Given the combination of creators who work on the Mignolaverse books, with so many artists and co-writers joining on books both big and small, we’re very interested in the methods that they use in developing the stories. Even as the Mignolaversity duo, we never have gotten real, transparent insight into how such a thing happens.
Until now.
Today, as a special treat for those who’ve been following along on 31 Days of Abe, we have an early look at “Abe Sapien” #2 from Mike Mignola, Scott Allie, Sebastian Fiumara and Dave Stewart, with a process piece taking you from Scott Allie’s script all the way to the finished art from Fiumara and Stewart on the first two pages of the issue. It’s an awesome insight into the inner workings of this book, with a lot of interesting tidbits to pick up from the script.
For those who haven’t read “Abe” #1 quite yet, do not fear: there are no spoilers here. Everything here already happened in the first part of “Cold Day in Hell,” so don’t worry about spoilers. Just enjoy the show below.
PAGE ONE
Panel 1. Exterior shot of the Colorado headquarters. Small narrow panel. Sebastian, to cover a lot of imagery, we’re going to have a lot of small, narrow panels in these first four pages, but then we’ll open it up.
1/CAPTION: B.P.R.D. headquarters, Colorado.
2/CAPTION: Three days ago.
3/PANYA (inside): Yes, you’ve certainly missed a lot …Panel 2. Abe looks up at TV screens depicting images of the end of the world. See Cold Day in Hell #1 in the reference from Dan. We’re continuing a scene that was set up there. Panya is behind him in her wheelchair, the cat in her lap. Abe looks up at off-panel screens that light the room, and Panya looks at him. Show the trail of water Abe left, the little puddles Peter drew.
4/PANYA: These are terrors unlike any the world has seen since the earliest days of man. They rise from the ground, destroying whole cities.
5/PANYA: What you saw in Texas was the beginning. It is everywhere now …Panel 3. We’re behind Abe and Panya, looking up at all those screens, with end-of-the-world shit from the first few pages of Cold Day in Hell #1. Copy screen images from there. Include the Salton Sea Monster.
6/PANYA: As you can see.
7/PANYA: Just a few days ago an earthquake shook all of North America. Perhaps that’s what stirred you … in your glass cocoon …Panel 4. Small, narrow closeup on Panya, sad, serious.
8/PANYA: The Ogdru Hem walk the earth once more.Panel 5. Flashback: Biggest panel on the page. Return of the Master #4, pages 4 & 5 or 11, but amp up the energy and the impact. Make those giants terrifying. Use a lot of room on this panel, please.
9/CAPTION: “Cities fall, whole nations are lost. The world’s driven mad by monsters that are being pushed up out of the ground.
10/CAPTION: “Your friends have become footsoldiers in an unwinnable conflict.”
Continued belowPAGE TWO
Panel 1. Small narrow closeup. Abe looks dumbstruck at the screens.
1/PANYA (off): But that’s not for you.Panel 2. Flashback: We’ll refer a lot to Plague of Frogs #5, but this one isn’t a specific panel from that. Caul walks through underwater ruins, an air line rising above him. This is before Caul sees the egg on page 6.
2/CAPTION: “You aren’t meant to march off to war…”Panel 3. Abe & Panya face each other in silhouette, backlit by the screens showing more chaos. She’s disgusted by this thought. Small as you can make it while making them recognizable and fitting the balloons.
3/ABE: Of course I am.
4/PANYA: No–the world is evolving, Abe. Do you still want to be a monster shooting guns at other monsters?
5/ABE: Hellboy–has Hellboy come back?Panel 4. Small narrow panel, over Abe, looking down on Panya, her brow knit with fake concern. Small panel.
6/PANYA: Oh. Abe.
7/PANYA: I’m afraid Hellboy has died …
8/ABE (small): What …?Panel 5. Flashback to Hellboy: The Fury #3, page 2, panel 3, fighting the dragon.
9/CAPTION: “He fell on one of many battlefields.
9A/CAP: “Gone, and with him, all of Great Britain.”Panel 6. Close on Abe as he turns from the TV screens, which show a lot of impossible shit behind him. Panya swings around in her wheelchair, facing him as he steps away. On one of the screens behind them we see a computer graphic of the ocean, with a dotted line indicating where the islands of England should be, and a question mark. Don’t make this the focus of the panel, but one screen up there that won’t be covered by balloons.
10/ABE: That’s … impossible …
11/PANYA: Your friend carried the spirit of the old world. His sacrifice preserved a piece of that world–but you were born for the world that’s coming–
