Correction: That cover is not by Mike Mignola, but BPRD wunderkind Guy Davis, who has also worked with del Toro in design. And it’s still a great cover.
Original story: Announced yesterday with their July titles alongside re-releases of Lord of the Flies and the Ice Storm and incoming release Babette’s Feast and the Life of Oharu, the 666th film in the Criterion Collection will be Guillermo del Toro’s the Devil’s Backbone, a haunting little film and somewhat spiritual pre-cursor to Pan’s Labyrinth, made in 2001. Set in the final week of the Spanish Civil War (the same events Pan revolves around), a young boy finds himself in a haunted orphanage with dark secrets.
And wouldn’t you know it, but friend and collaborator Mike Mignola — creator of Hellboy, which del Toro made two films about — has provided the cover art to the box. Mignola has previously illustrated the cover to del Toro’s Cronos, Criterion #551, but this new cover is much more visceral in terms of Mignola’s familiar and celebrated art style.
The Devil’s Backbone is out July 30th from Criterion on DVD and Blu-ray. (And, if you’re in the mood for something sooner, Repo Man is out today — you should definitely get that).
