Mike Mignola’s Mignolaverse Eisner Award-winning horror tale, The Crooked Man, wraps up in the spirited two-part sequel, Hellboy and the B.P.R.D.: The Return of Effie Kolb – Part 2. The first part, released in February 2020.
Hellboy and the B.P.R.D.: The Return of Effie Kolb is penned by Mignola with artwork courtesy of Eisner Award-nominated illustrator Zach Howard, esteemed colorist Dave Stewart, and letters by Clem Robbins. The second part, delayed due to the ongoing pandemic, is the conclusion to this terrifying fable loosely inspired by an 1842 children’s nursery rhyme found in James Orchard Halliwell Nursery Rhymes of England and Nursery Rhymes and Nursery Tales, containing the first printed version of the Three Little Pigs and a version of the Christmas carol The Twelve Days of Christmas.
The story, set in the dark heart of the Appalachian woods of Virginia in 1958, takes place nine years after Hellboy vanquished the hillbilly demon, as he treks back to Appalachia when a teenage psychic named Sara warns Tom Ferrell of more malevolent events to come in the vacant mansion. Upon his return, Hellboy encounters a cursed man (Tom Ferrell)who’s sold his immortal soul to the grim grinning entity and crafty demon locally known as The Crooked Man. The two must hunt the woods for the decrepit hideaway of the backwoods creature to try and reverse Tom’s damnation.
In an interview and sneak peek of the finale, artist Zach Howard told SyFy Wire about the calamitous conclusion follows Hellboy’s eerie encounter with the new residents of The Crooked Man’s creepy home as a young spiritual sensitive still believes something incessantly evil is brewing in the macabre old Virginia mansion,
“In the first issue, we find young Sara and Hellboy departing an aged Tom to go see what darkness is afoot at the deceased Crooked Man’s mansion. It is in far worse condition than when we last saw Corben draw it from the original story and is now occupied by two strange new characters from NYC. Creepiness abounds; we find our heroes attempting to solve this mystery to start the second issue, and punch monsters in the teeth.”
All Hell breaks loose when Dark Horse Comics’ Hellboy and the B.P.R.D.: The Return of Effie Kolb Part 2 lands on shelves October 28, 2020.
