Hellboy, opening Friday, represents the latest in the growing ranks of action/adventure movies based on comic books. In this case, the original comes from Dark Horse, publisher of the Weird Tales series in which author Mike Mignola first unveiled the hero from - literally - hell.

Comic books have proven a rich source of movie inspiration for many decades, including popular money-makers as Batman, Superman, Spider-Man, X-Men, Casper and Teenage Ninja Mutant Turtles. (The method is not fool-proof; consider also The Phantom, The Rocketeer, The Shadow, Popeye and Tank Girl.)

At least since 1972's Fritz the Cat, filmmakers have looked beyond the corner store for comic-book material, seeking out the darker, more ironic and usually more violent fare of non-mainstream comics and graphic novels. Men in Black, for instance, was born from an obscure series of grim sci-fi tales published by Aircel, a company long since absorbed by Marvel Comics.

The most prestigious comic conversion was the 2002 Tom Hanks film, Road to Perdition, a stark tragedy based on a graphic novel by Max Allan Collins and Richard Piers Rayner that earned six Academy Award nominations.

The trend shows no signs of flagging. April 16, Thomas Jane will star in The Punisher, based on a Marvel hero. Later this year brings the third Blade film, about a character plucked from Marvel's Spider-Man books, while next year's comic-inspired films include Fantastic Four, Elektra and Iron Man.

Margaret A. McGurk