by Gabrielle DiPietro

Note: Before reading our following coverage of the Hellboy II panel at the New York Comic Con, be sure to read our exclusive interviews with Guillermo del Toro and the cast of Hellboy II!

Of all the panels at the 2008 New York Comic Con, Universal?s Hellboy II: The Golden Army packed the house with tons of excited fans ready for the next chapter in Guillermo del Toro?s take on Mike Mignola?s award-winning comic-book saga. And in typical foul-mouthed del Toro fashion, the filmmaker came out firing:

?First it?s my pleasure to introduce a bunch of cool motherfuckers,? said del Toro. A statement met by overwhelming cheers from the crowd, magnified of course when del Toro began to announce the names of the aforementioned bunch of cool motherfuckers?Ron Perlman, Doug Jones, Selma Blair, Luke Goss, Mike Mignola?and even more so when he announced the trailer-ish clip which he called ?an initial sizzle reel,? concocted by Universal.

?There will be a cable here and a cable there,? del Toro warned, regarding the rough and un-finished nature of the sizzle reel. ?We need some gore here, need some more gore there. But please be patient, we are going to fix all that shit! So shut the fuck and listen!?

While the first Hellboy film was set primarily in our world, the sizzle reel verified that Hellboy II: The Golden Army will be set in much more of a fantasy realm, with slews of terrifying creatures and fantastic settings.

As the house lights went up, del Toro joked ?This is Comic Con security?, referring to the group of heavily costumed (some heavily armed) Golden Army creepy-creatures looming over the stage.

Creating the creatures

GUILLERMO DEL TORO: We had a 10-foot-tall, three-headed bulldog that had to be dropped. I imagined him in the background of a scene licking himself.

The problem nowadays is that people say they hate CGI. I don?t hate CGI. I hate when it?s lazy CGI. When you?re making millions of dollars and decide to take an easier route, when you could have done it physically, I say ?Fuck you.? Sometimes they use CGI because they keep changing their mind, or directors are not working as hard as they should.

MIKE MIGNOLA: At least half of the creatures Guillermo has the idea for, and sometimes the most torture is trying to make sense of what he is trying to explain to you. When he?s not there, people come to me and say, ?What?s he talking about?? Sometimes I know. Some days I?m just as lost as anybody else.

The Exclusive Comic Con Hellboy II poster

GUILLERMO DEL TORO: There are only 2008 of these printed. They will be handed out at 5 PM to the first 2008 lucky bastards that show up.

NOTE: Unfortunately, we weren?t one of the 2008 bastards lucky enough to receive a poster but we did snag a pic of it just before they were scooped up by ravenous Hellboy fans!

Hellboy cast reunites for The Golden Army!

GUILLERMO DEL TORO: It was much more difficult to shoot this movie, because I probably gained some weight I guess. The first movie was ambitious at $66 million after rebate. This movie was bigger. This movie has an $85 million budget and I had to make it compete with movies that are around two or three times that budget.

RON PERLMAN: Fun.

DOUG JONES: We are a family more so now than we were before. And families have issues. We went through everything a family goes through.

SELMA BLAIR: It?s great to be back?and we don?t have any issues!

MIKE MIGNOLA: There were a lot of times I didn?t think it was going to happen and a lot of times Guillermo reassured me. And then we were there. So it was great.

Finally, we hear the voice of Johann Kraus!

Originally thought to be voiced by Thomas Kretschmann, del Toro threw a pleasant surprise at the crowd and said, ?The voice of Johann will be Seth MacFarlane,? the show creator and voice of many of the characters on Family Guy and American Dad.

On the physical toll of those costumes we love?

LUKE GOSS: You don?t realize its limitations until you put it on. Guillermo always gives time to prepare.

RON PERLMAN: I can imagine there are more than a handful of guys that wish they were me. Whatever little annoyances one has to pay to get to do this everyday and work with this guy, [del Toro] on this movie, is a tiny price to pay and a small sacrifice. The hardest thing for me was, ?Am I going to get on the set everyday and say the lines that Guillermo wrote?? Sometimes I got a little impatient and lost my temper a little bit. So I?m happiest when it?s hard.

On how Mignola?s vision is adapted?

MIKE MIGNOLA: The fact that we got to do it once was beyond anything I ever really expected. The second one is so much bigger. The chance that I got to work with them was so great.

I lost sight almost completely that I had created these characters. When Ron?s Hellboy had a coat on and no shirt, which is the way I draw him, I said, ?Look that?s my thing!? Somebody actually had to point out to me that the whole line-up is my thing.

Will Guillermo ever get to do The Hobbit?

GUILLERMO DEL TORO: I?ll be like Miss South Carolina ?It is my personal belief??that in the next four or five days it will be like watching the end of American Idol, where you have a very fat singer. In the next four to five days we will know if we are able to complete every legal thing that is pending for me to be able to do it or not. I can assure you we will know very soon.

I have other things I?m writing and am starting to sketch. It will take me a couple of years to write this thing?a childhood horror. It?s called Saturn and the End of Days. It?s about a kid name Saturn and watching the apocalypse on the way back and forth to the grocery store.

On indie vs. Hollywood pictures?

GUILLERMO DEL TORO: It?s the difference between doing something that is of your control. It?s like ?Do this and do that. Put this here, put this there." What do you think makes more sense? "Fuck you, fuck you, fuck you"--if you say that though you get like a 50-page memo.

It?s the difference between drawing a comic book on your own or having five hands hold your hand while you?re trying to draw a comic book. But the hard part is finding the money. ?I?ll take this route?

Keeping up with the Doug?s Jones-es?why he?s always in make-up!

DOUG JONES: Look at me. Why wouldn?t you cover this face up?

But I do have a feature coming up called My Name is Jerry, in which I play Jerry, a middle-aged white guy who?s going through a mid-life crisis, not in make-up.

From the mouth of the Silver Surfer!

DOUG JONES: If anybody wants to masturbate on the Silver Surfer, I?m sorry I can?t help you. I don?t have information about the next film. I did sign a three-picture deal, so I have two more pictures where they can use me, and I hope they do. As far as I know, I heard the same rumors about J. Michael Straczynski writing the script. I hope that?s true. So let?s hope we see the Silver Surfer in his own movie very soon.

Note: Now check out our exclusive video interview with Doug Jones!