Today, “The Sword of Hyperborea” #1 came out and, if you haven’t read our review yet, it’s fantastic. Mike Mignola, Rob Williams, Laurence Campbell, Quinton Winter, and Clem Robins made it something really special. Even more amazing, this was Rob Williams’s debut Hellboy Universe title, so I simply had to sit down and discuss the issue with him. I’ve kept the first half spoiler free, and there’s a warning when you get to the deep-dive stuff.
Rob Williams: From my memory Laurence had been talking to Mike Mignola and Katii O’Brien at Dark Horse about a Gall Dennar story and Laurence had put together a bunch of visual moodboard stuff. Then, and you’d probably be better asking Laurence this to get a definite answer, but I think it was Laurence’s idea to maybe do a series where we followed the sword and we’d see the different sword-bearers through history. Laurence and I had just finished “Old Haunts” together for AWA, we’ve worked together a bunch of times over the years, and we’re good friends who talk all the time about our different projects. Laurence told me about this idea and maybe I could come on as a writer. I’d met with Katii at New York Comic Con a couple of years back and we’d discussed my maybe doing something B.P.R.D.-related. I think Katii and co had read “Old Haunts” recently and I’m a long time fan of the “Hellboy” and “B.P.R.D.” material, so it all came together. Mike had a plot spine for a Gall Dennar story. We all talked it through. I added some ideas, so did Laurence.
One of the enjoyable things about this series is it’s been very collaborative. With a lot of comic gigs it’s writer writes, artist draws, they rarely chat. Laurence and I discussed a lot of “The Sword of Hyperborea” before I’d get to scripting. Mike would add some things in Zoom calls. This world all goes through Mike, as you’re very aware. Then I’d script.
RW: Once we had the idea for each issue showcasing a different sword-bearer in a different era it was a case of deciding the eras and coming up with some brand new characters who’d get us excited. Gall Dennar and Howards in #1 we’ve seen before. Issues #2–4 would be fresh. We talked through eras that interested us. The type of characters who maybe we hadn’t seen in the Hellboy world before. Fresh perspectives. Graf Ling De Gotha in #2 is an Asian heritage, adopted-German secret agent against the backdrop of World War I, a woman carrying a painful secret. Viktor Olssen in #3 is an alcoholic, volatile Swedish deep sea diver in World War II, Then in #4 ‘One Leg’ Elijah Bone is an African-American singer come from the southern states to the electric blues of Chicago in the ’50s. We thought of these characters as sort of B.P.R.D. members from the past you’ve never met before.
This is your first project for the Hellboy Universe, but I must say, you took to it like a duck to water. In part, I’m not surprised, because “Old Haunts” not only showed how well you and Laurence Campbell work together, but also that you have an affinity for tales involving the supernatural. But on the other hand, this is a story pulling from the deep lore of the Hellboy Universe. Was that aspect a particular challenge for you, or as a “B.P.R.D.” reader did you already feel you had a good foundation to build on?
RW: A pretty good foundation, I guess. I’ve read “B.P.R.D.” from the start and most “Hellboy,” I’d imagine. So I have a good handle on the world even though my memory’s dreadful and I’d forgotten a lot of it. But it was a good excuse to dig back in and read some of the most enjoyable comics of the past couple of decades. It’s funny, I remember reading “B.P.R.D.” and raving to Laurence about it, and then he ends up drawing the book for something like five years. As I said, Laurence and I chat a lot, and he knows a lot of this world very well by now. He’d suggest and remind me of certain plot points.
Continued belowComing in as a writer on a well-established universe like this, with some very specific authorial tones, you have to do a bit of a balancing act. You want to fit in with the voice of these characters so you’re not being too jarring, but you always want to bring a bit of yourself to any story you write, otherwise what’s the point? What Mike does with “Hellboy” and what John Arcudi did with “B.P.R.D.” is a little different in terms of approach. I suspect I’m aiming for something a little between the two, with elements of both? And visually, of course, Laurence and I are bringing a lot of our own sensibilities.
I love “Old Haunts” and a big part of that comes from Campbell’s panel compositions, which as I understand it was a part of the conversations you had with him going into that project—wide, cinematic shapes for the more grounded material, then shaking it up with wilder structures as the supernatural creeps in. For me, this is the most exciting part of this project for me, the continuation of that collaboration. It’s not just that you and Campbell work so well together, but you’re looking for ways to let the art tell the story even before you begin scripting.
RW: It’s one of the most enjoyable collaborative experiences simply because first and foremost we’re friends and we bonded years ago over a love of a lot of the same comics, so I think a lot of our touchstones are similar. We talk on the phone a lot about comics and films, mainly. He’s a fantastic visual storyteller and I often find that if I’m reaching for something in the script he just gets it and then enhances it. I write very visually, even if I can’t draw for toffee, but I see a lot of the panels/angles. They’re often in my panel descriptions. I’ll describe the emotions a character is feeling even if they’re not coming through in the dialogue, so that allows a really good artist like Laurence to draw an acting performance. And that allows me to cut back on the dialogue and actually write subtext, and suddenly I’m a far better writer. Laurence puts mood on the page so well—that does a lot of the job for the writer. “Sword,” far more than our other collaborations, is a very two-way street in terms of inception. He’s given far more plot and character input here than in the past. To the point where issue three’s protagonist—I initially had a different character there—but Laurence said he’d had this idea for a deep sea diver and I thought that was visually richer than what I had, so I took that and built from there.
So many experiences in comics are writer writes script, hands it over, artist draws it, no conversation between the two. “Old Haunts” was creator-owned, joint built with Laurence and Ollie Masters from the foundations up. “Sword” might not be creator-owned per se, but we’ve approached it in the same way.
That sort of visual approach to storytelling works great for a character like Ted Howards / Gall Dennar, who usually doesn’t say very much and tends to be alone more often than not.
RW: Yeah, he’s the stoic barbarian. Howards also isn’t remotely a verbose man. One of the things a good writer learns, I think, is if you have a good artist, do your best to keep out of their way. It’s a visual medium. Mike, with Hellboy, is the master of that.
I’m just going to drop a spoiler warning here for our readers, because I wanted to dive into some specifics.
I was actually pretty blown away by how deep into the lore you got, especially since this is your debut Hellboy Universe title. You revisited Mera-Hem, who Gall Dennar first fought all the way back in “B.P.R.D.: Hell on Earth—The Abyss of Time”; you seemingly ended the debate on whether mysterious city in the Sahara in “Witchfinder: In the Service of Angels” was Urrasan or Hypos (It turns out it was Hypos, since Urrasan appears to be located around Chicago); not to mention this functions as a kind of coda to “B.P.R.D.: The Devil You Know,” revisiting Ted Howards’s death and the rest of Gall’s life, which put to rest a bunch of questions about how the Gall/Ted connection works. And you’ve added your own touches to the lore too, like the wolf spirit that appears to somehow be Liz. More impressive though, is how you implemented these elements without the story feeling weighed down by them.
Continued below
RW: One of Mike’s words of advice in our initial Zoom call was “You don’t want to explain too much with this stuff, trust me.” Noted. And personally, I usually find exposition on the page deathly dull, so that approach was fine with me. Far better to go with the Kubrickian approach of show it but don’t tell, and let the reader make up their own mind. As I said earlier, I’ve read probably 99% of “B.P.R.D.” and “Hellboy” over the years—I’m sure there’s short stories I’ve missed but…. I’m a fan of this stuff. But my memory is also terrible. So you go back and do your research—I reread the Howards and Gall Dennar stuff. Mike gave Laurence and I his thoughts on the Sword, where it came from, what it actually is—something I’m obviously not sharing here. Similarly, Mike passed on his thoughts on the Hyperborean cities and that age, including a few things I’m pretty sure he just had sort of rolling around his head but had never written down, a few of which sort of blew Laurence and I away a bit. It felt like we were being told a bit of a secret history of the Hellboy universe, which was fun. I reread the “Witchfinder” series. You’ll see a bunch of snippets from past “B.P.R.D.”/“Hellboy” history seeded throughout the “Sword” series. If you’re someone who wants to connect the dots, great. But first and foremost I think our job is to create a compelling new story with characters you’ll care about.
Oh, and I should say, the wolf spirit might not be Liz. . .
RW: Yeah, that was the question that stuck with me when we considered this first issue. And it’s there on page one, the first line of dialogue in the issue “You think we lose?” And they do. We know that now. You can argue that all this is for nought. The world burns. But what Howards does on the bridge at the end of ‘The Devil You Know’ also allows the last surviving humans to escape underground, and who knows where that leads in the future of mankind. I think that’s the theme of issue #1, certainly, the thing that Gall Dennar asks himself, thousands of years in the past, cursed with knowledge of what’s to come: “What is the point of this fight?” But, like all of us, we know that death’s there somewhere in our futures, but while we’re here there can be love and joy and ‘moments’. And that’s worth fighting for. And as we see as the series moves on, the sword being passed on touches other lives, creates new stories, has consequences for these characters, some of whom will be brand new to readers.
It’s great to have you in the Hellboy Universe, and I hope you’ll be sticking around beyond “The Sword of Hyperborea.” If given the opportunity, what corners would you like to explore? Are there any particular characters you’d like to have a chance to write?
RW: Well, first off, thanks very much. I hope so too. In terms of characters I’d like to write, I’ve already written another story featuring a couple of characters who it was a complete treat to write as a fan. Can’t say more than that, really. The brand new characters you’re meeting in “The Sword of Hyperborea” #2 to #4 could potentially have more stories in them too. We’ll see. The world that Mike and his collaborators have created over the years—people like John Arcudi, Guy Davis, Duncan Fegredo, James Harren—it’s filled with amazing characters. I could fanboy some stories out of them, absolutely. And working with Laurence is always a treat. But if we can do what we’ve done in “The Sword of Hyperborea,” and add some new people to the Hellboy Universe while dancing in and around existing lore, that’s very exciting too.
Continued below“The Sword of Hyperborea” #1 is out now, and look for “The Sword of Hyperborea” #2 in February. . .
with colors by Dave Stewart
Written by Mike Mignola and Rob Williams
Illustrated by Laurence Campbell
Colored by Quinton Winter
Lettered by Clem RobinsOn sale February 16, 2022
Full color, 32 pages
$3.99
MiniseriesThe Sword of Hyperborea continues its trek through history, blessing the chosen ones who wield it with incredible power. When it appears at a pivotal moment during WWI, will the blade be used for good or for evil? Spies, supernatural creatures, and secret societies collide in this fast-paced continuation of the sword’s saga!
