Fiction is written around mythological and historical figures in MIke Mignola’s comic series Hellboy. The narrative follows a specialized unit at the Bureau for Paranormal Investigation (BPRD) as they investigate and extinguish cases of dangerous supernatural occurrence. This often leads to encounters with demons and humans manipulated by apocalyptic desires. As a character, Hellboy is constantly forced to acknowledge a sense of not belonging among the humans he defends or the malevolent creatures who believe he was born to reign over their otherworld. He resists calls of duty from the two great evils who summoned him into being, Nazis (earthly villains) and Rasputin (led by demon gods). Using Gephi as a platform, these visualizations display trails between communities formed over time.

A dataset was created with the first five trade paperbacks. ‘Source’ and ‘Target’ were character names, ‘Type’ defined their interaction. If a conversation occurred between two parties, this would be marked “undirected”. A character discussing another, which happens often while scheming, is “directed”. ‘Label’ is divided between six communities: BPRD, Nazis, Demons/Gods, Witches, Villagers, and Ghosts.  Villagers make up the population who act as mediators between BPRD and every other group, they are often witnesses or victims of unnatural phenomenons who lead investigators to the source. Ghosts may included with this category at a later date because they are usually present for expository scenes. The only file created was for edges, Gephi autogenerated a nodes dataset using this information.  To add labels to the nodes section, the ID column was copied.

As an introduction, major figures in the literary network are presented through a Force Atlas layout. These labels were shown through a partition added to color edges based on the community. In the ‘Preview’ window, ‘Preview Ratio’ was set to a lower percentage to highlight only leading names. This provides initial insight into divisions between groups.

Much like his literary position, Hellboy is separated by connections on earth and his place in the mystical void.  In this graph, Hellboy and Rasputin are the largest titles. Both have strong connections to two groups: Hellboy to BPRD and Demon/Gods, Rasputin to Nazis and Demon/Gods. Names from the Nazis are more present than Demon/Gods because the latter category becomes more represented in later books. The smaller, less visible nodes circling Hellboy to the left are demons he has encountered in the field.

Details:
Force Atlas Layout
Repulsion: 10000
Autostab strength: 100000
Attraction distribution: checked (push hubs [higher number of output links] at the periphery and put authorities [higher number of input links] more central).

 

To provide a more comprehensive spread of the relationships, the layout ‘ForceAtlas2’ was implemented. Nodes were separated through grabbing and edges were colored by modularity class.  A circle of sorts is formed with Hellboy sitting at the top and bottom (or, on Earth and below, as the spirit world often begs him to return to Pandemonium, Capital of Hell).  He is connected by BPRD to the left and nazis to the right. Demons/Gods are both north and south. The labels are sized according to nodes so more influential characters within each group stand out. Hellboy’s The small team of BPRD agents who work with Hellboy are visible, in addition to the more tenacious villains. Herman von Klempt vies for power among nazis while Hecate is top within the gods and demons. Ilsa Haupstein may need to be relabeled to define her place between two parties, as she is a nazi who was reincarnated as Hecate, boosting her status within the network.

Details:
ForceAtlas2 Layout
Threads Number: 4
Ranking Edges: Degree
Colored by Modularity Class
Labels: Nodes (Graph 1) Edges (Graph 2)

This last version exchanges node labels for edges to show clustered paths of different parties. It allows a reader to view connections between these groups even if they have less familiarity with character names.

 

 

The second visualization is the most pleasing iteration so far because the positioning is a visual metaphor for Hellboy’s place between various worlds – good and evil, heaven and hell, earthly and spiritual.  It is a dichotomy which could be used to further develop the network.

Link to dataset: Hellboy TPB 1-5