Tag: Mike Mignola

Eric Powell recruits Becky Cloonan, Mike Mignola, James Harren for a spooky Christmas anthology

‘Four Gathered on Christmas Eve’ continues the Victorian tradition of telling spooky stories on Christmas Eve.

The Goon creator Eric Powell is a fan of both Christmas and horror, so it’s only natural he’d put together a crew of elves to help deliver Four Gathered on Christmas Eve, an anthology of Victorian-style Christmas Eve ghost stories coming from Dark Horse this winter.

“As someone who unapologetically loves Christmas and spooky stories, I’ve always been intrigued that telling ghost stories used to be a regular part of the tradition,” said Powell. “I’ve been kicking around the idea of doing a Victorian Christmas Ghost book for a while and was thrilled when three of my favorite comic creators agreed to join me.”

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Mignola + Snicket’s ‘Pinocchio’ Kickstarter approaches $400K

Beehive Books has added another tier to the campaign featuring prints of three new Pinocchio paintings by Mignola.

Beehive Books‘ latest crowdfunding campaign is sitting at just under $400,000 as I write this, and no doubt it’ll pass that milestone soon. And it’s no surprise, since it involves the talents of both Lemony Snicket (A Series of Unfortunate Events) and Mike Mignola (Hellboy) putting their own unique spin on the story of Pinocchio.

This new edition of Carlo Collodi’s beloved novel is currently up on Kickstarter for the next six days.

“I’ve been in love with Pinocchio as long as I can remember,” said Mignola. “Probably starting with the Disney film and then really drilled into me when I finally read the Collodi novel. It’s just so brilliantly strange—very very funny and also heartbreakingly sad. It’s one of the two books (along with Dracula) that I think sort of make me do what I do the way I do them.When Beehive Books approached me about doing a book… Well, at the time, the last thing I wanted to do was take on another project, but once I started thinking about doing Pinocchio I just couldn’t say no. The challenge was to come up with MY version of Pinocchio—much harder than I thought that was going to be but in the end I think I got there.”

Not wanting to rest on their laurels, Beehive has added a new tier to their Kickstarter campaign featuring prints of three more pieces by Mignola.

The full-color paintings were created by the artist as part of a Society of Illustrators exhibition, live now in NYC, which features a full portfolio of yet-to-be-published Pinocchio illustrations, including all the drawings done for the book and additional art not included in it. The exhibit will be open to the public until July 8.  Take a look:

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Jaxxon returns in a new Star Wars annual from Dark Horse

The limited release comic will only be available at select conventions and directly from Dark Horse.

It’s becoming tradition for Cavan Scott to write a new story every year starring Jaxxon, the green rabbit who first debuted many moons ago in Star Wars #8 by Roy Thomas and Howard Chaykin. He was one of the first characters created outside of the movies themselves, and somehow has not shown up in a film or in his own Disney+ series yet. To which I ask, why???

Luckily, even after decades of inactivity, Jaxxon has returned in recent years thanks to Scott, who brought him back in the pages of Star Wars Adventures Annual in 2018, to be followed by additional stories and even an action figure since then. And this week brings more news about that wascally wabbit: he’ll appear in Star Wars: Hyperspace Stories Annual—Jaxxon 2023, which will only be available at conventions and directly from Dark Horse.

It’ll come in a variety of covers for different event; here’s the first one by Mike Mignola:

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Jesse Lonergan joins Mike Mignola on ‘Miss Truesdale and the Fall of Hyperborea’

The new Mignolaverse title will launch from Dark Horse Comics in May.

Hellboy creator Mike Mignola has recruited the artistic talents of Jesse Lonergan (Hedra, Planet Paradise) for a new miniseries set in the Mignolaverse — Miss Truesdale and the Fall of Hyperborea. They’re joined by longtime Mignolaverse letterer Clem Robbins.

If you aren’t familiar with Lonergan, he turned a lot of heads with his unqiue approach to comics in Hedra and Planet Paradise, both of which are the type of comic that reminds you of what’s possible in the medium.

“I fell in love with Jesse’s stuff the moment I stumbled across it, but it took a long time for me to wrap my head around a way we could work together,” said Mignola. “His storytelling is so great but amazingly unique and I’m such a control freak when it comes to how to pace a story—I didn’t want to tie his hands with the way I structure things. But he is just so good… Eventually I came up with the idea for Miss Truesdale (an odd one, even for me) and just couldn’t think of anyone better to draw it. We met, we talked, and I think we settled on a way to collaborate. It meant writing a plot that was tight in some places and very, very loose in others. I had to trust Jesse to work his magic—and for me it’s hard to really trust an artist I’ve never worked with, even one as good as Jesse—but I did it and he did what he does and I couldn’t be happier with the results. I think this ends up being one of the most unique extensions of the Hellboy Universe, and after almost 30 years (and some very odd stories) that’s saying something.”

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Mignola + Stenbeck + Stewart return to Hell for new Koshchei miniseries

‘Koshchei in Hell’ kicks off in November.

Mike Mignola, Ben Stenbeck and Dave Stewart will team once again for Koshchei in Hell, a new miniseries set in the Hellboy-verse coming from Dark Horse in November.

The series will star Koshchei the Deathless, who once tried to kill Hellboy at the bequest of the Baba Yaga. This time around, Koshchei must defend his home, Hell, from destruction.

“It’s always a pleasure working with Ben, as he can really do everything,” said Mignola. “And there’s just something about how he does things—something very natural and almost quiet—subtle—til it’s time to NOT be subtle. It just really works with the kind of stories I’m trying to tell. And Koshchei—I just love this guy. I’ve really put him through the wringer, but he keeps on going. And Hell—well, is it odd to say I love that place?”

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Mignola + Aragno bring ‘Leonide The Vampyr’ to Dark Horse

The first in a series of collaborations between the two creators features a vampire girl who washes ashore in a small coastal village.

Hellboy creator Mike Mignola will team with Mel The Chosen artist Rachele Aragno for a new series of projects, starting with Leonide The Vampyr: Miracle At The Crow’s Head this October.

They’ll be joined colorist Dave Stewart and letter Clem Robins for the one-shot, which sprang from an image Aragno posted online.

“Last October I was publishing daily sketches on social media. Mike Mignola had seen the first one, a portrait of a vampire girl, and he loved it,” said Aragno. “From there we started talking about the idea of a collaboration between us, and that my vampire portrait could be the basis of a story. When Mike sent me the outline, I went crazy with joy. It was perfect, and I was delighted to be able to draw and put those words on paper. Mignola has always been in the pantheon of my favorite authors, and I was honored to be able to work with him.”

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Love is quite literally Hell in the new miniseries ‘Hellboy in Love’

Mike Mignola, Christopher Golden, Matt Smith, Chris O’Halloran and Clem Robins tell a story filled with love, ex-girlfriends, punk rock and goblin train robberies.

It’s all about the love in a new miniseries coming from the creative team of Hellboy: The Bones of Giants. Mike Mignola, Christopher Golden, Matt Smith, Chris O’Halloran, and Clem Robins reunite for Hellboy in Love, a five-issue series that also reunites Hellboy with Dr. Anastasia Bransfield, his ex-girlfriend from the novel Hellboy: The Lost Army.

“It’s been 25 years since Dr. Anastasia Bransfield first appeared as Hellboy’s ex-girlfriend in my novel Hellboy: The Lost Army,” Golden, who wrote the novel, said. “I’ve always thought one of the reasons Mike considered my three Hellboy novels as canon is because of that relationship. Over the years we talked many times about telling the stories of their adventures together, and the day has finally come. It’s Romancing the Stone-style action, occult weirdness, and first love, with gorgeous Matt Smith art! We’re having so much fun!”

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‘Castle Full of Blackbirds’ spins out of ‘Hellboy and the B.P.R.D.’ this September

Mike Mignola teams with novelist Angela Slatter and artist Valeria Burzo for the new miniseries starring Sara May Blackburn.

All the Murmuring Bones novelist Angela Slatter will enlist with the B.P.R.D. this September, has she joins creator Mike Mignola and artist Valeria Burzo for Castle Full of Blackbirds.

The miniseries puts the spotlight on Sara May Blackburn, the precognitive girl introduced in Hellboy and the B.P.R.D.: The Return of Effie Kolb. The miniseries also features colors by Michelle Madsen, letters by Clem Robins and covers by Wylie Beckert.

“I’m thrilled to have Angela writing this series and, honestly, right now I have no idea how that came about,” Mignola said. “She is one of the small handful of fantasy writers I really love reading these days, and we were lucky enough to get her to write a short story for the last Hellboy prose collection, Hellboy: An Assortment of Horrors. After that we somehow got to emailing, and that led to this. About halfway through writing The Return of Effie Kolb I knew our little witch girl was going to want her own series. I had an idea how something like that was going to start, but really had no idea where it might go. I DID know that as it was a book about a young girl, I wanted a female perspective. Someone who would bring something new to the Hellboy world while still playing with the history and mythology we’ve created for the place. Angela was the first (and I think only) name that sprang to mind. Fortunately she said yes, and here we are. I love what she’s done and can’t wait to see where this will go. My hope is that this is just the beginning.”

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Dark Horse announces ‘Frankenstein: New World’

Mike Mignola’s take on Mary Shelley’s famous creation shambles into shops in August.

Dark Horse has announced a new miniseries set in the Hellboy universe featuring Mike Mignola’s take on a familiar character: Frankenstein: New World, an all-new four-part miniseries.

Mignola will be joined by writers Christopher Golden and Thomas Sniegoski for the project, which will feature art by Peter Bergting, colorist Michelle Madsen and letterer Clem Robins.

“At the end of B.P.R.D.: The Devil You Know when we burned down the world and then started it again with frog people, I really did think that would be all we’d see of it,” Mignola said in the press release. “And in that same issue, that little glimpse of the Frankenstein monster in the center of the earth, that’s the last I thought we’d see of him. But…when Chris and Tom came to me with the idea of having Frankenstein’s adventures in Frog World, I think it took me about ten seconds to say YES. And then two minutes later I think we were on the phone talking about all the possibilities. I just don’t seem to be able to put a lid on this thing—which I guess is a good thing.”

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Mignola + Hinkle set a course into danger for ‘Radio Spaceman’

The two-issue miniseries will arrive next March.

Mike Mignola and Greg Hinkle are plotting a course into mystery, mayhem, monsters and more in Radio Spaceman, a two-issue miniseries coming from Dark Horse next year.

Mignola and Hinkle will be joined by colorist Dave Stewart and letterer Clem Robins on what the press release calls a “standalone steampunk space adventure.”

“Radio Spaceman started in very much the way Hellboy did—A fast sketch done just for fun and a funny name that just popped into my head,” said Mignola. “That was during the early days of covid-19, when I was banging out sketches to entertain myself and posting them online. People seemed to like the guy, and I liked him—I did five or six sketches of him, but had no plans to do anything REAL with him. I didn’t have a story for him until, suddenly, one day I did. I wasn’t trying. It just happened. I don’t remember how exactly, but I’m suspecting it was one of those things that came to me in the shower. Most of the best ideas happen there.”

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Mail Call | Marvel announces FCBD titles, partnership with TASCHEN

Today’s round-up includes news from Marvel, DC, Image, Dark Horse and more.

Marvel will publish three Free Comic Book Day titles in 2022, the publisher announced last week.

The titles include Avengers/X-Men, which will “lay the groundwork for an event that will erupt across the Marvel Universe in 2022,” as well as a Spider-Man/Venom title for the second year in row and Marvel’s Voices, the anthology that features diverse creators and characters. It will include both new and previously released material.

Free Comic Book Day is scheduled for May 7, 2022.

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Comics Lowdown | Graphic Novels challenged in TX, VA, WY

Plus: The latest on the supply chain woes!

It’s almost TOO on the nose that three book challenges involving graphic novels came up during Banned Books Week, but that’s exactly what has happened.

Cover of Jerry Craft's New Kid, showing a boy looking at a school notebook

Katy, Texas: The Katy school board has canceled a virtual appearance by Jerry Craft, after an online petition claimed that his middle-grade graphic novels New Kid and Class Act promote Critical Race Theory. TV news station Click2Houston has a good overview of what happened: After a parent complained, the school district put the Zoom visit on hold and pulled the books from the library for review, per their policy; they will review the books within 15 days and are trying to reschedule the visit outside of the instructional day. Kara Yorio at School Library Journal has more details on the backstory: The petition (since removed) urged the school board to cancel Craft’s appearance, claiming that “these books … are wrought with critical race theory in the form of teaching children that their white privilege inherently comes with microaggressions which must be kept in check.” New Kid has won numerous awards and was the first graphic novel to win the Newbery Medal; both books are best-sellers.

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