His fascination with ghosts and monsters began at an early age (he doesn't remember why) and reading Dracula at age 13 introduced him to Victorian literature and folklore from which he has never recovered. This is the same year as Hellboy's fight with von Klempt, in 'World's Greatest Paranormal Investigator' (CBG) (1959), one year after The Penanggalan and The Crooked Man (1958), and two years before The Iron Shoes and The Hydra and the Lion (1961).Mike Mignola was born Septemin Berkeley, California and grew up in nearby Oakland. The deal completed, the fairy return the Baby to Hellboy, and the goblin tells him that they had intended to raise the child as their own because the Fairy can no longer have children, and now without Alice, it is only a matter of time before Dagda calls his kind away from the world forever. Meanwhile, Gruagach seeks vengeance from Hellboy, and releases the boar-headed giant Grom, who immediately eats Gruagach. Dagda, King of the Faerie (introduced here for the first time), sees that Hellboy will succeed and orders one of the goblins to return the Monaghan child. At the first two churches, the dead call out 'No Room,' and Hellboy is forced to continue on. In order to get back the real child, Hellboy made an agreement with a group of little men Gruagach told him to lay the body of Tam O'Clannie to rest in a proper Christian grave. Hellboy burns Gruagach with iron, and forces him to reveal his true form. The child, Alice Monaghan was replaced by the fairy, Gruagach in disguise. Hellboy is called to Ireland in 1959, to deal with a child abduction. Most recently, the story was included as an insert within the DVD case of some editions of the 2004 Hellboy movie. As part of the lead up to the first Hellboy Movie, The Corpse was reprinted as a stand alone 25¢ comic in March of 2004, with three additional pages about the story's adaptation for use in the movie. In August 1998, the story was collected in Hellboy – Volume 3: The Chained Coffin and Others. Then in January of 1996, the entire story was collected with a new opening page and an eight-page conclusion (the four missing two-page 'parts'), in the one-shot Hellboy: The Corpse and the Iron Shoes.

An intro to the story printed in Capital City's Advance Comics #75 referred to it as a story 'told in twelve parts' however only eight two-page 'parts' ended up being published within the pages of Capital City's Advance Comics.

Most of The Corpse was originally published as two-page installments in Capital City's Advance Comics catalogs #75-82, between March and October 1995.

Hellboy the chained coffin