Inspired by Hellboy’s 20th anniversary
AND the beginning of Hellboy and the BPRD #1—a new, ongoing series.
A few months ago when I first started writing for GeeksOut, I found myself compulsively scanning my bookshelves for article ideas. Which graphic novels had queer characters featured in them? Which ones had analogous themes that could resonate with queer audiences? Which ones had coded queer characters who may not have been allowed to be out due to the Comics Code Authority? I happily began to compile a list. This was gonna be good.
However, a few days into my process, I noticed something: one shelf kept getting skipped over while I was reviewing my books—my Mike Mignola shelf. Now, I am a fan of the Mignola-verse. I own every copy of Hellboy, the BPRD, BPRD: Hell on Earth, Abe Sapien, Hellboy in Hell, Lobster Johnson, and Witchfinder that have been published these last twenty years. The time span present in these volumes reaches from the late 1800s to a dark, dystopian future; yet, as I stared at my shelf, I couldn’t think of a single queer character—coded or otherwise—to grace the pages in the last two decades.
My first reaction was one of indignation: how did a well-renowned author like Mike Mignola get away with having such little diversity? Surely, in twenty years of publishing, he could’ve thrown a bone to the queer community! There’s really no excuse…
Perhaps because I loved all-things Hellboy so much, the sting was greater. I had invested hundreds of dollars in purchasing—and probably as many man-hours reading and re-reading—these treasured books. I had grown close to the characters, seen them grieve, grow, and gain direction in their lives. I had suffered with them when colleagues died; I had urged them on when they were plagued by personal doubts; I had seen them take on a world that was destroyed and try to survive as best they could.
Now suddenly, the realization that I was not—and never had been—a part of their world was too much. I stewed for days.
Over lunch one day, I brought up this dilemma with my husband: was Mignola against queer representation? Shouldn't he be making an effort to include a wider spectrum in his multi-decade-spanning (and ever-expanding) epic? With a clarity that I often envy, my husband set down his drink and asked: “Does he positively depict straight relationships?”
And then I realized: no. Mignola, with his focus entirely on the stories that he is crafting, has had hardly any major love interest for any of his characters (the one exception being Alice from Hellboy: the Storm and the Fury, which I argue was only to make the audience feel more sympathy when Hellboy died). In a land of gods and monsters, love sometimes takes a back seat, and that’s okay.
If I were trapped in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, overrun by Chthulu-esque monstrosities that wanted to eat me alive, I don't think I'd be spending too much time on romance myself. Hellboy and the agents of the BPRD are right in the thick of that mess. I think I love the characters enough that I would rather they fight for their life than try to bone each other.
While it would be nice to see a wider variety of humanity represented (additionally, his cast of characters is mostly white and male), it is the author's perogative whether or not to do so. It reminds me of the old joke: “I’m not racist: I hate everyone equally”--as long as an author is hating (or more appropriately ignoring) all love equally, who am I to call him bigoted?
And while I still would love to see some monster-man on monster-man loving, I also need to step back from time to time, set aside any personal agendas, and simply enjoy good storytelling.
Author’s Well-Known Works: Hellboy, The BPRD, The BPRD: Hell on Earth, Hellboy in Hell, Abe Sapien
Author's Works that Feature Prominent Queer Characters: None
Grade: Seemingly an F, but Non-Applicable after closer scrutiny.
