Is It Good? Hellboy in Hell #4 Review

Hellboy in Hell #4 (Dark Horse)

From what I’ve gathered, issue #4 of Hellboy in Hell is the last of the first arc. It’s definitely defied expectations, but has left me underwhelmed. Blame it on years of anticipation; the worst kind of horror nerd blue balls, longing for a grandoise explosion of creepiness and flames. Instead, we end with issue #4, and now is when I become blasphemous and tell you why I think it sucks.

Spoiler alert. Hide yo’ kids, hide ya’ wife.

So, Edward Gray is in Hell, and pulls Hellboy all up out of “The Abyss.” This seems like kind of a cheap ploy to get people to read Edward Gray, if we were to be honest with ourselves. Anyway, we find out that Hellboy has…

SUPERMEGA SPOILER ALERT. STOP READING IF YOU DON’T WANT THIS SHIT SPOILED LIKE WEEK OLD SALMON LEFT OUT IN THE SUN.

Okay, seriously, go read the comic before reading this review. I’ve done my part to warn you.

Hellboy done killed The Devil. What’s worse, he doesn’t even remember doing it. For reals? Years upon years of waiting for Hellboy to meet The Devil, and the best we get are, tops, two panels of him killing The Devil, then proceeding to tell Eddie Gray he doesn’t remember doing it. For fuck’s sake, really? I assume it was The Devil. At the very least, it was a major demon, as he has a Chamber under Pandemonium, which is the main city of Hell.

The art is fantastic, don’t get me wrong. And it’s not a terrible comic, or even a terrible arc. But it’s not the jaw-dropping, amazeballs, piss ya pants awesomefest most of us have waited for. It’s like waiting a whole day for a feast, and then getting a platter of chicken fingers. Sure, you’ll eat it, you’ve been hungry all day. But it’s not the bounty you expected, nor is it fair to wait for so long for something so underwhelming.

Good representation of the first arc.

Is It Good?

5.0

• Great art
• No matter what, still a cool depiction of Hell

• Huge plot points Hellboy just doesn’t remember
• Extremely underwhelming for Hellboy being in Hell

As stated, this is the first arc, but I think my initial fears were correct with the first issue. Blame it on expectation. It makes everything suck. If you wait too long for anything, it gets built up in your mind, and with each year, the expectation is made greater. And then, boom, you get what you’ve been waiting for. And it never is as huge as you thought.

Here’s hoping the next issue of Hellboy in Hell has him doing something more, I don’t know, hellish? Maybe using his fucking RIGHT HAND OF MOTHERFUCKING DOOM!?