Hellboy
This chapter on Mike Mignola'sHellboy examines Hellboy's unwitting submergence into a supernatural dimension in terms of a romantic quest to reconcile his demonic essence and his human upbringing. It also elaborates on the romantic inclinations manifested through the series' nostalgia for disappeared (fantastic) worlds. It focuses, first, on Hellboy’s combination of storyworlds that overwhelm human reality and reflect nostalgia for forgotten and fantastic worlds and second, Hellboy’s doomed quest. Another element related to the spectacle and recurring throughout the Hellboycomics is the tense relationship between animation and control. The chapter then broaches the relevance of the spectacle itself—the theatrical nature of which is emphasized by the supernatural creatures who watch and comment on Hellboy’s struggles from another world.