Screen Rant is excited to share exclusive process art and commentary for Hellboy Winter Special: The Yule Cat from Dark Horse Comics. This one-shot comic takes inspiration from Icelandic folklore as the 90s superhero investigates a paranormal Christmas monster. Dark Horse has provided a closer look at the upcoming special, along with behind-the-scenes notes from the creative team.
Hellboy Winter Special: The Yule Cat has the creative team of Matt Smith, Chris O’Halloran, and Clem Robbins. The iconic creator of the character, Mike Mignola, will provide a variant cover for the issue. The story is inspired by an Icelandic cat, known as the Jólakötturinn. According to Dark Horse Comics, the cat “is said to come down from the mountains, on the prowl for people who have not received any new clothes to wear before Christmas Eve.”
This one-shot will be released on December 6, bringing readers a story that is many years in the making, according to Katii O’Brien, an editor at Dark Horse Comics. This will mark the return of a Hellboy Winter Special issue, since it was an annual title from 2016-2019.
Hellboy Winter Special: The Yule Cat is a Great Jumping On Point
Dark Horse Comics editor, Katii O’Brien says:
The Yule Cat has been a conversation since 2019, even if we didn’t get around to it until this year. The great Matt Smith started working on this story as a concept before we even decided to do the Bones of Giants comic adaptation. A giant cat from Icelandic folklore that eats children at Christmas? It’s right up our alley. There isn’t much to know going into the story, readers will jump right in alongside Hellboy as he starts to investigate the mysterious Yule Cat, so it is both a fun jump-on for our newer readers and an instant classic Hellboy story for the long-standing fans. Like our most beloved one-shots and shorts, the adventure abounds in the action and the magic is in the details. Come for the big cat fight, stay for the little kids that call Hellboy ‘Mr. Hell.’
On working with Matt Smith, O’Brien adds:
Ever since we’ve worked with Matt we’ve always been thinking about what we can ask him to do NEXT, so that we can keep him working on these books. He is a genius with Hellboy, between his knock for the main character and his love for the lore, which shows so clearly in this book. This is the first Hellboy universe book he has both written and drawn, and hopefully it will not be the last!
Matt Smith Reveals Creative Process Behind Hellboy Winter Special: The Yule Cat
Matt Smith, writer of this Hellboy special, says:
The Yule Cat story was initially an exercise to draw Hellboy in preparation for tackling my first Hellboy outing, Long Night at Goloski Station. I had been contacted by Mike, but didn’t know the Goloski story yet so I picked my own scenario to run some trial pages, working in loose dialog as I was sketching the panels. All to calm my nerves I suppose and see if I could actually pull off what I had agreed to. The idea being that I would be forced to draw him big, small, in action, etc.
On page 5:
Early on I was leaning into the children’s folklore around the Yule Cat – needing a new piece of clothing to protect you, hence the scarf. However, when it came time to write an actual script, I wanted to make reference to the cuter bits of the folklore while going for a starker ‘reality’ underneath them. There are always different routes you can take.
On page 12:
This was initially the final page in what was a much shorter story. It ended with the idea that Hellboy would be sent a poem by one of Professor Larusson’s children. Later I brought in some talking birds and also had some different ideas that regarded Kate’s early days with the BPRD, her interviews with Hellboy and intention to write a book.
Professor Larusson (really the only new main character) Based on a real-life Icelandic fellow and his adorable daughters, all currently uneaten.
On the Yule Cat’s design:
The Yule Cat itself – Started out as a furry Norwegian Forest Cat style. The furry bulk of a Forest Cat worked for me in still images – imposing. Also, if all those Norwegian farmers moved to Iceland back in Saga era, maybe the cat went with them. Ultimately though, in motion, I kept seeing it as a giant, sleek, black cat. Sometimes these things don’t work themselves out until you get into page roughs.
Hellboy Winter Special: The Yule Cat will be released from Dark Horse Comics on December 6.
