Although the Hellboy Universe is an expansive series of titles, it has always drawn from a relatively small group of core writers. This year brought Chris Roberson (“iZombie”) into the fold, and now he’s writing “Hellboy and the B.P.R.D.,” “Rise of the Black Flame,” and “Witchfinder.” Over the next few weeks we’ll be talking to him about each series. This week we’re discussing “Witchfinder: City of the Dead” along with artist Ben Stenbeck (“Baltimore,” “Frankenstein Underground”).
Chris Roberson: Well, I had done some work with Scott Allie and Dark Horse that had recently wrapped up (the “Aliens” miniseries with Patric Reynolds that was part of the “Fire and Stone” crossover event), and had such a great experience on the job that I was looking for something else I might be able to do with them. Scott and I met for lunch one day, and he went over a list of various franchises and titles that were available, and when he got to “Witchfinder” I stopped him cold. I’d known Mignola for several years socially, and I was actually the first one to suggest that he approach Kim Newman about writing “Witchfinder,” but I don’t think that either Scott or Mike appreciated just what a rabid fan of the whole Mignolaverse I am. And Sir Edward Grey is probably my favorite character in that entire universe.
So I went off and put together a story that drew in so much of what I love about those books, not just the previous “Witchfinder” series, but little bits and pieces from “Hellboy” and “B.P.R.D.” and elsewhere, and sent an insanely detailed outline to Mike and Scott to look over. They liked what I’d come up with, and brought Ben onboard to take care of the art duties, which was a thrill for me, and we were off to the races. Around the time I wrapped up work on the scripts, they let me know that Arcudi had decided to concentrate on his creator-owned stuff, and asked if I’d be interested in taking over “Hellboy and the B.P.R.D.,” and here we are!
Ben, you’ve been working with Mike Mignola for a little under a decade now. In fact, “Witchfinder: In the Service of Angels” was one of your first projects. There was even a flashback in this story.
How does it feel to be back with Sir Edward Grey again?
Ben Stenbeck: It’s strange. I really didn’t think I would end up back on “Witchfinder.” But it’s nice. This series has a few links to that first miniseries and it feels like a continuation of a lot of that stuff. So it seems appropriate that I’m the one to draw it.
I’m a big fan of Sir Edward because the character undergoes such radical changes in the course of his lifetime. In his early days as an agent for Queen Victoria, Sir Edward is a rather stuffy character, quick to dismiss the paranormal or regard it with distaste. By the time he shows up in “Hellboy in Hell” he’s an immortal sorcerer. What drew you both to the character, and what do you find interesting about him in 1882?
Chris: I’ve always been a big fan of Victorian London as a setting, and Victorian occult detectives in particular. (In fact, one of the main plot lines in one of my prose novels, “End of the Century,” is about just such a character.) I think one of the things I like most about Sir Edward Grey as a character is the fact that he’s somewhat stuffy at this point in his life, as you say. He’s no nonsense and matter-of-fact, even when dealing with the mind-bogglingly strange. And many of my favorite moments in the series are seeing him interact with hapless characters who perhaps aren’t so unflappable in the face of the supernatural, such as the doctors at Saint John of the Cross Police Hospital.
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Yes, his interactions with those doctors were among my favorite moments in this issue. Plus, there’s something interesting about Sir Edward’s I’ve-seen-it-all attitude, especially knowing that he really hasn’t, he’s just a twenty-five-year-old that thinks he has.
Ben: I’ve always thought of Grey as an outsider. England’s wacky class system was at its worst in Victorian London and my read on Grey has always been that he doesn’t fit into the class structure―the lower classes see him as a posh toff and the upper classes see him as Working class at best. Ed doesn’t really care about any of those distinctions because he’s had experience with both sides and can see what nonsense those ideas are. But I think it’s the thing that isolates him a bit from the people around him. They all have their place but he’s got his own path.
In the first three volumes of “Witchfinder,” Sir Edward has been rather solitary. Any companions he has with him on these adventures are gone by the end. However, “City of the Dead” appears to be investing in its supporting cast. Mr. Silk, Miss Goad, Dr. Lewis, and Dr. Manley had all been background characters in prior stories, but this time around they’re much more involved―especially the two doctors. This gives the series a sense of what Sir Edward’s everyday life is like, and gives him colleagues to bounce off of.
Chris: That was motivated by several factors. First and foremost is that it’s always useful for the hero to have someone that he can talk to as the action unfolds, so that we can let the reader know what he’s thinking. But beyond that, I felt like the characters that Mike and Ben had introduced in “In The Service of Angels” just had so much potential that it would be a shame not to revisit them. And there were these little quirks in the way they were presented originally that I thought leant themselves nicely to various personality traits (such as the fact that Mr. Silk always seemed to be eating cake whenever Sir Edward stopped by, so I decided that would be a running thing).
Ben: I always like that old gag of the person in the morgue who’s seen it all and is quite comfortable eating around autopsies. In my head those are expensive slices of cake he eats. He stops off every morning at some boutique cake shop. That guy loves fancy cake.
I liked the way you used humor to cement the identities of the supporting cast. For example, Sir Edward’s butler, Bailey, didn’t appear much in this first issue, but it was enough that I immediately got a sense of him and the relationship between him and Sir Edward, especially that moment with the shotgun.
Chris: That bit of business was actually Ben’s suggestion, if I recall correctly.
Ben: Yeah, that panel wasn’t in the script, but that page was introducing Grey’s house and there wasn’t anything to say it was his house. This way we get to see where he is and it’s a cute little character bit.
The “Witchfinder” stories tend to stand apart from the rest of the Hellboy Universe, functioning like a standalone series, and yet they’ve always found interesting ways to tap into the universe’s broader mythology. This certainly seems to be an element at play in “City of the Dead.” In fact, this may be the most mythology-heavy “Witchfinder” tale to date. The Heliopic Brotherhood of Ra is back (along with August Swain), there are references to Hyperborea and the Black Goddess, and there’s even hints of Mohlomi from “Hellboy: Strange Places.” Only one issue in, and I can already see why the outline of this story could be described as ‘insanely detailed.’
Chris: Yeah, as I’ve said, I’m a rabid fan of all of the Mignolaverse stuff, and one of my favorite things to do when playing in established worlds is to find new ways to connect up disparate elements, or find gaps in the backstory or the map that could be filled with interesting stuff.
Continued belowBen: This book definitely feels like a companion to “In the Service of Angels,” and a few other books, but I don’t want to spoil anything. What I love about the way Chris has written this series is that it really feels like a Victorian detective story, Grey is following leads from one place to another leading to a huge finale. I just like the way everything slowly unfolds.
Ben, I love what you’ve done with your art in this series. The digital washes make the artwork Sir Edward’s London look older than ever.
Ben: I’m doing my pages the same as I always have―penciling digitally, printing the pencils out in a light blue and then inking traditionally―but with this series I’m adding a layer of grey tone with digital watercolour brushes. It’s something I’ve always wanted to try out. It’s letting me do more interesting things with light and atmosphere, stuff I couldn’t really do with just black ink.
Did John Severin and Tyler Crook’s work on “Witchfinder” affect the way you approached the series?
Ben: Well, the fact that Tyler did his “Witchfinder” series with ink wash made me think if they let Tyler do that they can let me do it too. I probably wouldn’t have tried it otherwise.
Michelle Madsen is doing the colors on this book. To my eye she appears to building on the color palettes Dave Stewart introduced in “The Mysteries of Unland.” It beautifully compliments the ink washes and gives “Witchfinder” its own identity while still remaining recognisably a part of the Hellboy Universe.
Ben: She’s great. Dave Stewart was the first person I talked to about working in graytone because I wanted to make sure he would be happy colouring it. Then things got changed around and I didn’t find out Michelle was coloring it until the colours for issue #1 turned up. But michelle is on my very short list of other colourists I’d like to work with and she’s really doing a great job.
Yes, I like what I’m seeing of your collaboration so far. In the opening pages, there’s that sequence with the workers finding the underground ruins, and I love the way the graytone captures the drop-off of the light until all is black shadows. Michelle did this thing where the light gets grayer too, like the cold is seeping in with the shadows. Even the lantern itself is sort of feebly warm at best. It makes for excellent atmosphere.
Ben: This stuff really works best with a simple gradient to the colour. There were a few panels in the first issue that Michelle had added flat colour to, relying on just what I’d done, but we got her to do a little more gradient with the colour and it makes it work really well.
I know you’ve got another project in the pipeline, though it’s too soon to talk about yet. I am curious if you’re planning on using graytone in your next project now, or was this something you felt was specifically suited to “Witchfinder”?
Ben: It’s something I’ve been playing with for a long time, specifically for a personal project I’ve been chipping away at for years. I think this is something I’d keep for “Witchfinder.” There’s been talk of me drawing a “Witchfinder” one-shot at some point and I would definitely use this technique again for that.
I’d love to see that! “Witchfinder” has been almost completely longer arcs, but I’d love to see some shorter stories with him. They have a different rhythm that I think would work well for the character.
Ben: I just remembered we did “Beware the Ape” after you said something on Twitter about wanting to see us do a “Witchfinder” story again. But yeah, I love Mike’s shorter stories. They have a really fun energy to them.
Chris: The current plan is that one of the future arcs would actually be structured almost like an anthology series, so definitely expect more “Witchfinder” shorts.
As I said before, Sir Edward is a favorite of mine. Chris, given your own passion for the character, I hope we’ll be seeing a lot more of him in future.
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Chris: When I wrapped up work on “City of the Dead,” I had a lot of conversations with Scott and Mike about what Sir Edward was up to between this point in his career and his final adventure in Chicago that we’ve seen referenced in “Hellboy In Hell,” and then went off and came up with an overview of how we could present those stories. So definitely, we’ve got a lot more “Witchfinder” planned (and in the first issue of “Rise of the Black Flame” readers will actually get a little glimpse into what some of those stories will be about).
Excellent news! I look forward to reading the rest of the series. I’ve seen a little already, and I must say I’m very pleased with it.
You can follow Chris Roberson and Ben Stenbeck on Twitter. “Witchfinder: City of the Dead” #2 comes out September 28.
