Hellboy In Mexico – Hellboy: The Complete Short Stories Volume 1

Art by: Richard Corben

Colors by: Dave Stewart

Letters by: Clem Robins

Plot:

Hellboy tells Abe the story of his trip to Mexico in 1956, where he met 3 luchador brothers who went from wrestlers to supernatural hunters because of a vision in which The Virgin Mary apparently told them to hunt evil.

He tells the tragic tale of how the youngest of the brothers, whom he had grown closest to, vanished without a trace one night after drinking, only to reappear as a large hellish vampire bat creature, whom Hellboy winds up having to kill in order to save his friend from the curse of vampirism.

Hellboy reveals that he doesn’t recall what events followed from that night on. He says that two B.P.R.D. agents picked him up, unconscious outside a bar a few months later but it’s revealed to the reader that those months proved to be eventful.

Story:

Hellboy in Mexico is a great starting point for new readers, and if you wanted to know more about his time there and those months he supposedly doesn’t remember, you can read about them in the ‘Hellboy in Mexico TPB’, as well as the story being further expanded in ‘Hellboy and the B.P.R.D.: 1956’.

If you watched the 2019 Hellboy film, you’ll have witnessed the finale of this story unfold in the first Hellboy sequence, in which Hellboy fights the giant Bat-Monster in a wrestling ring in Mexico, before getting blackout drunk at a bar as a way of mourning his friend, knowing full well that there was no way to save him.

Art:

The art by Richard Corben in this story is a brilliantly detailed set of pages and panels that give us colorful characters such as the luchador brothers and the vampires they slay. Along with Dave Stewart’s colors, the story is colorful yet dark, as the tones are kept less vibrant than other Hellboy stories, as the plot to this tale is one of loss. It brings out the colors of Mexico’s desert and accurately portrays the setting.

Conclusion:

Hellboy in Mexico is a sad tale that is yet again, a great introductory story to the world of Hellboy. I’d love to get a copy of the TPB version so that I can see where the story goes during those months in which Hellboy claims he can’t remember due to copious amounts of alcohol.

Another great short story that shows Hellboy’s interactions and impacts around the world.