Writer: Mike Mignola, Olivier Vatine | Artist: Olivier Vatine | Letterer: Clem Robins | Colorist: Olivier Vatine | Cover Artist: Olivier Vatine
Greek mythology is so pervasive that it has conquered several corners of our cultural world. It survived well into the Roman empire, disguising its names and tropes under Latin names, and thus reached far and wide with the expansion of the Roman borders.
Ovid wrote a beautiful book, Metamorphoses, where many transformations occur: the wrath of the gods can reach everything and everyone, and many a muse or rejected lover has ended up turning into something else.
Aphrodite was the goddess of love, and she was the most beautiful of all the goddesses. Whenever her beauty was challenged, she got vengeful. (Once, memorably, there were certain golden apples involved…)
Now Hellboy is in Greece with the B.P.R.D. and feels a call deep down a well. He’s a horned creature with hooves, after all, so perhaps he’s mistaken for Aegipan, one of the horned mythical creatures of the Greek world… And, of course, he gets to fight a Greek monster, the cyclops.
I could not find the referenced legend anywhere. Perhaps is not a true one but an extrapolation of all the other ones, since Greek myths are so rich and varied.
The drawings are inspired by Greek vases, and it is fun to see Hellboy in a toga—it truly is!
Hellboy and the B.P.R.D. — Night of the Cyclops is available on May 25, 2022.
Publication Date: May 25, 2022
Format: FC, 32 pages; One-shot
Price: $3.99
UPC: 7 61568 00944 6 00111
Featured image by Olivier Vatine, all images belong to Dark Horse Comics
