“But when I find something that says, ‘I recognize you—you’re like me,’ that’s when I’ll know…”
[In return, Abe wrote his own letter back to Hellboy, an account of his own dreams. Abe’s letter is full of a yearning to belong, but always feeling alienated, and feeling helpless to change it. All he can do is pretend] [Mignolaversity]
Do you remember last month when you said to me, right after Agent Keel and I got in that fight? “I know some of these guys are total jerks, but a lot of the getting along has to do with YOU. They don’t understand you, so YOU have to make the effort. Make them see you’re not so different. Do that, it’s better for everybody.” What I should have said back then, but didn’t, was: “That’s easy for you to say. Because I AM different. You were raised with people all around you. I also think you’ve just got the soul of an average joe in you. But me? As much as it would benefit everybody for me to get along, to fit in, to be one of the guys, I’m not. And the idea of making a big effort to pretend to be, just so everybody else feels more comfortable…you see, I’D rather be the comfortable one. I want that feeling that I belong, not the feeling that I’m TRYING to belong.”
“That shirt can’t be comfortable, Abe.” / “But you aren’t playin’ a part anymore, huh?” / “Should I let HIM define who I am now?”
“…We all sort of model ourselves off what we think we ought to be.”
“Whatever’s going on, I’m a man. I started out a man, I have the mind of a man, a man’s soul…”
I rest my case. 🏳️⚧️ ⚦