I find your plan for these audio dramas rather fascinating. As I understand it, the first one, “Hellboy: A Plague of Wasps,” is set in 1980 and follows on where “Hellboy in Love: The Key to It All” left off. From there you jump back to 1933 for a story with reporter Cindy Tynan and the Lobster in “Lobster Johnson: The Proteus Club.” Then in the third audio drama, “Hellboy and the B.P.R.D.: The Goddess of Manhattan,” you’re jumping forward to the 1990s for a story that builds on plot threads introduced in the other two audio dramas. And finally, these audio dramas will introduce a pulp character that will be showing up in the comics at a later date. Have I got all that right?
As someone that very much enjoyed “Hellboy in Love,” I’m thrilled to hear more is already in the works. Right from the moment it was announced, you had my attention. Don’t think you had me fooled when it was announced as a five-issue series—I always knew there had to be more! There’s simply no way to cover the Anastasia and Hellboy romance in a mere five issues and do it justice. That said, to take a detour from the comics into an audio drama, I must admit to being totally blindsided there. Well played, sir. You’re now taking Anastasia, who was originally developed for prose, from comics to an audio drama. Did you discover anything new about her in this process? And what was it like for you the first time you heard Jasmine Hyde performing as her?
CG: I’ve known Jasmine for many years, and have dragged her into a number of different projects over the years. She starred in Ghosts of Albion, the online animated series Amber Benson and I wrote for the BBC many years ago. She’s a stellar actress. I’ve seen her in films and on stage, and she’s also a stellar human being. I’m so glad she was up for this. I wanted confidence and competence, a little flirtation and a bit of impatience, and Jasmine delivers all of that. In writing ‘A Plague of Wasps,’ the first and most obvious thing was that Hellboy could NOT be the narrator. Hellboy isn’t a very talkative guy. That made Anastasia the obvious candidate, and that meant Anastasia talking ABOUT Hellboy and how she feels about him. That was new, and really interesting to explore.
I have to say, this idea of telling stories across various media is ambitious! I can’t imagine it was a plan arrived fully formed. What was the road that led to this?
CG: I’ve been intrigued for years by both transmedia storytelling and by audio drama in particular. I started thinking about doing original audio books, or even straight up audio drama in the Hellboy universe, and it turned out that GraphicAudio had been in touch with Dark Horse somewhere along the way. I had worked with them before—they adapted the “Cemetery Girl” graphic novel trilogy I wrote with Charlaine Harris—so I reached out to them. That led to a conversation with Anji Cornette at GraphicAudio and Scott McCormick, who is the production guru, director, and now voice of Hellboy (which fulfills one of his bucket list dream items). We talked about a variety of ways to approach this. I honestly don’t recall if it was me or Scott who suggested three books from various eras. I think the suggestion of “Lobster Johnson” came from Scott, which would have led to me suggesting that we link the three, so rather than a straight-up trilogy, we’d have an interconnected trio of books, where the first two provide the foundation for the last one.
Continued belowWhat’s your experience been like writing these audio books and working with director Scott McCormick? Do you approach a scene differently knowing that it’s going to be created with sound effects and music, or even lulls in the dialogue? After all, even silence becomes a tool at your disposal.
CG: I learned a lot writing Ghosts of Albion with Amber years ago, and from the episode of Lights Out that we wrote (which also starred Jasmine) for the BBC. I’d already begun working (again with Amber) on a secret project for Audible, and so this felt very natural. That said, GraphicAudio’s books are different in a variety of ways from what we’d think of as a fiction podcast or audio drama. And the way effects and other things are handled are also different. Working with Scott McCormick has been fantastic. I’ve had a number of things come up in life and work since we started this (including writing the new Hellboy film with Mike), and the GraphicAudio team has been very supportive and helpful. As for approaching it differently. . . absolutely. I always say that writers should never assume they can competently work in one medium simply because they’ve managed to learn another. You’ve got to learn how to do it properly, for each medium. Each has its own style and disciplines. For audio, you have to imagine differently.
Art by Craig Rousseau
Colors by Chris O’Halloran
CG: Not only are we still on speaking terms, but Tom will be cowriting the third book for GraphicAudio, “Hellboy and the B.P.R.D.: The Goddess of Manhattan.” I’m so enjoying the opportunity to put our heads together again. Of course we’re working on the next arc of “Frankenstein: New World,” which hasn’t been announced, but is surely no secret. As for Lobster Johnson. . . who knows?
Considering the hardcover collection of “Frankenstein: New World” clearly labels it as Volume One, I think it’s safe to say another arc of the series is not a secret.
‘The Proteus Club’ is something I’m very excited about since it features Cynthia (Cindy) Tynan, reporter for the The Herald Tribune, as the central character. Of all the characters in “Lobster Johnson,” she’s my favorite, and I’ve been wanting more stories with her ever since she left for Chicago at the end of ‘The Pirate’s Ghost.’ This story is set before that though, back when she’s only known the Lobster and his crew for a year. What’s it been like for you to step into a corner of the Hellboy Universe that we’ve seen quite a bit of, but for you it’s really the first time you get to explore it?
CG: I love it. Cindy is my favorite character aside from the Lobster himself. Like Hellboy, he’s not very talkative, so it’s Cindy narrating ‘The Proteus Club.’ I’m a massive fan of Golden Age Hollywood films, particularly noir—and of course I love the pulps. So this is a real sweet spot for me. If I could cast Barbara Stanwyck circa 1935, I would.
When you selected the three corners of the Hellboy Universe you wanted to explore in audio dramas, I swear you picked the ones that are guaranteed to excite fans. Hellboy’s romance with Anastasia? The 1930s with the Lobster? Both excellent picks. But this last one, “Hellboy and the B.P.R.D.: The Goddess of Manhattan,” has Hellboy, Liz, and Abe together. That right there is the big one. Despite the Hellboy Universe being around for almost thirty years now, a story with Hellboy, Liz, and Abe together on an investigation is extremely rare. I see fans posting about wanting stories like this set in the 1980s and early 1990s all the time.
But I know you have a great deal of love for these characters too, so I’m curious, for you not the fans, what is it that most interests you about having the trio on a case?
Continued belowCG: When I wrote the first Hellboy novel, The Lost Army—more than twenty-five years ago—I had one scene at the beginning of the novel with Hellboy, Abe, and Liz together. Later, I had Hellboy and Abe in The Bones of Giants. What I love the most about this period is the friendship and camaraderie the three of them have—not the movie version, but the comics version. The comfort they give one another. They’re all extraordinary beings whom many would call freaks, but they give each other a sense of normalcy. Together, they can be ordinary people. Friends, with problems, who bitch to and at each other. One of my favorite bits at the beginning of The Lost Army is Abe just sitting with a hoodie and a walkman, listening to Dire Straits.
That’s a fan favorite scene too. Literally only last week there was chatter about it again on the Mignolaverse Discord.
CG: I remember Mike really liking the humanity of that. The later Abe is more fascinating to many, but this Abe, who is just trying to figure out what it means to try to live a life in this world—I love that. And Liz. . . of course she’s got massive trauma, and a temper, and she fears herself more than anything, but her friendship with Abe and Hellboy is rooted both in that camaraderie and in the knowledge that unlike most everyone else, they are not afraid of her. They’re afraid for her. How can you not love that character dynamic? Of course, these are just my thoughts. Mike may disagree, and they’re his characters. I’m always more interested in his views on this stuff than anyone else’s, including my own.
