Will Hellboy II: The Golden Army be better than the first one?

I am a big fan of Mike Mignola's Hellboy comic series.  I have always felt it did a good job mixing pulp-noir, gothic horror, and humor together into a unique reading experience.  My love for the source material is probably why I have such mixed feelings on the 2004 Hellboy movie.

On the one hand, the Hellboy movie has some real nice touches.  Casting was superb, especially for the roles of Hellboy, Liz Sherman, and Abe Sapien.  In many ways I felt as if they had stepped right out of the comic pages and on to the screen.  Guillermo Del Toro also did a good job of getting the look and feel of the comic right.  Several scenes, especially the sequences with Rasputin and his vacuum tube gloves, the photo of Hellboy with the G.I.'s, and the scenes with Hellboy and the corpse looked like they were storyboarded off of the comics.

Unfortunately, there were also things I was not a fan of.  The Liz Sherman/Hellboy relationship just bugged me.  Granted, they are close in the comics, but its much more of a brother/sister type relationship forged from their "orphan's raised by the BPRD" status.

I was also bugged by the character John Meyers.  I understand his purpose: He is a viewpoint character for the viewers and a rival love interest for Liz Sherman.  Unfortunately, he seems to have little in the way of personality beyond those two roles.

I have high hopes for Hellboy II: The Golden Army though.  First, the trailer looked very interesting.  Many of the designs seemed eerily similar to Guillermo Del Toro work on Pan's Labyrinth, but considering what an amazing movie that was I can't complain too much.  Especially because this movie touches on the realm of the fey.

Second, it seems as if the John Meyer's character is gone.  Which is good because he will not be wasting any valuable screen time.

(I suppose I should apologize to the actor Rupert Evans.  I have nothing against him, I just feel the John Meyer's character was a poor one.  I am sure he did the best he could with what he was given)

Incidentally, Dark Horse was kind enough to release a preview comic staring the titular Golden Army.  It was a classic faerie tale, and one I really look forward to seeing continued in the movie proper.

Good Luck Guillermo!  I am looking forward to the new Hellboy movie.  So don't let me down.