Hellboy/Atomic Robo: Demon Gods of Mu

Demon Gods of Mu

by
Bobby Derie

Synopsis: In 1989 Hellboy and Atomic Robo, each acting off information of unusual activity, converge on a sunken island near Nan Matal. There, among the megalithic ruins, they are accosted by robot zombies and the scarab-eaten mummy of Klaus Werner von Krupt, a “survivor” of Project Ragna Rok and the brain of Helsingaard. The two are searching the ruins for the entrance to Muria, a lost remnant of the sunken continent of Mu, but manage only to release the Dweller in the Moonpool.

Cover:

Caption:

Hellboy * Atomic Robo

Demon Gods of Mu

Image: Hellboy and Atomic Robo, back to back.

Page 0: Credits

Hellboy, B.P.R.D. and associated characters created by Mike Mignola.

Atomic Robo, Tesladyne and associated characters created by Brian Clevinger.

The Dweller in the Moon Pool and associated characters created by A. Merritt.

John Thunstone & Judge Pursuivant created by Manly Wade Wellman.

Doctor Adam Spektor created by Donald Glut.

Zoth-Ommog created  by Lin Carter.

Conan and Crom created by Robert E. Howard.

All characters and entities are the sole owners of their respective creators or copyright holders, who are not affiliated with the author in any way. This comic script is for non-commercial entertainment purposes only.

Page 1:

Summary: Hellboy visits the funeral of Judge Keith Hilary Pursuivant (1891-1989), John Thunstone gives him a message about the ruined city of Nan Matal.

Layout: First panel, strip across the top. Second panel, 1/2-pager. Panel 3 is inset in the second panel. Last three panels in row along bottom of page.

Panel 1: Man in a white suit and string tie, older playboy with a cane, shaking hands with Hellboy.

Box: 1989, Virginia

First Man: Adam.

Second Man: John.

Hellboy: Hellboy.

Second Man: Well met.

Panel 2: A simple obelisk marks a grave. The name Pursuivant is clearly visible. Hellboy is on the right. A few older gentleman on the left. Trees/leaves on the edges. In the background, gravediggers rest on a mound of dirt, wearing flatcaps, big work gloves resting on shovels.

Hellboy: This is a nice place.

Adam: His family plot.

John: It’s what he wanted.

Adam: His instructions were quite specific.

John: We’re glad you came.

Adam: It’s good to mark the passing of one of our own.

Hellboy: And make sure they stay buried.

Panel 3: <inset>

Hellboy’s eyes, solid yellow.

Hellboy: Yeah.

Panel 4:

John hands Hellboy an envelope.

John: The Judge had a message for you.

Panel 5:

Hellboy reads the letter.

Letter: “February 20^th. The Demon Gods of Mu rise at Nan Matal.”

Panel 6:

Adam and John in the background.

Hellboy: Okay.

Page 2:

Summary: Atomic Robo is in a Tesladyne lab, where techies explain to him about the weird signals coming from the Moon and Nan Matal.

Layout: Six strips across the page, evenly laid out.

Panel 1:

Box: Tesladyne Industries, New York

Robo dressed as Indiana Jones, bullwhip in hand. Background is clutter of science junk. A young African-American science guy is walking toward him.

Robo: “Nazis. I hate these guys.”

Vik: Robo, we’ve got a situation.

Panel 2: Robo is walking to the left. Vik follows.

Robo: <sigh> What’s up, Vik?

Vik: We’ve been monitoring some strange moonlight fluctuations.

Robo: Sunspot activity? Or is somebody playing with lasers again? I warned Reagan about that “Star Wars” stuff.

Panel 3: Robo is walking to the left. Vik follows.

Vik: Negative for both, as far as we know. The weird thing is one of our satellites has picked up a signal from a site on earth that directly matches the frequency and intensity of the moonlight signal.

Robo: What kind of signal?

Vik: We’re not sure, but there’s a match in our files—unknown radiation signature #24.

Panel 4: Robo stops, fedora off. Vik stands.

Robo: Applesauce. Can we trace the signal to its source?

Vik: Yep. Nan Matal, a ruined city built on artificial islands off the coast of Pohnpei.

Robo: Okay. See how fast you can get a team and some transportation together. Call the local government; we’re going to want to bring in some heavy firepower.

Panel 5: Robo shrugs off jacket. Vik makes notes.

Vik: Got it. So what’s unknown radiation signature #24?

Robo: It’s the designation for the stuff Helsingard was playing around with the first time we fought, back in ‘38. He called it vril. I call it unknown radiation #24, because I don’t base my theories on bad science fiction novels from the 1800s.

Panel 6: Vik asks question, Robo walks off to the left.

Vik: But it worked, right? So maybe some of that Nazi mysticism stuff is real?

Robo: No. Vril is just bad science.

Page 3:

Summary: Nan Matal. The BPRD and Tesladyne expeditions run into each other, swap notes. Hellboy and Atomic Robo decide to go in first.

Layout: Top half single panel, bottom half three strips stacked on top of each other.

Panel 1: On the left Vik and Kate Corrigan talk about jurisdiction and crap. On the right, Hellboy and Atomic Robo shake hands.

Robo: Mr. Hellboy, I presume?

Hellboy: Atomic Robo Tesla. I’ve heard a lot about you.

Robo: Same here. I’m surprised we haven’t met before. You’re not going to give Tesladyne the third degree about jurisdiction, are you?

Hellboy: Nah. The B.P.R.D. doesn’t have a monopoly on the weird. You’re here, we’re here, let’s do this.

Robo: I’m an honorary human!

Hellboy: Me too.

Robo: We have so much in common.

Panel 2: Kate and Vik talk.

Vik: Prof. Corrigan and I have been comparing notes, and this may be worse than we thought.

Kate: It all goes back to the Goodwin expedition in 1918. A series of weird disappearances prompted an expedition to Nan Matal. The expedition leader, Dr. Walter T. Goodwin, claimed to have discovered a vast underground chamber and the remains of an ancient, advanced civilization called Muria. During the course of his adventures, the entrance to the underground chamber—the moon pool—was sealed.

Vik: The International Association of Science suppressed the report after Hitler came to power in ’33. That didn’t stop Helsingard or the Nazis from looking for—and apparently finding—similar locations.

Panel 3: Atomic Robo and Hellboy talk.

Robo: You buying this hollow earth nonsense?

Hellboy: Nah.

Robo: Don’t you have a fish guy? Shouldn’t he be here?

Hellboy: Abe Sapien. He’s off the coast of New Jersey chasing a vanished Coast Guard cutter.

Panel 4: Kate and Vik talk.

Kate: After the Goodwin expedition, the disappearances stopped for a couple decades. Sometime around ’79 they started up again—random fishermen never coming home, strange lights in the ruins.

Vik: The local government says that in the last few days that’s changed. People and small vessels around Nan Matal have been vanishing. No plane or boat that comes close to the place is ever heard from again.

Kate: Hellboy, you and Atomic Robo have the most experience at this sort of thing.

Vik: And are the most indestructible.

Kate: So you two go in and do your thing.

Page 4:

Summary: Silent page. Hellboy and Atomic Robo go in by boat, Hellboy at the helm, past strange cyclopean ruins.

Layout: Six strips, stacked.

Panel 1: Hellboy and Atomic Robo paddling in through a gap of two cyclopean blocks.

Panel 2: More paddling. More ruins.

Panel 3: Paddling. Ferns. Ruins.

Panel 4: Paddling. Overgrown terraces.

Panel 5: Deep water. Broken, cyclopean blocks.

Panel 6: A tree and broken stones.

Page 5:

Summary: Hellboy and Atomic Robo go deeper into the city. Make note of the architecture.

Layout: Six panels in two rows.

Panel 1: Kate’s head floats in upper right corner.

Text box: Nan Matal dates back to prehistory. Copeland’s 1907 translation of the Ponape Scripture suggests it was contemporary with the legendary civilizations of Mu and Hyperborea.

Hellboy looks at a broken, weed-covered statue.

Panel 2: Vik’s head floats in upper left corner.

Text box: We know Goodwin consulted the Ponape Scripture after he returned from his expedition; that may be why he called it “Muria.”

Atomic Robo looks at a more intact, vine-covered version of the statue.

Panel 3: Kate’s head floats in upper right corner.

Text box: Goodwin and Copeland actually met in ’22. We found correspondence between them showing both men believed there was a connection between the civilization Goodwin discovered and certain myth-cycles from different parts of the world.

Vegetation dies away, exposing massive stone walls.

Panel 4: Vik’s head floats in upper left corner.

Text box: Goodwin’s report also mentions a Russian scientist, Marakinoff, a Bolshevik.

Shot of the boat going down waterlogged streets or canals, like Venice.

Panel 5: Kate’s head floats in upper right corner.

Text box: Marakinoff did not survive according to Goodwin, but the CIA thinks the Russians have a copy of his preliminary notes, and we know they salvaged the bulk of the German occult archives in ’46.

Atomic Robo points towards something. Hellboy looks over his shoulder.

Panel 6: Vik’s head floats in upper left corner.

Text box: The Russian Pacific Fleet staged some maneuvers out here last year. We think that was a smokescreen for a covert occult expedition to Nan Matal. That would fit the timeline of when the disappearances started up again.

Tail of a Russian helicopter sticking up out of the water.

Page 6:

Summary: Atomic Robo uses GPS to find “the Moon Pool.” Hellboy refers to the Godwin expedition, gives a brief summary. Talk about the architecture.

Layout: Six rows, one panel each

Panel 1:

Robo: We’re getting close.

Hellboy: How can you tell?

Robo: I’ve got GPS.

Hellboy: Cool.

Robo taps his head.

Panel 2:

Robo: So you’ve read the Goodwin report?

Hellboy: Yeah, most of it.

Robo: Anything useful?

Hellboy: The first part is pretty straightforward. Weird light that steals people, UFO style. A door that only opens in the moonlight. I didn’t follow most of the science. After he goes down the rabbit hole, it gets weird. Giant frog monsters. Death rays. Lost civilization and races that predate mankind.

Robo: That’s a solid “no” then.

Panel 3:

Text box: Later

Robo: Dirk Daring.

Hellboy: Really? For me it was Lobster Johnson.

Robo: Oh, hey yeah. I remember him. “Here is the claw!”

Panel 4:

Text box: Later.

Robo: “Conan! What is best in life!”

Hellboy: “To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and hear the lamentation of der wimmen!”

Robo + Hellboy: “Crom!”

Panel 5:

Text box: Much later.

Dark out. Night has fallen. The moon shines. Robo points.

Robo: “Nazis.”

Hellboy: “I hate these guys.”

Robo: No, really, Nazis.

Panel 6:

The courtyard of the moon pool. With Nazis and broken robots.

Page 7:

Summary: Nazis.

Layout: Four panels, 1, 3, and 4 inset on 2.

Panel 1: Shot of Hellboy’s hand holding the Samaritan; Robo holding a lightning gun.

Panel 2: Hellboy and Atomic Robo firing.

Panel 3: Nazis getting shot, returning fire.

Panel 4: Detail of stone carving, with bullet holes.

Page 8:

Summary: Dead Nazis. Helsingaard insignia. Bugs on their necks.

Layout: Three small panels up top, single row. Fourth is a large panel.

Panel 1:

Robo covers as Hellboy ties up the boat. Dead Nazi in the water.

Robo: Nice gun. Where’d you get it?

Hellboy: Torch of Liberty gave it to me.

Robo: No foolin’? I did a mission with him back in’48. He was a good man.

Hellboy: The best.

Panel 2:

Robo points to a flag on the wall.

Robo: Helsingard.

Panel 3: The Moon Door, with equipment all around it. The door is open. Hellboy holds a robot-head. Robo picks at a busted robot.

Hellboy: The Moon Door is open.

Robo: That’s a bad thing?

Hellboy: Real bad. These things look like Neanderthal-you.

Robo: Some sort of automaton, yeah. No power source. No obvious controller.

Hellboy: These things were made to move. Someone must have hit the off switch.

Panel 4: Hellboy and Atomic Robo walking through the Moon Door.

Robo: Why’s it called the Moon Door?

Hellboy: It’s only supposed to open at night, under moonlight.

Robo: There’s always moonlight. I mean, look the moon is up right now.

Hellboy: Maybe sunlight overpowers it? Goodwin said something about the frequency of moonlight. He used some lenses to focus and filter it, open the door ahead of schedule.

Robo: That’s almost science. Almost.

Page 9:

Summary: Into the city.

Layout: Four panels, striped.

Panel 1: Inner courtyard. Nazi camp.

Panel 2: Hellboy and Robo peek through the tents.
Robo: No one’s home.

Panel 3: Hellboy points to structure just visible above the wall, looks like a satellite dish with a weird fork.

Hellboy: What’s that?

Robo: Transmitter. Russian.

Hellboy: How can you tell from here?

Robo: Telescopic lenses. I can read the Cyrillic from here. It’s been modified, though.

Panel 4:

Carving on wall as Hellboy passes it. Shows a primitive flower/radio dish with the same fork.

Page 10:

Summary: Hellboy tries to read an inscription. Reveals the history of the Murian conflict.

Layout: Six panels, striped and stacked.

Panel 1: Hellboy studies a wall. Robo looks around.

Panel 2: Closeup on Hellboy and the wall.

Hellboy: This is old Lemurian.

Robo: That’s not a recognized language. Also, you shouldn’t be reading the ancient forbidden texts. Nothing good ever comes of it.

Hellboy: Professor Bruttenholm taught me how to read it.

Robo: Professor Boom?

Hellboy: Bruttenholm. My dad.

Robo: Your actual dad?

Hellboy: He adopted me. Raised me. Treated me as his son.

Robo: Your dad. Got it.

Panel 3: Hellboy and the wall of text.

Hellboy: This is a chronicle of war between Muria and Mu.

Robo: Mu?

Hellboy: Prehistoric civilization. Some say pre-human.

Robo: Right. And the reason they haven’t left any traces of their existence around is?

Hellboy: They have. I’ve run across a few of ‘em.

Robo: Then why haven’t I heard about it before?

Hellboy: Most experts don’t like seeing evidence that doesn’t jive with their theories. So they discredit it, ignore it, hide it away.

Robo: I’ve known scientists like that.

Panel 4:

Hellboy: Muria was an outpost of Mu—a colony. They started worshipping something underground. Mu had their own gods trapped underground and didn’t like that. So there was a war.

Robo: Does it actually say “god?”

Hellboy: I’m paraphrasing. Mu won, and the Murians fled underground. Someone called Iraan put his seal on the moon pool, to keep the demon god from escaping.

Robo: Demon god. You might as well say “ghost wraith.” Who would take the time to carve this on a gigantic block of stone after they won the war?

Hellboy: Egyptians. Mayans. What would you do?

Robo: “Dust off and nuke the site from orbit. It’s the only way to be sure.”

Panel 5:

Hellboy and Atomic Robo laugh.

Robo: Hey, lookit this.

Panel 6: Robo pokes at something.

Robo: Huh. This was a braided metal cable.

Hellboy: Was?

Robo: Well, thousands of years of exposure to air and water haven’t helped much. It runs right through this wall. I wonder what it was for?

Page 11:

Summary: Earthquake. Flashes of power.

Layout: Four panels, two rows.

Panel 1: Wire flashes.

Robo: Gah!

Panel 2: Walls shake, Hellboy tries to keep his balance, Robo falls into him.

Hellboy: Gah!

Panel 3: Wire hums, glows.

Panel 4: Robo stares at wire from ground.

Robo: Unknown radiation signature #24.

Hellboy: “What a revoltin’ development.”

Page 12:

Summary: Zombie robots!

Layout: Four panels, three inset #2.

Panel 1: Hellboy, Robo, eyes wide.

Panel 2: Zombie robots attacking Hellboy and Atomic Robo

Robo: What did I tell you about reading the ancient forbidden texts!?

Hellboy: I didn’t do it!

Panel 3: Hellboy punches zombie robot.

Robo: Zombie robots!

Hellboy: They’re not zombies.
Robo: They’re robots, and they’re zombies. Zombie robots.

Panel 4: Zombie robot biting Robo.

Robo: See? This one’s trying to eat my foot.

Hellboy: Huh. Zombie robots.

Page 13:

Summary: Hellboy and Atomic Robo race for the Moon Pool.

Layout: Six panels, two rows.

Panel 1: Hellboy and Robo fighting.

Hellboy: How are these things moving?

Robo: Broadcast power. Tesla used to broadcast electricity wirelessly, but these things are vril-powered.

Panel 2: Still fighting.

Hellboy: So how do we stop it?

Robo: Find the antenna and punch it.

Panel 3: Click click.

Hellboy: You mean that satellite dish?

Robo: Scanners say yes.

Panel 4: Hellboy kicks robot.

Panel 5: Atomic Robo smashes two robot heads together.

Panel 6: Closeup carving of Right Hand of Doom grasping antenna.

Page 14:

Summary: Surrounded by Nazis, Zombie Robots outside, Hellboy and Atomic Robo face Helsingaard and von Krupt using the Black Seal to unleash the Shining One.

Layout: Four panels; 1^st-panel half-page, other three stacked.

Panel 1: The Moon Pool, surrounded by scientific apparatus and Nazi techs. Helsingaard has the Black Seal.

Helsingaard: Emmet macha hem. Emmet hothoth. Shedu an mech.

Von Krupt: |||||||||||| ||||||||!

Nazis: |||||

Panel 2: Hellboy and Robo, still fighting robot-zombies, look shocked.

Robo: Helsingaard!

Hellboy: Von Krupt? No way…

Panel 3:

Von Krupt swings the satellite dish with Anung’s Fork around toward Hellboy.

Panel 4:

Helsingaard continues the ritual; the Moon Pool drinks in the light.

Helsingaard: Nama-esh temet anat. Zoth-ommog sancti abjura.

Page 15:

Summary: Von Krupt versus Atomic Robo; Hellboy makes a lunge for the Black Seal.

Layout: Six panels, stacked. Panel six is split.

Panel 1: Von Krupt’s blast hits the zombie-robots.

Panel 2: Hellboy fights Nazis.

Nazis: |||||

Panel 3: Von Krupt (luger) faces Robo (lightning gun).

Robo: Never bring a luger to a lightning gun fight!

Panel 4: Flash of lightning. Von Krupt appears to disintegrate into scarabs.

Robo: Bugs…why did it have to be bugs.

Panel 5: Atomic Robo covered in hoard of scarabs.

Robo: Getemoffmegetemoffgetemoff…

Panel 6: Split panel. Hellboy, smashes the satellite dish, grabs Anung’s Fork with the Right Hand of Doom.

Hellboy: Boom!

Page 16:

Summary: Hellboy and Atomic Robo defeated, explain plan. Hellboy’s hand will unleash the Shining One.

Layout: Four panels; first half-page, last three single row.

Panel 1: Massive green explosion, centered on Hellboy’s hand and Anung’s Fork.

Text block: The Shining One was beyond the power and knowledge of Mu, but the Black Seal was brought down from Yuggoth, and provides power over all. With the Black Seal, Iraan imprisoned the Shining One by the power of vril, the force which can reduce man to ur-slime and raise him up again to take on the flesh of the lizard or the snake. The Shining One was trapped deep in the earth, in a cavern left from when the moon was broken from this pitiable planet. Some element of the moon remained in its birthplace, at that entrance to Hell where Iraan trapped the demon god, and set his wards upon it. And when the moon is full and its light shines upon the moon door, for the space of a night the Shining One is released to prey. Always though is the Shining One drawn back as the moonlight fades, and so shall remain the Dweller in the Moon Pool. – The Ponape Scripture

Panel 2:

Hellboy and Atomic Robo tied up. Hellboy is attached to the satellite dish, holding the Fork. Robo is hooked up the equipment, powering it.

Robo: Psst. You awake.

Hellboy: Yeah.

Panel 3:

Robo: What’s with the bug-guy? Is he one of yours baddies?

Hellboy: Klaus Werner von Krupt. Nazi stooge. He’s supposed to be dead.

Panel 4:

Robo: Guess it didn’t take.

Hellboy: Nope.

Page 17:

Summary: The Moon Pool is unlocked.

Layout: Four panels; first half-page, last three single row.

Panel 1: Power pours from the fork into the Moon Pool, arcing off Hellboy and nearby equipment. Helsingaard raises the Black Seal.

Hellboy: Aaargh!

Helsingaard: You were fools to come here. Soon, the gateway will be clear. Once more will I descend into the dark, and lay claim to the secrets of the ages.

Von Krupt: ||| |||||||

Helsingaard: Soon, my friend. New bodies for us both. Human in form but immortal and omnipotent with the limitless power of vril.

Robo: You guys are nuts!

Panel 2:

The moon pool begins to shine. Hellboy can see his reflection.

Panel 3:

The light on the water spreads. Sparks come from Hellboy’s eyes, and his horns begin to grow.

Panel 4:

The light from the water is blinding; fiery tears fall from Hellboy’s eyes.

Page 18:

Summary: The Shining One emerges.

Layout: Single, full-page panel.

Panel 1:

Floating in the middle of the wrecked equipment is the shining one, a sphere of white light surrounded by seven smaller, colored orbs, and a columnar cloud of floating crystals or mist. Hellboy and Atomic Robo on the left, Helsingaard and von Krupt on the right. Hellboy is still holding the Fork.

Page 19:

Summary: Helsingaard and von Klumpt try to master it, and fail.

Layout: Six panels, stacked.

Panel 1: Helsingaard holds up the Black Seal.

Helsingaard: Abdemma, abdem. Abdemma, Helsingaard get-et hem!

Panel 2: The Shining One’s light falls on the Nazis, and they are transformed.

Von Krupt: ||| ||||||!

Helsingaard: No! Obey me. Abdemma, abdem. Abdemma, Helsingaard get-et hem!

Panel 3: The Shining One expands, the ones it touched crawl toward the moon pool.

Robo: “Insanity: Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.”

Hellboy: “Do not call up what you cannot put down.”

Panel 4: Black light arcs from the Black Seal toward the Shining One.

Helsingaard: Meth-ech, atnu! Tothem anu Iraan!”

Panel 5: White light bursts from the Shining One around the courtyard.

Panel 6: The remains of the Zombie Robots climb toward the Shining One.

Page 20:

Summary: The Shining One conquers the Zombie Robots.

Layout: Six panels, stacked.

Panel 1: The Shining One deals with assaults from both Helsingaard and the Zombie Robots, which spit yellow fire. Hellboy fire with his Samaritan to no effect; Robo does likewise.

Panel 2: Robo and Hellboy lower their weapons.

Hellboy: I’m out of ammo, and this isn’t working.

Robo: You’re right. We need a new plan.

Panel 3: White light washes through the robots and von Krupt.

Panel 4: Robo ties a big cable to the end of the Fork (still in Hellboy’s hand), and wrapped it around his arm.

Robo: The last time Helsingaard had vril, I shot it with my lightning gun. It exploded.

Hellboy: So?

Robo: That antenna you’re holding broadcasts vril. If we can get it inside that thing, it should pick up a vril charge. If I plug the lightning gun into my own atomic power supply, I can overcharge it. We’ll get one really big jolt before it melts.

Hellboy: That’s your plan?

Robo: Everything explodes.

Hellboy: This is gonna hurt.

Panel 5: The black and white light meets and clash.

Panel 6: Robo tinkers with his lightning gun. Hellboy plugs his cable into one of the glowing wires on the floor.

Robo: Think of it as an experiment.

Hellboy: Not helping.

Page 21:

Summary: Atomic Robo and Hellboy fight the Shining One, who turns the conquered Nazis and Zombie Robots against them.

Layout: Six panels, two rows.

Panel 1: Hellboy and Atomic Robo run at the Shining One.

Panel 2: The Shining One overpowers Helsingaard, who drops the Black Seal.

Panel 3: The light washes over von Krupt’s scarabs, and his swastika monocle.

Panel 4: Hellboy jumps, stabbing the fork into the Shining One.

Panel 5: Robo fires the lightning gun

Panel 6: The lightning gun hits the Fork.

Page 22:

Summary: Atomic Robo and Hellboy pull out all the stops.

Layout: Single panel, one pager.

Panel 1:

Pull-away of the ruins. Massive explosion.

Page 23:

Summary: Total lunar eclipse. The Shining One weakens. Hellboy uses the Black Seal to trap it again.

Layout: Five panels, first large and three inset, one on bottom.

Panel 1: Hellboy and Atomic Robo, burnt and bruised, lay in the glassy crater surrounding the Moon Pool. The Shining One remains, diminished but otherwise unharmed. Overhead, the moon is eclipsing.

Robo: Well, that almost worked.

Hellboy: Damn!

Panel 2: Hellboy’s right hand settles on the Black Seal. The left fishes around in his belt pouches.

Hellboy: Wait a minute, I got something.

Panel 3: Robo looks at the moon.

Robo: The eclipse is cutting off the moonlight. It’s weakening!

Panel 4: Hellboy holds up the Black Seal in one hand, reads a scrap of paper in the other.

Hellboy: Nef azz-ram. Nef azz-diss. Na graf azzur. Nang-gazroth. Bagrom nagrom. Diss. Nef azzgrom dis. Diss abbal.

Panel 5: Hellboy and Robo stare at the empty moon pool, eyes glowing in the dark.

Robo: That worked. Why did that work?

Hellboy: Dunno. It’s an old prayer my dad gave me.

Robo: Huh. Well, now that’s over wanna see a movie?

Hellboy: Sure.

Page 24:

Summary: Hellboy and Atomic Robo watch Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

Layout: Three panels, stacked.

Panel 1: Private theatre. Robo wearing his fedora.

Text box: Epilogue. A private preview screening. Atomic Robo’s home theater, New York.

From the speakers: “Don’t call me Junior!”

Panel 2: Hellboy and Robo on the edge of their seats.

From the speakers: “That is the boundary…and the price, of immortality.”

Panel 3: Hellboy and Robo humming.

Hellboy + Robo: Doot do do doo, doot do doo…doot do DO do, do do doo do doo…DOOT do do doo, DOOT DO DO…

Textbox: Fin. Little scarab beetle in one corner says “||||!”