I am not a born & bred comics reader-- I go back to the source material when I get drawn in by a movie or fandom, or something else an author has written. Call me a latecomer, call me a bandwagon-jumper, call me someone who enjoys knocking out an enjoyable, fast read in under an hour.That said, the Hellboy series has all the things I love in a book-- a protagonist (who needs typical heroes?) who's "human" in all the senses of that word as a characteristic, not as a species. Hellboy makes mistakes, has smarts but sometimes gets results more because of determination and luck, is fierce and angry in favor of the people he cares for, and sometimes has no idea what the heck he's doing. Still, he keeps plodding on. The easy, sparkling solution has never been appealing to me. And while I am still getting used to comics' shorter, punchier narrative style, Hellboy has a distinctive voice, great wisecracks, and the drawings are gorgeous without being overly sexualized, stylized, and shiny-commercial.
