HELLBOY REVEALED

FURTHER to my blog of August 19...

Having promised a new likeness for Hellboy in today's paper ... lo and behold there isn't. Oops!

We had some ongoing technical problems with our work-in-progress, groundbreaking new editorial system yesterday afternoon.

Result... I left the office after the best part of 11 hours in the unusual position of not having seen today's film spread.

Not only was production delayed, but, I discovered today, that my promised little bit of mischievous doppelgänger fun had been chopped out.

Such things happen all the time. Story lengths can often be compromised by any number of colliding reasons, from pure design factors to the number of other reviews on a page.

Not forgetting the availability / balance / shape / size / nature / quality of pictures (you'd be surprised how often Hollywood doesn't deliver great stills after spending all of that money on the movie itself) and, of course, advertisements (number, size and late arrival of).

The downside to this blogging business is that I made a promise we haven't kept. The instant, wonderful upside, is that it's a safety net which can rectify things.

So here's the view...

Hellboy isn't really Ron Perlman. He's actually been modelled on a cross between new Villa keeper Brad Friedel and 1970s' pop star Alvin Stardust, sideburns and all.

Curiously, both Friedel and Stardust have made their reputations with gloved hands... and Hellboy comes with his own clunking fist.

The man with the shortened horns has also got one of the shortest, funniest catchphrases in movie history: 'Oh, crap'.

The next time Friedel makes a cock-up in the Villa goalmouth - as even the best goalies do - it would be a fair cry from the fans.