Hellboy: Conqueror Worm

Last updated
Hellboy:
Conqueror Worm
Hellboy Conqueror Worm.jpg
Cover to the trade paperback
Art by Mike Mignola
Publication information
Publisher Dark Horse Comics
ScheduleMonthly
Format Limited series
Genre
Publication dateMay–August 2001
No. of issues4
Creative team
Created by Mike Mignola
Written by Mike Mignola
Artist(s) Mike Mignola
Colorist(s) Dave Stewart
Collected editions
Hellboy: Conqueror Worm ISBN   1-56971-699-4

Hellboy: Conqueror Worm is a Hellboy comic book mini-series, written and drawn by Mike Mignola and published by Dark Horse Comics.

Contents

This work was inspired by the Edgar Allan Poe poem of the same name.

Plot

In 2000, BPRD Director Tom Manning tells Hellboy and Roger that a satellite photo has captured a space capsule with a Nazi symbol reentering the atmosphere on course towards Hunte Castle in Austria, from which it was launched in 1939. A local police officer, Laura Karnstein, has offered to guide them there. In private, Manning reveals to an appalled Hellboy that Roger has been fitted with a bomb, just powerful enough to destroy him, and gives Hellboy the detonator in case the worst should happen.

Reaching the castle, Hellboy and Roger are separated and ambushed by Herman von Klempt and one of his cybernetic Kriegaffen ("war apes"). Hellboy awakes in a torture chamber, where "Karnstein" stands at von Klempt's side, revealing herself to be his granddaughter, Inger.

Roger is guided to the castle's power plant by Lobster Johnson, where he absorbs the generator's energy and deprives the castle of its power, allowing Hellboy to free himself from his restraints. Wandering through the castle, Hellboy encounters an extraterrestrial prisoner disguised as a man, who explains that the Nazis somehow made contact with ancient evil beings in space, and sent the capsule carrying a dead body for one of them to inhabit. Roger reunites with Hellboy just as the capsule lands.

Gas streams out of the capsule and transforms Inger's men into mindless frog monsters. The monstrous Conqueror Worm emerges and begins devouring the transformed men, growing larger as it does so. Inger, protected in part from the gas's effects by a gas mask, asks her grandfather how he can hope to control something like the Worm. Herman replies that he does not intend to; after the fall of the Third Reich, and the failure of his multiple projects to bring about the Nazis' planned conquest of the world, Herman no longer cares about causes, or his family, and simply wants to watch the end of the world. Inger removes her mask to realize that it has not protected her from the gas, only minimized the transformative effects, leaving her a humanoid frog creature who is just barely able to think and speak.

Von Klempt attacks Hellboy and Roger, but Roger destroys his robotic body and sends his preserved head falling off a cliff to his death. Roger initially urges Hellboy to let him get close to the Worm and then detonate the bomb, but Hellboy refuses, and instead they use Roger's body as a conductor to deliver a massive electrical shock to the Worm via a lightning rod, destroying it.

Inger is tempted by the ghost of Grigori Rasputin, who says she cannot prevent the end of the world, but can play a pivotal role in the world that will follow. Before she can act, however, she is shot dead by Lobster Johnson.

Hellboy, disgusted by the Bureau's actions toward Roger, gives the detonator back to Manning and announces that he's quitting, telling Kate Corrigan that he plans to travel to Africa, and after that "wherever the wind blows."

In an epilogue, Rasputin's ghost is confronted by Hecate, now inhabiting the body of Ilsa Haupstein imprisoned in an iron maiden. Hecate taunts Rasputin that all of his attempts to manipulate events in the living world are useless, since the only force that can release the Ogdru Jahad is Hellboy's stone right hand, and Rasputin will never control him. Rasputin screams in defiance at this with such force that his spirit shatters into bone splinters. Baba Yaga takes one of these splinters and puts it into an acorn, to wear around her neck.

Collected editions

It was collected as the fifth Hellboy trade paperback:

Awards

Notes

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hellboy</span> Comic book superhero

Hellboy is a superhero created by Mike Mignola and appearing in comic books published by Dark Horse Comics. The character first appeared in San Diego Comic-Con Comics #2, and has since appeared in various miniseries, one-shots and intercompany crossovers. The character has been adapted into four live-action films: Hellboy (2004) and its sequel The Golden Army (2008), a 2019 reboot film, and The Crooked Man, another reboot scheduled to release in 2024. The character also appeared in two straight-to-DVD animated films and three video games – Dogs of the Night (2000), The Science of Evil (2004) and Web of Wyrd (2023).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense</span> Fictional government agency

The Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense is a fictional organization in the comic book work of Mike Mignola. The B.P.R.D. originally appeared in the Hellboy comics and has since become a major part of its expanded universe, where it was supposedly founded by the United States and United Kingdom governments, and charged with researching the occult, paranormal and supernatural, and also defending against their dangers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mike Mignola</span> American comic artist and writer

Michael Mignola is an American comic book artist and writer best known for creating Hellboy for Dark Horse Comics, part of a shared universe of titles including B.P.R.D., Abe Sapien, Lobster Johnson, and various spin-offs. He has also created other supernatural and paranormal themed titles for Dark Horse including Baltimore, Joe Golem, and The Amazing Screw-On Head.

Elizabeth Anne "Liz" Sherman is a fictional character appearing in the Hellboy comic book series created by Mike Mignola. A firestarter, she becomes a ward of the B.P.R.D. at age 11 after burning her family to death in a traumatic accident. Sherman later hones her abilities and becomes a longtime field agent for the Bureau alongside Hellboy and Abe Sapien.

<i>Aliens vs. Predator</i> (comics) Comic book series started in 1989

Aliens vs. Predator is a comic book series published by Dark Horse Comics between 1989 and 2020 on an intermittent basis, written and drawn by various artists. Dark Horse also publishes the Aliens and Predator lines of comics.

Karl Ruprecht Krönen is a fictional supervillain in the Hellboy comic book series, created by Mike Mignola.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lobster Johnson</span> Comic book character

Lobster Johnson is a fictional character featured in the Hellboy and Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense comic books published by Dark Horse Comics. He was created by Mike Mignola.

Grigori Rasputin (<i>Hellboy</i>) Comics character

Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin is a fictional supervillain in the comic book series Hellboy. The character was created by Mike Mignola and John Byrne, and was based on the real life Russian mystic of the same name. Rasputin serves as the second archenemy of Hellboy after the Ogdru Jahad.

<i>Hellboy: The Science of Evil</i> 2008 video game

Hellboy: The Science of Evil is a video game adapted from the 2004 Hellboy film by Guillermo del Toro, based on the comic book character of the same name. It was released for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PlayStation Portable on June 24, 2008, in North America, followed by an August 15 release in Europe and August 22 release in Australia.

Hellboy Animated is an American straight-to-DVD anime-inspired superhero film series based upon the Hellboy comic books by Mike Mignola. Both films are anthologies and contain the full-length titles named Sword of Storms and Blood and Iron, received the signature of Mike Mignola and Guillermo del Toro.

<i>Hellboy: Seed of Destruction</i> Comic book mini-series

Hellboy: Seed of Destruction is the first Hellboy comic book mini-series, published by Dark Horse Comics. It was conceived and illustrated by Mike Mignola and scripted by John Byrne. The comic served as the basis for the 2004 film Hellboy, directed by Guillermo del Toro.

<i>Hellboy: Wake the Devil</i>

Hellboy: Wake the Devil is a five-issue comic book mini-series in the Hellboy franchise, conceived and illustrated by Mike Mignola and published by Dark Horse Comics. Various elements and sections of plot were later used in the animated film Hellboy: Blood and Iron.

<i>Hellboy: Strange Places</i>

Hellboy: Strange Places is the sixth trade paperback collection in the Hellboy series created by Mike Mignola published by Dark Horse Comics on April 26, 2006 which collects the mini-series The Third Wish and The Island featuring fictional paranormal detective Hellboy.

<i>B.P.R.D.: Plague of Frogs</i>

B.P.R.D.: Plague of Frogs is the third trade paperback collection in the B.P.R.D. series.

<i>Hellboy: Darkness Calls</i>

Hellboy: Darkness Calls is a comic book limited series created by Mike Mignola and published by American company Dark Horse Comics. Parts of the story arc were adapted for the 2019 Hellboy reboot directed by Neil Marshall.

The Hellboy Universe is the fictional universe of the Hellboy comic and its various spinoffs, created by Mike Mignola. Its first appearance was in a black-and-white, four-page promotional comic by Mike Mignola with a script by John Byrne published by Dark Horse Comics in San Diego Comic-Con Comics #2, distributed at San Diego Comic-Con. The Hellboy Universe currently spans over eighty trade paperbacks. It is also sometimes informally called the "Mignolaverse".

<i>Star Wars: Dawn of the Jedi</i> Comic book series

Star Wars: Dawn of the Jedi is an American comic book series set in the Star Wars universe. The series, published by Dark Horse Comics, is written by John Ostrander, penciled by Jan Duursema, inked by Dan Parsons, and colored by Wes Dzioba. It is set in the earliest days of the Jedi Order, beginning 36,453 years before the events of the original Star Wars film. A preview issue, #0, was released on February 1, 2012, and followed by the first issue on February 15, 2012. Dawn of the Jedi ended after the third arc since Marvel Comics acquired the Star Wars comic license in 2015. The miniseries concluded with the last issue, Force Wars #5, released on March 19, 2014.

Tonči Zonjić is a Croatian comic book artist, writer and illustrator living in Toronto, Canada. He is best known for his work on Mike Mignola's Lobster Johnson series, and the Eisner Award-nominated Jake Ellis series. He designed the Praetorian Guards in Star Wars: The Last Jedi .

Baba Yaga (<i>Hellboy</i>) Comics character

Baba Yaga is a fictional supervillain in the comic book series Hellboy. Based on the Slavic folklore character of the same name, the character was created by Mike Mignola. Baba Yaga was a legendary witch of Russian folklore that lived inside a chicken leg house, and counted dead men's fingers. She appeared in the 2019 film Hellboy, portrayed by Emma Tate and Troy James.

References

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.