattoo flash sheet, a Right Hand of Doom bookmark, window clings, and more. There will also be special prices on much of Hellboy's back catalog.

Hitting theaters weeks later will be an all-new Hellboy film, starring David Harbour, Ian McShane, and Milla Jovovich. The new Hellboy was directed by Neil Marshall.

The character first made his way to the big screen in a 2004 film starring Ron Perlman and directed by Guillermo del Toro, which got a sequel in 2008. While some fans are disappointed that the new film will be a reboot and not a continuation of that storyline, Mignola previously teased that without the same creative team involved, starting a new narrative would be best for the character and for fans.

"Early on there was some idea of continuing the storyline that del Toro had started but would that be fair to a new director? So we decided to just start over," Mignola shared with Deadline. "Neil [Marshall] is a horror director, so the idea then was to make a darker film. If you are going to use a guy, let him do what he does best. So we went through the script taking out the del Toro-isms and in some ways go out of our way to make sure we are doing a different Hellboy with its own distinct character [as a project] but still adhering to the comics."

Stay tuned for details on the upcoming Hellboy reboot, which hits theaters on April 12, 2019.

Are you looking forward to celebrating the iconic character on Hellboy Day? Let us know in the comments below!

[H/T The Hollywood Reporter]