Oh boy! Hellboy is in serious trouble; we haven't seen reviews this bad since Star Wars: The Last Jedi turned Princess Leia into Sputnik and Luke Skywalker into a hologram. Yep, the news is out and this movie is beyond awful. This could have an impact on some of the Hellboy keys. After all, a bad movie or TV show can sink the comic book keys associated with that character. Is that the case with Hellboy?

Next Men #21

Hellboy first appeared in a regular series in Next Men #21. He was created by Mike Mignola (pencils and inks) with John Byrne (script, pencils, and inks). This was the first appearance of Hellboy in a regularly published title. His actual first full appearance was in San Diego Comic-Con Comics #2 (August 1993). This first full Hellboy appearance was only in black & white. However, the published title is what we are reviewing here. This is simply because more folks own it, it has a wider audience than the Comic-Con book. Let us take a look at Next Men #21 the published issue and it's most recent return over the previous month up to the movie.

Next Men #21 short-term return (30 days):

  • Grade 9.8 $375 FMV has returned positive +9.4%
  • Grade 9.2 $130 FMV has returned positive -1.7%
  • Grade 8.0 $60 FMV has returned positive +20.9%
  • Grade 6.5 $50 FMV has returned positive +25%

These returns were calculated from dates 3/1/19 thru 4/13/19 and appear to be holding their value, though with a slight dip in the 9.2 grade. Apparently, this book is relatively unaffected by serious reviews critical to and excoriating of the latest Hellboy movie. Hellboy (2019) Rotten Tomatoes currently sits at 11%. That tomato is about as rotten as you can get, pretty nasty. This is the problem with movies pushing up comic values, they can also potentially plummet with bad reviews. Here are a few of the tastier reviews for your enjoyment:

 

  • "Hellboy feels editorially chopped to bits, tonally disjointed and created from clashing perspectives." -WGTC
  • "Hellboy is some very ill-advised cinema..a cinematic trainwreck." -BMD
  • "A soulless, noisy mess of a movie..." -Den of Geek
  • "It's two hours long but feels like an eternity, lurching incoherently from one noisy set-piece to another." -Time Out

 

I liked the one about it being a "cinematic trainwreck," didn't you? Yep, Hellboys and Hellgirls the geeks destroyed this movie with their reviews, soon it will get capsized by the upcoming titan Avengers: Endgame. I had a feeling it would not be up to snuff as stated in my last review of early Hellboy comics (see here: Comic-Con Comics: Hellboy) It is still pretty early to tell what the impact it will ultimately have short-term on the comic. But the good news and there is some; the CGC Census is only tracking 1872 of these beauties. Therefore, the (almost) limited distribution run in the early issues gives you a price buffer. That is probably the reason the declines aren't worse. Just to exorcize our demon (Ahem!) let's look at the long-term trend returns for this issue Next Men #21.

 

 

 

Next Men #21 return long-term (max 10,000 sales back to 2000):

  • Grade 9.8 $375 FMV has returned positive +50.7%
  • Grade 9.2 $130 FMV has returned positive +50.3%
  • Grade 8.0 $60 FMV has returned positive +27.8%
  • Grade 7.5 $50 FMV has returned positive +59.4%

There ya go. Way to go Hellboy! End on a positive note I always say. All long-term grades are doing well and represent a solid investment over time. Saying that is kind of like giving a guy ice water in speculative Hell, or not, you decide.