While the Mignolaversity team is also a huge fan of “Hellboy,” Brian and David are unabashedly bigger fans of the “B.P.R.D.” section of the world, which blends the big ideas of Mike Mignola and incredible character work and dialogue of John Arcudi. John is obviously a huge part of what makes that book special, and today as part of our “31 Days of Abe” celebration, we talk to him about the turn the world has taken recently in the book, some of our favorite characters, the artistic collaborators he gets to work with, and much, much more.
Thanks to John for chatting with us, and don’t forget to pick up “B.P.R.D.” #105 today, the first issue of the “Cold Day in Hell” arc, which you can see our review of here in an hour.
John Arcudi: Mike and I were friends for many years before we worked together, though we never discussed the notion of doing that. I was too intimidated by his work, for one thing, and felt he was the best writer for his artwork anyway, so who needs me? But then I remember when “Major Bummer” was in its first run, every month Mike would call me and tell me what a great job I did! It was a MASSIVE ego boost and I felt more comfortable entertaining the notion of a collaboration. We started talking about collaborating on some kind of a project. A WWII era superhero comic for DC, something for Marvel (I think), and a really great creator owned book for DH (boy, I wish that one had happened!). Even a cartoon show for a cable network (which we actually successfully pitched but the money was just terrible), and then after Mike and Guy did “Plague of Frogs,” he suddenly he asked me if I wanted to take over BPRD. So it was a lot of hard work that ended up getting resolved by a little bit of luck.
I know that, for example, in the Major Bummer introduction you said you always kind of felt superheroes were a bit silly, and there are certain elements of horror and supernatural that you’ve said you’re not a fan of. What specifically appealed to you about this world that Mike was looking to create in B.P.R.D., short of just getting the opportunity to work with Mike?
JA: I’m not going to lie to you; the chance to work with Mike and the great Guy Davis (with whom I’d also tried to collaborate many times before BPRD came together) was pretty much my sole reason for jumping on this book. i mean, isn’t that enough of an inducement for anybody? But the fun thing I discovered is that right off, Mike told me he wanted me to do “my thing.” Lots of editors hire you to write stories THEIR way, and as a result there’s a certain homogeneity to a lot of comics work out there, but Mike trusted me from day one. When I turned in the first scripts for that first series (“The Dead” which was actually split into two parts; Mike wrote the Abe story, I wrote the new HQ and “Daimio centric” story) and it was obvious that I was taking a more nuts and bolts approach to things than maybe Mike would, he didn’t panic. He figured “Look, Hellboy has my tone, and BPRD can have this tone.” It works to have both sides. it fleshes out the universe, you know? Or such was the thinking. Who knew how fans would react, but we’ve been very lucky and they seem to agree with us. And THAT’S always the part of supernatural and horror stuff that interests me. What’s going on inside the people affected — it’s just that in this case, the people also happen to be the monsters sometimes.
Continued belowI know this probably changes from issue to issue, but can you give us a peek at the creative process behind putting together an issue of “B.P.R.D.” Let’s talk, specifically, about this week’s “B.P.R.D.” #105. This issue picks up after “Return of the Master,” after a brief detour in “The Abyss of Time.” What was the genesis for this particular story, and how did you, Mike, and Peter Snejbjerg collaborate on this arc?
JA: This specific story started with me. I wanted to cement Iosif into the BPRD universe very quickly after the “Great Disaster” and since Peter Snejbjerg was available, I came up with a something suited to his tastes (he likes to draw snow and weird hardware and monsters — so you can see it wasn’t hard to accommodate him!) but would still get Iosif back into things. And make him friendlier with the BPRD gang — or at least one of them — to show that this guy’s gonna be around. Mike operated in a sort of editorial capacity on this – co-editorial, I should say, with Scott Allie — as I wrote the script. There’s one important idea that Mike came up with a while back that I was able to turn into a major plot point in this series by fleshing it out, so there’s that element of collaboration at work here as well. Oh, and the events in “Hellboy in Hell” also play a significant role in the story as I exploit them to the main antagonist’s advantage.
I don’t know, maybe that sounds like kind of mess, but trust me, it works.
JA: I don’t know how to answer that other than Peter Snejbjerg is just awesome! He can do anything. “A god Somewhere” is so incredibly beautiful because of Peter and Bjarne Hansen. They also did a great, gorgeous book called “Light Brigade” for DC and it was seeing the pages from that which convinced me they were right for “A god Somewhere.” So any chance I can get to work with Peter, even if I have to conspire with others to create that chance — I’ll take. I love his work. That’s the only way i can answer you.
Iosif and Varvara started off as characters who appeared in seemingly disconnected minis (in a B.P.R.D. way), yet now they’re playing prominent roles as the world ends. For you, what appeals to you about those characters, and how did they grow into those prominent roles as the team moved along?
JA: I loved Varvara from the moment Josh Dysart and Mike introduced her in “BPRD: 1946!” I mean, how could you not? And though I know I’ll never write her dialog as well as Josh did, I love trying. She’s so impish, yet obviously hideously depraved and monstrous. On the other hand you have Iosif who I brought in for the Abe Sapien series “The Abyssal Plain.” All along we wanted readers to think he was a minor character, or less than that; a plot point, but I had my plans. he’s the perfect counterpart to Varvara. Large, looming, intimidating, ugly; far from impish, in other words. But it turns out he’s the good guy. So it seemed natural for them to come into direct conflict. And remember, Varvara is the one who sent Iosif on the mission that transformed him into the creature he is now, so their origins are intimately connected. He’s not only trying to protect the world from Varvara (as we see in Cold Day) but he’s got a personal beef with the lady!
Continued belowYou mention bringing in characters as, superficially at least, afterthoughts or placeholders for a future time and place to tell their story. In conjunction with that, we have seen the world of B.P.R.D. expand year by year, with Russia having built up over the past few years into a pretty important location to the book. Is the scope of the book, in terms of physical settings, number of characters, and potential story threads, ever daunting from a writing perspective?
JA: Oh, sure! For one thing, it involves a lot more research. And then you have to try to set a different tone for each setting. A lot of that is up to the artist, of course, but you try to set the stage for him or her — try to give cues rather than just say “You figure it out, Pal!” So yes, it’s difficult but it keeps things interesting. The old adage “Write what you know” won’t really apply here. Or rather it will, once you know more — and that’s a big part of writing, obviously; learning.
One of the things we’ve often noted about B.P.R.D. is just how important the characters are to it. It’s something that isn’t plot driven like much of the comic book world, but organically flows from the characters within it. With characters like Liz and Abe returning (to some degree) and the cast seemingly becoming broader and broader perpetually, how do you balance such a sprawling cast while keeping the action moving forward?
JA: Sometimes it is — or rather, sometimes it’s tough to keep the “main” story moving forward because whenever a character (even a minor one) goes through an arc, we are moving things forward. Just not in a way that most readers will recognize right off. But you have to strike a balance. you have to give the readers something now to keep them satisfied long enough so they’re still here for the payoff — the reward for sticking with us. That’s a big part of why we took Abe out of the BPRD main title and put him in his own book. Had we kept his story in the pages of the BPRD, things would have progressed too slowly — for both story lines.
JA: The BF is the best. Talk about a character arc! he started out as a confident CEO, then turned into a weak, weaselly tool of the Frogs, then transformed into some weird, half-dead prophet, and now he comes back as some kind of a god! He’s like Nixon! As to why now, well, things are now really going to hell, and it may just be that the BF’s presence has everything to do with that. I really don’t think it’s coincidence. It may be that the efforts to resurrect Rasputin (but brought back the BF instead) are what directly led to this last slide into oblivion, so the folks at Zinco, and Kroenen and Kurtz, they have a lot to answer for… maybe.
With the new Abe Sapien series launching in April, yet you not being involved with writing until the second arc, how involved have you been with its development? Given your relationship with the character as one of his primary architects, do you find yourself actively invested with trying to guide his future?
JA: I’m not really all that involved at this point. I was before it all started, and obviously the story lines I put into place got Abe to where he is now — and will have some influence on where he ends up — but now it’s mostly up to Scott and Mike. If they ask for any help, I’m here, or if I have any ideas, I think they’ll listen…. I hope they’ll listen — but they’re driving that bus now.
Continued belowIt’s nice to see the Vril Energy Suit again in Sledgehammer ’44. How did the team decide to bring this suit back, and given its known existence in the present, have there been discussions about showing how it got there in future stories?
JA: You can thank the late, more than just great John Severin for that. Mike and I had long talked about bringing the Vril suit from “Lobster Johnson: The Iron Prometheus” back at some point, but had no definite plans. We just kicked it around. Then, after Sev was getting close to finishing his run on “Withcfinder: Lost and Gone Forever,” he said he was having so much fun that he wanted to do more with us! That’s an ego boost, lemme tell ya! And EC legends LIKES working with me?!! So immediately we got a WWII story together for him that involved the Vril suit in a combat scenario. Unfortunately, Sev was unable to get very far in his work on the book, so it’s bittersweet to say the least. But that’s how we ended up reintegrating that concept into the Hellboy Universe when we did. So thank you, big John! We miss you!
And yes, more SH 44 to come!
B.P.R.D. Vampire drops at the end of the month, and while that wasn’t something you were explicitly involved with, you did set up the pieces with 1948. Given that Simon Anders is the Twins’ baby in a way and that you knew Vampire was coming, how did that change your approach with the character in 1948?
JA: Oddly, it didn’t change my approach much at all. What I wanted to do with Anders lined up almost perfectly with what Mike and the Twins wanted to do in “Vampire.” Mike wanted me to leave off at a certain point where they could pick up, but honestly, the direction was exactly the same. I credit Josh Dysart’s excellent character development of Anders in “BPRD: 1947” for that. He set up an arc that was easy to follow. I know Mike worked that out with Josh — where exactly it was that he wanted Anders to end up, but Josh really nailed that script. That’s one of my favorite BPRD arcs for that very reason.
JA: A few, actually. “Garden of Souls” is really up there for a number of reasons. First off, that’s when I realized Mike and Scott trusted me enough to do things in a comic that nobody else in this business would let me do (if you’ve read the afterword of the trade, you have an idea of what I mean). That was pretty great. Another reason is that Guy Davis was able to really open up and design some amazing hybrid animals that none of us had dreamed of, and his Victorian cyborgs are just perfect, aren’t they? They are nothing less than classic! And then there’s the way I was allowed to develop the friendship between Abe and Ben Daimio — even though they spent most of the series apart. That was fun! Along the same lines, “Killing Ground” was a blast because I immediately messed big time (and I do mean BIG TIME!) with that new friendship. Also, it brought back Daryl the Wendigo, who I love, and made him vital to the BPRD continuity. And finally, there’s “The Long Death” because of the way Mike and Scott let me really bring some peace and closure to that same storyline, and it was an opportunity to see James Harren grow tremendously as an artist, which is always fantastic and inspiring to watch.
You’ve obviously worked on B.P.R.D. and other series with an array of incredibly talented artists. How thrilling is it for you to be able to work with the diverse talents of comic artists like Tyler Crook, James Harren, Max Fiumara and Tonci Zonjic?
Continued belowJA: I’m going to add to that list, because along with those four great artists, in the last year my scripts have been pinned to the drawing tables of Max’s brother Sebastian Fiumara, Laurence Campbell, Peter Snejbjerg, and Kevin freakin’ Nowlan! None of these books have come out yet, but I’ve seen the art on all of them and they are all beautiful! So look at those eight names. How lucky am I? Really, from my perspective, no other writer in comics is working with such a high quality array of talent. No one even comes close, in my view. It’s just incredible. And the result is, well, I do the best work I can. Because you don’t want to disappoint that crew, do you? But by the same token, every one of them makes me look better than I am. How can they not? They take my sometimes vague notions about what I’m trying to say and bring them to life. So yeah, an amazing feeling!
If you could recommend one B.P.R.D. story as particularly important for the story going forward, what would it be and why?
JA: It would have to be “King of Fear.” That sets up so much of where this book, this world, is going, and it’s the last time that two of the major forces who will be operating in our New Post Disaster World going forward met. Yeah, there’s a lot there that people can glean about where we’re headed. It’s also a series that brings about a critical phase in the development of just about every major character. Even though it’s the last chapter of a larger three-series arc, oddly enough it’s a good place to jump on. Never thought about that before, but it is.
