Mignola brings out the bad guys this winter

“Hellboy” creator MIke Mignola teams up with Adam Hughes, Chris Roberson, Christopher Mitten, Ben Stenbeck and more to tell new stories about Rasputin, Krampus and Koshchei the Deathless.

The “Mignolaverse” will continue to grow this coming winter with a pair of miniseries and a one-shot focusing on some of the unsavory characters Hellboy has encountered — namely Rasputin, Krampus and Koshchei the Deathless.

“We didn’t set out to publish three stories about bad guys for the holidays, it just worked out that way—and, really, at least one of these guys isn’t ALL bad,” Mignola said in a press release. “It’s been a real pleasure working with Chris Roberson and Christopher Mitten again to flesh out more of the history of the Hellboy world—focusing on Rasputin before the arrival of Hellboy. You just knew there had to be more to say about that guy. Just like I’ve always known there was a lot more to say about Koshchei the Deathless, who I’ve loved since Hellboy: Darkness Calls. Now thanks to the great Ben Stenbeck, we get his full, odd, and tragic life story. And then what is there to say about the Krampus? This grim little Christmas story has been gathering dust for years on my mental shelf, apparently just waiting for the right artist to come along and ask to draw it. I just never imagined that the right artist would be Adam Hughes!”

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‘Spy Seal’ enlists Joey Weiser’s ‘Ninja Fukuroh’ as a back-up feature

Rich Tommaso takes Weiser up on his offer to draw a back-up story for his new comic.

Back when Rich Tommaso started talking about Spy Seal, before it became an upcoming comic from Image, he shared several images of the character online that drew rave reviews from fans and fellow creators. One of those creators was Joey Weiser, creator of the really fun Oni Press graphic novel series Mermin, who offered (perhaps jokingly) to draw a back-up series for the comic:

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Welcome back to Horrorland: IDW announces ‘Goosebumps’ comics

New series will feature three-issue arcs by a variety of creators as R.L. Stine’s creation returns to comics.

In conjunction with the 25th anniversary of the “spooky” children’s series Goosebumps, IDW announced today that they will publish a comic series based on R.L. Stine’s popular books by a rotating series of creators. The first issue arrives in October.

“My first reading thrill when I was a kid were the EC horror comics, Tales from the Crypt and The Vault of Horror,” said R.L. Stine. “They introduced me to the excitement of reading. Now all these years later, I have another thrill–seeing my stories and characters come to life in a comic book series of their own.”

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Stephan Franck puts a stake in a third volume of his vampire heist series ‘Silver’

The animator returns to Kickstarter to fund a third volume of his graphic novel series that pits conmen versus vampires.

When he’s not helping to make animated hits like The Iron Giant and Despicable Me, Stephan Franck turns to his first love, comics. The son of two comic retailers, Franck started his own company, Dark Planet Comics, to publish Silver, a pulp-inspired heist story involving vampires.

Franck has used Kickstarter to crowd fund two volumes of the series already, and now a new campaign has launched for the third volume. I spoke with Franck about the project, the campaign and the appeal of working on comics.

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Live Through This: ‘Royal City’ homages ’90s alternative album covers

Jeff Lemire recruits Jeffrey Brown, Emi Lenox, Nate Powell and more to pay tribute to album covers by Weezer, Hole and more.

The second story arc for Jeff Lemire’s excellent Royal City will take the Pike family back to the early 1990s, and to help set the mood, Lemire has enlisted a bunch of great artists to draw music album tribute covers.

“This new arc takes a major shift as the story jumps back to the year 1993 and we follow the last week in the life of Tommy Pike!” Lemire wrote on his blog. “Meet the Pike siblings when they were all just teenagers in the 90’s and the tragedy that will come to haunt their family is still in the future.”

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