Dark Horse Comics
Dark Horse Comics is an American comic book publisher founded by Mike Richardson in 1986.
Since 1994, Dark Horse has published Mike Mignola's Hellboy comics.
History
Legend
In 1994, Dark Horse started the "Legend" imprint. Inspired by Malibu Comics' Image, Legend focused on creator-owned work, promoting original series by a stable of high-profile comic creators. Mignola's Hellboy became one of the imprint's first titles. Other Legend creators included John Byrne, Art Adams, Frank Miller, Dave Gibbons, and Geof Darrow.
Danger Unlimited was my second title for the newly minted Legend imprint, and the one that was to be part of a "shared universe." DU would inhabit the same world as Hellboy and Monkeyman and O'Brien [...] Legend was not a "universe." Only one little corner of the whole was to be seen as cohesive. And, as noted, even that just barely.
—John Byrne, foreword to Danger Unlimited TPB, January 2009
Three Legend creators initially planned for their comics to exist in a shared universe – John Byrne's Danger Unlimited, Art Adams's Monkeyman and O'Brien, and Mike Mignola's Hellboy – though it should be noted that much of the Legend line was standalone, with other creators adamant that their work remain independent. Examples of this three-way collaboration include:
- The Torch of Liberty (from Byrne's Danger Unlimited) appears in Hellboy: Seed of Destruction.
- Hellboy appears in a flashback in Danger Unlimited #4 alongside the Torch of Liberty and other heroes.
- Byrne's Babe 2 miniseries (set in the world of Danger Unlimited) features Abe Sapien in a prominent role, joining forces with Babe against the Shrewmanoid (a villain from Adams's Monkeyman and O'Brien). Hellboy also makes a cameo in the last page of the story.
- Dr. Robert Carson (from Byrne's Danger Unlimited) was mentioned in The Chained Coffin.
The publications also had non-canonical crossovers:
- Monkeyman and O'Brien was published as a back-up in Hellboy: Seed of Destruction #1–4. The content of the actual stories did not overlap.
- Hellboy appeared in John Byrne's Next Men #21, portrayed as a fictional comic book character in the Next Men universe.
However, Mignola and Byrne both recall that this idea quickly became problematic – the difficulties of coordination and organization swiftly outweighed any benefits, and it was better that they each have their own universes. As a result, elements of these crossovers have been minimized or excised from Hellboy continuity (going unmentioned in supplemental material like Hellboy: The Companion):
- The Torch of Liberty has not made a notable reappearance since Seed of Destruction. Later depictions of the Hellboy Incident tend to minimize or wholly omit his presence at the event.
- Most reprints of Seed of Destruction not only do not include the Monkeyman and O'Brien backups, but also remove the promotional text from the issue covers and obscure Adams's illustrations of the duo with the B.P.R.D. logo.
- The mention of Dr. Robert Carson was excised from later publications of The Chained Coffin.
Original Seed of Destruction cover, promoting Monkeyman and O'Brien.
Reprinted cover, sans Monkeyman and O'Brien.
Compared to Seed of Destruction #1 (1994), Hellboy and the B.P.R.D.: (/entry/1952) #1 (2014) minimizes the Torch's presence.
Beginning with the 1998 reprint, The Chained Coffin no longer mentions Dr. Carson.
By 1998, Legend had been retired.
External Links
- Dark Horse Comics
- Dark Horse Comics on Wikipedia
- Dark Horse Database wiki