Feature: Hellboy and Kate Christmas (from The Yule Cat) Columns 

Multiversity’s 2023 Holiday Wishlist for the Mignolaverse

By | December 21st, 2023
Posted in Columns | % Comments

Mignolaversity Logo

’Tis the season here at Multiversity Comics when we look ahead to the upcoming year and write our wishlists for what we’d like to see. And considering next year is the thirtieth anniversary of “Hellboy,” our expectations are very high.


“Lady Baltimore: The Dream of Ikelos”
cover by Abigail Larson
A return to the Outerverse

The Outerverse, the world of “Baltimore,” “Lady Baltimore,” and “Joe Golem,” has been a bit quiet this year with only a “Lady Baltimore” one-shot and a short story coming out this year. That said, co-creator and writer Christopher Golden has mentioned many more one-shots on the way that will explore the large cast of “Lady Baltimore.” Personally, I’d also love to see a return to Joe Golem set after the events of ‘The Conjurors’ too.

A return to Love, the New World, and Vampires

Meanwhile, in the Hellboy Universe, “Hellboy in Love” and “Frankenstein: New World” both ended in such a way that it is clear there’s much more to come and hopefully we’ll get back to them sooner rather than later. “Hellboy in Love” has already had a bit more added to it in the form of the audio drama “Hellboy: A Plague of Wasps,” which ended with a strong hint that the next story will feature the Obsidian Danse incident previously mentioned in the 1997 prose novel Hellboy: The Lost Army.

As for ‘New World,’ I’m not so sure we’ll see more in 2024. In case you missed it, Peter Bergting has teamed together with Christopher Golden and Tim Lebbon on a creator-owned series, “Mortal Terror,” and there’s definitely more than just the one miniseries planned, so Bergting could be busy with that for quite some time. I always prefer artists to work on their own projects over Mignolaverse projects, so I’d be happy to wait for more ‘New World.’ That said, it’s also possible that Bergting could bounce back and forth between the two titles, or even that another artist may continue ‘New World.’ (Though I would hope that Michelle Madsen is always the colorist for this particular series. Her color work on the first arc really felt like a stamp of ownership for the title.)

I’m distantly hopeful for more “B.P.R.D.: Vampire” from Fábio Moon and Gabriel Bá, but I know it’s a long, long shot, at least while “The Umbrella Academy” remains unfinished. But I shall always hope.

From “Hellboy in Love” #3
written by Christopher Golden; illustrated by Matt Smith; colored by Chris O'Halloran

A new library edition

God, I’m repeating my 2021 wishlist here, but if anything I’ve come to wish for this even more fervently than I did two years ago. While I appreciate the “Hellboy” omnibus editions, the softcover format is not for me and the lack of extras is rather painful. “Hellboy” needs the deluxe treatment, with not just a sketchbook section, but a lavish sketchbook section. And stories like ‘The Midnight Circus’ (art by Duncan Fegredo), ‘Into the Silent Sea’ (Gary Gianni), ‘House of the Living Dead’ (Richard Corben), and ‘The Bones of Giants’ (Matt Smith) all deserve this kind of deluxe treatment. If there’s one thing I want for 2024, the 30th anniversary of “Hellboy,” it’s a new “Hellboy” library edition.

A trailer, a release date, and a haunting soundtrack

Hellboy: The Crooked Man finished around June this year and since then it’s been pretty much radio silence during the post-production period. But I know fans are eager to see Jack Kesy’s Hellboy. With Christopher Golden and Mike Mignola writing, I’m quietly hopeful, especially since this film has chosen a smaller-scale story to adapt, one with a focus on atmosphere. French composer Guillaume Roussel is apparently scoring the film, and here again I’m quietly hopeful. While there’s never been a Hellboy film with bad music, they’ve always missed the mark for me, and Roussel’s work, especially for French cinema, sounds promising.

A return to 120-page stories

This is a less positive note, but we used to get 120-page stories pretty regularly in the Hellboy Universe, five-issue miniseries with each issue containing 24 story pages. These days we’re down to 80-page stories across four issues, and while we’re still getting great stories, we’re also getting others where you can feel the pinch, especially in the pacing. I don’t mind how we get there, whether its four 30-page issues, five 24-page issues, or six 20-page issues, or even an original graphic novel, I just need to know that when a big story comes along that it’s going to get the space it needs to be told properly. Losing a third of page real estate really limits what stories can be told and how they can be told.

Continued below

Creative collaboration

OK, let’s get back to something positive. The best stories from Mike Mignola are often something new, something made truly special by a collaborator that really clicks with his writing. I’m thinking of collaborations like with Warwick Johnson Cadwell on “The Adventures of Professor J.T. Meinhardt and His Assistant Mr. Knox,” with Rachele Aragno on “Leonide the Vampyr,” and with Jesse Lonergan on “Miss Truesdale and the Fall of Hyperborea,” and everything Mignola’s done with Ben Stenbeck. And it seems Mignola really likes these projects too, because he keeps doing them, and then I see posts from his collaborators about how excited they are about what they’re working on. And that joy shows on the page.

“Miss Truesdale and the Fall of Hyperborea” #1
cover by Mike Mignola with colors by Dave Stewart

Projects from Mignola collaborators

The other thing I love about Mike Mignola working collaborations is that they have the potential to introduce me to the work of someone I may not have seen before. And then it’s wonderful to see their projects without Mignola. This year Ben Stenbeck brought us “Our Bones Dust,” Peter Bergting and Christopher Golden brought us “Mortal Terror,” and Tyler Crook brought us the second arc of “The Lonesome Hunters.” These are all fantastic series I recommend you pick up. And I look forward to seeing more in 2024. I’ve got my fingers crossed for more “Barbarian Lord” from Matt Smith and hopefully an English edition of Rachele Aragno’s “Melvina et le Secret du Serpent.” Jesse Lonergan’s “Man’s Best” is already set for a March 2024 release and I expect we’ll see a third arc of Crook’s “The Lonesome Hunters” before the year is done.

“Our Bones Dust”
cover by Ben Stenbeck (collection coming June 2024)

A solo project

Recently Mike Mignola posted some inks from an upcoming 87-page graphic novel he just finished drawing, so this wish is coming true. A new Mike Mignola solo project. I couldn’t be happier.


//TAGS | 2023 Year in Review | Mignolaversity

Mark Tweedale

Mark writes Haunted Trails, The Harrow County Observer, The Damned Speakeasy, and a bunch of stuff for Mignolaversity. An animator and an eternal Tintin fan, he spends his free time reading comics, listening to film scores, watching far too many video essays, and consuming the finest dark chocolates. You can find him on BlueSky.

EMAIL | ARTICLES


  • Feature: Bowling with Corpses & Other Strange Tales from Lands Unknown News
    Mignola Launching Curious Objects Imprint with “Bowling With Corpses & Other Strange Tales From Lands Unknown”

    By | Apr 4, 2024 | News

    Via The Wrap, Dark Horse Comics have announced “Bowling With Corpses & Other Strange Tales From Lands Unknown,” an anthology of folklore-inspired fantasy tales, written and illustrated by Mike Mignola. The book, due out in November, will mark the first in Mignola’s new imprint Curious Objects, and a new shared universe he is creating with […]

    MORE »

    -->