Mignolaversity: Chris Roberson discusses “The House of Lost Horizons” and “Hellboy and the B.P.R.D.: 1957”

Last month “The House of Lost Horizons: A Sarah Jewell Mystery” began, a brand new spinoff from Mike Mignola’s Hellboy Universe that invites readers into a different kind of story, showing us corners of Mignola’s world we haven’t seen before. And last week “Hellboy and the B.P.R.D.: 1957” was announced as a series of five one-shots, returning to the 1950s one last time. Both titles are cowritten by Chris Roberson, who has been working in the Hellboy Universe since 2016’s “Rise of the Black Flame.” We were lucky enough to chat with him about these news titles and what may lie ahead.

I’m thrilled that “The Sarah Jewell Mysteries” series exists. I already loved Sarah, but the idea of telling a paranormal Agatha Christie-esque story set in the Hellboy Universe is immediately compelling. What was it that made you settle on this period of her life to introduce a Sarah Jewell series?

Chris Roberson: The character of Sarah Jewell was originally conceived as a young woman who would serve as a foil and partner to Sir Edward Grey in the Victorian era (Mike specifically had the mental image of the scene from Jaws in which the characters compare battle scars around the table, and liked the idea of a bunch of crusty old dudes at the Silver Lantern Club being shown up by this young woman who had already seen more of the world than any of them). But then almost immediately we hit upon the idea of introducing her first in the pages of “Rise of the Black Flame” as a more mature woman. And as much as I like the feisty young Sarah, I love the brassy mature Sarah, who has already seen and done it all.

And I’m a huge fan of Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple mysteries, and of shows like Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries and The Frankie Drake Mysteries, and for a long time I really wanted to do a fair-play murder mystery along those lines set in the early part of the 20th century. When I realized that we could tell a story like that with Sarah Jewell if we set it in the world of Hellboy, it was only a matter of time. . .

As much as I love Sarah, I must say I’m very much enjoying Marie-Thérèse LaFleur here. She may not be a titular character, but she’s absolutely the co-lead of the story―not an assistant, but an equal to Sarah. Can you tell us about how she developed?

Chris: The initial inspiration for Marie-Thérèse was a young Josephine Baker. More in terms of her look than her personality, though there was a bit of both. When we were introducing Sarah Jewell in “Rise of the Black Flame,” I wanted the character to have a Watson to her Sherlock, a companion who could act as a sounding board but also a voice of reason. As the character developed and her Creole background came into better focus, Marie-Thérèse increasingly became a more interesting figure in her own right, beyond just being the sidekick. In the course of writing the scripts it occurred to me that the relationship between the two might not be strictly platonic, as well, which some readers have picked up on.

You’ve mentioned in other interviews that artist Leila del Duca was at the top of your list to draw this series (and at the top of Mike Mignola’s and editor Katii O’Brien’s too). I can understand why―I added her to my mental list of artists I’d like to see work in the Hellboy Universe a few years back. What was it about her work that felt like the right fit for a Sarah Jewell story?

Chris: I had been rereading the book that Leila did with Joe Keatinge for Image Comics, “Shutter,” around the time that the idea for “The House of Lost Horizons” was first coming into focus. Her ability to tackle an incredibly wide range of environments and crazy creatures while at the same time drawing believably diverse body types and period fashions. . . she was just perfect for the job. I ended up making a short list of potential artists that might work for the book, but Leila always remained at the very top of that list, and I was thrilled when the stars aligned and she was available to take it on when it was time to get started.

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When “The House of Lost Horizons” kicked off last month, I wrote a Hell Notes piece about Sarah Jewell, and I couldn’t get over how much material you’ve got to explore. There was so often a single line or panel that suggested so much beyond the page, like one image of Sarah and Marie-Thérèse confronting a tribe of alligators in Louisiana. Some things are surely planting seeds for future stories, but there’s also a tradition in the Hellboy Universe of hinting at many more stories than are ever going to be told. But that alligator tribe image made me pause because it’s the sort of thing I could see being written, never intending to explore it further, but then the art comes in and… Well, I guess my question is have you ever had art come in that changed your plans, made you rethink something, or sparked something entirely new?

Chris: Oh, absolutely. That happens all the time. Whenever I’m in the process of starting a new project set in the Hellboy Universe I do a lot of rereading, both of the stuff that is obviously connected to the characters and concepts we’re planning to use, as well as stories that might only be tangentially related. And so often when going through that process I’ll catch something that’s mentioned in passing or that the artist has thrown into the background that immediately suggests a connection that I hadn’t considered before. Or it might be something incredibly minor that suggests a new direction we might explore. (In the short story ‘God Rest Ye Merry,’ Paul Grist drew Susan Xiang with a white highlight in her hair in several panels. That might have just been a lighting thing, but it looked to me like it might be an actual white streak; and so a while later, as we gradually caught up to the time that story was set, we wrote in a moment where Sue has such an extreme reaction to one of her visions that she gets a white streak in her hair. The character has had one in all of the subsequent stories.)

You have a way of playing the various titles you’ve written off of each other, such as when you used “Witchfinder” to explore the origins of the Special Intelligence Directorate, which is a major player in the Occult Cold War arc. From the upcoming cover of “The House of Lost Horizons” #4, it looks like you’ll be exploring more of the Golden Crane Society, an organization tied to the past of Agent Susan Xiang, one of the lead characters in the 1950s “Hellboy and the B.P.R.D.” series. How much does this sort of cross pollination of stories play into your plans? Do you sometimes have a story idea, but sit on it, waiting for the right moment for it to interact in an interesting way with another title?

Chris: It’s one of the advantages of getting to work on a variety of stories set in so many different points in history. Like with Sarah Jewell, originally conceived as a woman in her early twenties in the late 1800s but first introduced as an older woman in the 1920s. In the case of the Golden Crane Society, I knew that I wanted to explore that history more at some point but wasn’t sure when we’d get around to it, so I ended up teasing the idea back in one of the first short stories I wrote in the Hellboy Universe, ‘Wandering Souls,’ that ran in “Hellboy and the B.P.R.D.: 1953.” So there are some ideas that we drop in as little seeds in other stories, but other times I do end up holding things back, waiting for the most interesting way to introduce them. But the nice thing about the world of Hellboy is that for every tantalizing hint that can be explored further down the line, there are things that don’t ever need to be explained but can pop up and never be mentioned again. The fun part is figuring out which is which.

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The recently announced “Hellboy and the B.P.R.D.: 1957” feels like a kind of reunion, bringing back Stephen Green, Shawn Martinbrough, and Mike Norton, who have all worked on “Hellboy and the B.P.R.D.” with you in the past. It also brings back Laurence Campbell into the Hellboy Universe after his legendary run on “B.P.R.D.: Hell on Earth” and “B.P.R.D.: The Devil You Know.” But there’s also an eye to the future with the debut of Alison Sampson in the Hellboy Universe too. So I’m curious about how this collection of one-shots developed. How much of it was geared by wanting to work with these artists again? Or was it more a case of casting an artist for a story you already had?

Chris: The process began way back when we were finishing up “Hellboy and the BPRD: 1956,” which had been this sprawling undertaking with lots of moving parts and interweaving storylines done by multiple artists. We discussed what we might do with those characters next, and everyone agreed that taking time to spend with one character at a time had a lot of appeal. And I have to admit that I had started associating particular artists with particular characters in some cases. Shawn had done such a great job with the Woodrow Farrier story in “1955” that it just made sense to bring him back to do what is in a lot of ways a sequel to that earlier story.

In the case of Alison Sampson, we were talking about bringing her onboard at around the same time that the idea for that issue was coming into focus, and the setting and the subject matter just turned out to line up really nicely with her strengths. And getting the chance to bring Laurence back, not only to do one of the issues but also to contribute all five of the covers, was a real treat. With Stephen and Mike, it was just nice to work with each of them again, as they always do such a fantastic job.

What drove you to do “1957” as a series of one-shot stories? (And, if I may say so, that cover for ‘Fearful Symmetry’ sure looks like it could be set near Jabalpur, India.)

Chris: Chris: The real motivation was wanting to cover as much ground, both geographically and calendrically, as possible before we closed out the 1950s. And to do a wider variety of stories than we would have been able to do if we’d done a multiple-issue storyline. As for ‘Fearful Symmetry,’ the title is a reference to William Blake’s “The Tyger,” and now that you mention it the story does take place in India. . . (I had no doubt that you would pick up on that, Mark!)

The announcement for “1957” mentioned it would mark the end of these 1950s tales, but as I understand it, this is not the end for the Occult Cold War plotline, right?

Chris: I’m afraid that information is classified. . . (But no, this is most definitely not the end. The Fifties may be over, but the Sixties are looming large on the horizon.)

Look for “The House of Lost Horizons: A Sarah Jewell Mystery” #3 on comicbook shelves July 14 and “Hellboy and the BPRD: 1957—Family Ties” September 15.

“The House of Lost Horizons: A Sarah Jewell Mystery” #3

Cover by Christopher Mitten

Written by Mike Mignola and Chris Roberson
Illustrated by Leila del Duca
Colored by Michelle Madsen
Lettered by Clem Robins

On sale July 14, 2021
FC, 32 pages
$3.99
Miniseries

Two bodies down . . . how many more to go? A raging storm keeps the group of occult collectors trapped on the island, but some of them appear to be more restless than others. Sarah and Marie-Therése divide and conquer, following the two prime suspects down two different, but equally perilous, paths to danger!

“Hellboy and the BPRD: 1957—Family Ties”

Cover by Laurence Campbell

Written by Mike Mignola and Chris Roberson
Illustrated by Laurence Campbell
Colored by Dave Stewart
Lettered by Clem Robins

On sale September 15, 2021
FC, 32 pages
$3.99
One-shot

Before they can track down an errant copy of Gustav Strobl’s Witchcraft and Demonology, Hellboy and B.P.R.D. agent Susan Xiang are sidetracked by a beset housewife’s pleas for help. Unraveling the mystery of an unwanted house guest may lead the occult investigators right to where they wanted to be, but also right into demonic danger.

Celebrated writer Mike Mignola and longtime collaborator Chris Roberson bring you yet another hit Hellboy one-shot, with art by the extraordinary Laurence Campbell and colors by Dave Stewart.