Feature: Lobster Johnson – Volume 1 (Omnibus Edition) News 

Mignolaversity: December 2021 Solicitations

By | September 15th, 2021
Posted in News | % Comments

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Welcome to Mignolaversity, Multiversity Comics’ dedicated column for all things Mike Mignola. We’re taking a look at all titles headed our way in the December solicitations for Mike Mignola’s books. I have to say, I thought last month’s solicitations were awesome, but this month is truly mindblowing. Check it out below.

HELLBOY: THE BONES OF GIANTS #2 (of 4)

Written by Mike Mignola and Christopher Golden
Illustrated by Matt Smith
Colored by Chris O’Halloran
Lettered by Clem Robins

On sale December 1, 2021
Full color, 32 pages
$3.99
Miniseries

Acting as an involuntary vessel for the Norse god Thor, Hellboy and his ragtag team pursue the ancient evil that’s been unleashed on the world. But even the might of Mjollnir and the aid of mythological beings may not be enough to prevent the destruction that is to come.

Mark Tweedale: I just want to call attention to what Matt Smith is doing with the cover art on this series. As you know, cover art for the monthly issues ends up becoming chapter art when the story is put into a collection later on, so Smith is giving the covers designs that lean into the “chapter break” art aspect. (Just take a look at issue #1.) It’s a cool to see, because you can imagine how the book designer could use this to inform the collection’s final design and make something as special as the story inside.

SIR EDWARD GREY: ACHERON


Variant cover by Ben Stenbeck

Written and illustrated by Mike Mignola
Colored by Dave Stewart
Lettered by Clem Robins

On sale December 1, 2021
Full color, 32 pages
$3.99
One-shot

Hellboy is gone, and the B.P.R.D. managed to fight off the monsters on earth long enough for humanity to just barely escape underground, but Edward Grey must return to Hell to confront a familiar foe and finish what needs to be done to truly save the world.

Continuing after B.P.R.D.: The Devil You Know ended in 2019, this one-shot is written and drawn completely by Mignola with colorist Dave Stewart, featuring a cover by Mignola and Stewart and a variant cover by longtime Hellboy universe artist Ben Stenbeck.

• A full issue written and drawn solely by Mignola!

Mark: I’ve wanted a “Sir Edward in Hell” style story since he first showed up in “Hellboy in Hell” #1 back in December 20212, so the concept alone had me pretty damn thrilled. Add to that Mike Mignola writing AND DRAWING and I became downright incoherent with joy, just mashing all the keyboard keys because words cannot contain all the momentous enthusiasm for this comic. (Sorry to anyone that had to experience this firsthand. The sadgsdfhyhtuio I was feeling was just too much.) If you missed the announcement, you can check it out at over at Rolling Stone. They also have a video interview with Mike Mignola on their Twitch channel. Mignola also showed off his cover process, which you can see on his Twitter. This is Mike Mignola’s first full comic in five years, so it’s a big deal. It’s also his first full comic set in the Hellboy Universe without Hellboy in it, so that’s also a big deal. It’s also the beginning of a new era for Sir Edward Grey now that the “Witchfinder” series has ended—we’ll be seeing more of him in “Hellboy: The Silver Lantern Club” and now “Acheron,” exploring the character in two different time periods. And, as Mignola mentions in his interview with Rolling Stone, this is just the beginning. We’ll be seeing more of Sir Edward in Hell in the future along with Koshchei the Deathless. He even hinted at drawing another story in the future. Given Ben Stenebeck’s variant cover for “Sir Edward Grey: Acheron” and his experience with both Sir Edward and Koshchei, I would not be surprised in the slightest if we see a story from Stenbeck in this corner of the Hellboy Universe too.

Continued below

HELLBOY: THE SILVER LANTERN CLUB #3 (of 5)

Written by Mike Mignola and Chris Roberson
Illustrated by Christopher Mitten and Ben Stenbeck
Colored by Michelle Madsen
Lettered by Clem Robins

On sale December 29, 2021
Full color, 32 pages
$3.99
Miniseries

Reliving old stories with Hellboy and Professor Bruttenholm, Simon Bruttenholm recalls the strange tale of a woman whose synesthetic visions revealed the presence of a mysterious and malevolent entity. What ensues is a hair-raising confrontation worthy of the Silver Lantern Club’s finest!

Mark: The last comic of 2021. Man, what a year it’s been. After the pandemic obliterated the schedule for 2020, 2021 was simply packed, and it looks like 2022 is going to be much the same. There’s obviously more Outerverse in the works from Christopher Golden, plus he’s got more he’s working on in the Hellboy Universe too, and he’s been hinting there’s something Thomas Sneigoski’s working on too (I’m hoping it’s more “Lobster Johnson,” perhaps with the Sky Devil), “Hellboy and the B.P.R.D.” heading into the 1960s . . . Also, I’m hoping this miniseries of stories about the Silver Lantern Club is just the tip of the iceberg. I’ve been patiently (and sometimes impatiently) waiting to see this corner of the Hellboy Universe for something like fifteen years. I loved “Witchfinder” and I’m sad that it’s over, but opening up this era of Sir Edward’s life to an ensemble cast has so many more storytelling possibilties. It’s sort of like when the background characters from “Hellboy” back in the ’90s got to come into their own with “B.P.R.D.”

So, yeah, the future of the Hellboy Universe looks bright. . . even after the end of the world.

THE HOUSE OF LOST HORIZONS
A SARAH JEWELL MYSTERY

Written by Mike Mignola and Chris Roberson
Illustrated by Leila del Duca
Colored by Michelle Madsen
Lettered by Clem Robins

On sale February 9, 2022
Full color, 128 pages
$24.99
Hardcover, 7″ x 10″

A locked-room murder mystery puzzles paranormal detective Sarah Jewell and her associate Marie-Thérèse when a weekend trip on a private island off the coast of Washington goes astray. Trapped by a storm and surrounded by myriad suspects who have gathered for an auction of occult items, the intrepid duo must unravel the supernatural mysteries surrounding the guests in the hopes of uncovering the murderer! But all the while bodies keep piling up, and at any moment Sarah or Marie-Thérèse could be next!

Collects the five-issue miniseries.

Mark: As I covered in Hell Notes earlier this year, Sarah Jewell and Marie-Thérèse LaFleur are characters I’d like to see explored further—not just because Roberson has teased connects to some pretty major mysteries, but because as characters they can tell stories from unique perspectives. The book blurb above calls Marie-Thérèse Sarah’s associate, but in my interview with Roberson earlier this year he confrimed that they are more than that. Still, this isn’t something that’s been explored in the comic yet. And it feels like now is the time. 2021 was not just a big year for Mignola’s books in terms of the sheer volume of comics, but also in terms of the characters it focused on. We saw the debut of “Lady Baltimore,” the first time we’ve had a series built around a woman as the hero the book, which was followed by “Cojacaru the Skinner,” “Imogen of the Wyrding Way,” and “The House of Lost Horizons.” In the case of Imogen and Marie-Thérèse, we’ve got women of color in lead roles. I want to see that side of Mignola’s books grow. Hell, maybe in 2022 we’ll finally get a Liz Sherman series.

LOBSTER JOHNSON – VOLUME 1
—HARDCOVER OMNIBUS EDITION—

Continued below

Written by Mike Mignola, John Arcudi, and Tonci Zonjic
Illustrated by Tonci Zonjic, Joe Querio, Kevin Nowlan, Sebastián Fiumara, and Wilfredo Torres
Colored by Dave Stewart and Tonci Zonjic
Lettered by Clem Robins

On sale February 16, 2022
Full color, 448 pages
$39.99
Hardcover, 7″ x 10″

After years of captivating fans’ imaginations from the pages of Hellboy and B.P.R.D., the pulp-style adventures of Lobster Johnson took the limelight in their own series of comics adventures. From gangsters to Nazis to an army of monkeys, the Lobster faces classic foes in strange new ways. His adventures are now collected for the first time in a hardcover edition, collecting trade volumes The Burning Hand, Satan Smells a Rat, and Get the Lobster and the short story “Lobster Johnson: The Empty Chair” featuring writing by Mike Mignola, John Arcudi and Tonci Zonjic with art by Zonjic, Joe Querido, Sebastián Fiumara, and more!

Mark: This omnibus was a surprise for me. I knew it was coming eventually, but I wasn’t expecting it so soon. Since the omnibuses collect the stories in chronological order, this effectively closes the door on stories set before October 1934. Hopefully there are still more “Lobster Johnson” stories to come. There’s so much more to explore with him and his crew, especially after the events of ‘The Iron Prometheus,’ and we still haven’t got the Chicago stories yet. (I’m still convinced the Lobster heads to the Windy City chasing a loose thread from an old Sir Edward Grey case—after all, Sir Edward had quite a career in New York before abruptly leaving for Chicago and vanishing. Sir Edward was chasing the Heliopic Brotherhood of Ra and from 1937 onward, the Lobster was chasing Memnan Saa, who happened to be closely associated with that particular secret society. . . )

Even setting all that aside, I’d just love to see Tonci Zonjic write and draw another “Lobster Johnson” story. We got a little taste of it with ‘The Empty Chair’ (collected for the first time in this omnibus), and it was fantastic. So, I’ve got my fingers crossed for more “Lobster Johnson” in 2022.


//TAGS | 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.

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