The world of Pokemon is still thriving in the pop culture landscape more than two decades after initially debuting on the Game Boy. Pokemon has been adapted into anime, movies, trading cards, and just about every medium possible. Now, Hellboy creator Mike Mignola is putting his own stamp on the world of Pokemon.
Mignola is best known for creating the Hellboy universe for Dark Horse Comics, working on numerous spinoff titles including B.R.P.D and Abe Sapien. Mignola has won multiple Eisner awards for his dark creations. Hellboy has been adapted into two separate live-action film franchises, animated films, and starred in two video games. He most recently became a playable character in NetherRealms DC Comics fighting game Injustice 2.
Since being quarantined, Mignola has started sketching a variety of unlikely characters for the World Central Kitchen, a charity that provides meals to those who desperately need it. He's tackled the likes of cereal mascots, to SpongeBob characters, and raised nearly $100,000 for charity in the process. This week, Mignola took his signature style to the world of Pokemon, where he tackled a number of first-generation characters, some of which are perfect for his style.
Here's Mignola's take on the Gen-1 starter Bulbasaur.
Here's Mignola's take on Weezing and Slowbro. It's easy to imagine these Pokemon existing in the Hellboy universe.
Another odd, yet perfect pairing that would work well in Hellboy, are Scyther and Omastar.
Here are Mignola's chilling takes on Lickitung and Nidoqueen.
Gyarados and Mew together, sure, why not?
In one of his creepier images, Jiggly puff can be seen laying in the water with demented eyes. In the same picture the headache-bound Psyduck and Charmander stand tall.
Mignola did pair the Gen-2 Pokemon Tyranitar with the ghost Pokemon Gengar. It's perfectly spooky.
On his Instagram, Mignola revealed his daughter wanted him to take on Pokemon, which is why he decided to do the sketches. It's great that we live in a world where the creator of Hellboy, is crossing over into the world of Pokemon. It's an unlikely match, but one that works extremely well when you see Mignola's trademark style etched onto popular Pokemon. Mignola even admitted Pokemon wasn't in his usual realm of work, saying he went "pretty far down that road--Need to get back to my own planet for a while," once he completed his last drawing. Kudos to Mignola for tackling the project. Let's hope the sketches can raise some serious money for the World Central Kitchen.