You may recognize Hellboy from his movies by director Guillermo Del Toro, but did you know that he is one of the most beloved characters in the comic book community? His first comic book was published 20 years ago by creator Mike Mignola, and Big Red has been charming us with his over-sized fist and love of pancakes ever since.

Top 20 Hellboy Comic Covers 18 IMAGES

To celebrate the legacy of the comic, we collected our 20 favorite Hellboy comic covers from over the years.A majority of these covers are by Mignola himself. Clicking through the covers, you will notice a lot of them have strong similarities. Hellboy is the central figure, often standing on a rock/ledge/precipice. The background will be full of supporting characters, either represented literally or with metaphorical imagery. The coloring is deep and moody. Hellboy never looks happy, even when dressed as Santa Claus.But in that repetition, Mignola creates a wide variety of striking images, each evoking a different tone. He defied the idea that covers need to be lavish, brightly colored, and in-your-face. Instead, he focused on a singular idea and embellished it with characters, objects, and magic from his story. His covers suck you in instead of blowing you away with craziness.Check out our Top 20 Hellboy Comic Covers slideshow, then take to the comments to let us know what your favorite Hellboy cover is!

Joshua is IGN’s Comics Editor. If Pokemon, Game of Thrones, or Green Lantern are frequently used words in your vocabulary, you’ll want to follow him on Twitter and IGN