Welcome to Mignolaversity News Update, your monthly recap of Mignolaverse-related news. There are two new books in this month’s solicitations, and I’m eager to talk about them, so I’m shaking up the formula a bit.
“Rise of the Black Flame” #1 (of 5)Written by Mike Mignola and Chris Roberson
Illustrated by Christopher Mitten
Colored by Dave Stewart
Cover by Laurence CampbellOn sale September 7, 2016
Young girls are going missing from the cities of Siam, and the trail leads to the jungle hideout of a bloodthirsty cult wielding an ancient evil power—the Cult of the Black Flame.
• Christopher Mitten joins the Mignolaverse!
This one caught me completely by surprise. And yet, now that I think of it, it makes perfect sense. We’re probably going to be seeing a lot more of these ‘Hellboy Universe history stories’ in future. As we get closer and closer to the end of things, it becomes more important to understand the beginning. I’ve got my fingers crossed for a Gall Dennar series in future…
Dark Horse hasn’t revealed any of Christopher Mitten’s art for the miniseries yet, but I think he’ll be an excellent addition to the team.
• Here’s the original announcement of the series from Uproxx.
• And here’s Dark Horse’s full press release.
“B.P.R.D.” #145
‘Hell on Earth: Cometh the Hour’ Part 3 (of 5)Written by Mike Mignola and John Arcudi
Illustrated by Laurence Campbell
Colored by Dave Stewart
Cover by Duncan FegredoOn sale September 21, 2016
Liz and Johann run out of strength, unable to keep up with the Ogdru Jahad. In Colorado, Kate tries to evacuate BPRD headquarters before the monster can kill everyone.
• Hell on Earth’s fiery conclusion claims lives!
I can’t wait to see how John Arcudi wraps up his run on “B.P.R.D.” Duncan Fegredo’s covers for this series certainly tease big things to come, and given the fallout of “Hellboy in Hell” #10, I’ve a feeling the repercussions will be felt in some form.
“Hellboy and the B.P.R.D.: 1954” #1
‘The Black Sun’ Part 1 (of 2)Written by Mike Mignola and Chris Roberson
Illustrated by Stephen Green
Colored by Dave Stewart
Cover by Mike HuddlestonOn sale September 21, 2016
When an unknown creature attacks a research group on an Arctic expedition, Hellboy and the BPRD are sent to investigate. No longer the newbie, Hellboy thinks he can solve the mystery immediately, but what they find in the snow reveals something much bigger behind the beast.
“Hellboy and the B.P.R.D.” is a series I’ve been enjoying more and more, so to say I’m eager for this one is a bit of an understatement. Also, that symbol on the cover… that’s the Black Sun symbol—the Sonnenrad. So it would seem Nazis are again afoot in the hellboy Universe.
Stephen Green is a relative newcomer to comics. He’s worked on short stories for anthologies and on a backup story for “The Legend of Luther Strode”, but this is his first time as the feature artist. You can check out his work on Twitter. Mike Huddleston, artist on “The Strain”, is on covers and I like what I see.
Continued below
“Witchfinder: City of the Dead” #2 (of 5)Written by Mike Mignola and Chris Roberson
Illustrated by Ben Stenbeck
Colored by Michelle Madsen
Cover by Julián Totino TedescoOn sale September 28, 2016
After narrowly surviving an attack by risen corpses in a London cemetery, Sir Edward Grey follows his only lead to a dead end, but the Heliopic Brotherhood of Ra may be able to reveal what is behind the undead.
I’ve been waiting for another “Witchfinder” for ages. Given Chris Roberson’s enthusiasm for the character, it seems we’ll being seeing a lot more of Sir Edward Grey. So, yeah, I’m pretty happy about that.
Ben Stenbeck’s doing something different with the art on this one, using digital watercolor brushes for the gray tone. Here’s a preview with Michelle Madsen’s colors:
OK, that’s it for solicitations, so on to the news…
• “Grim Death and Bill the Electrocuted Criminal”, a prose novel from Mike Mignola and Tom Sniegoski, comes out in 2017. The cover’s to the left.
• “Hellboy in Hell” ended, so there’re a number of interviews with him out there. There’s a nice video interview with him from the L.A. Times.
• Our own Chris Thompson interviewed Mike Mignola on his podcast Orbital in Conversation.
• And here’s a bunch more interviews: The Guardian; 13th Dimension; Comic Book Resources; and Entertainment Weekly. There are probably other out there that I missed though.
• Muddy Colors spoke to Mike Mignola about being awarded the title Grand Master at the 23rd Spectrum Awards. Previous artists awarded the title include Jean ‘Mœbius’ Gerard, H.R. Giger, Ralph McQuarrie, and Frank Frazetta, an artist Mignola often notes as an influence on his own work.
• io9 spoke to John Arcudi about “Lobster Johnson: Metal Monsters of Midtown”.
• And I got to talk to Max and Sebastián Fiumara about the end of “Abe Sapien”.
• Oh! I nearly forgot. 2016’s Hellboy Universe Reading Order is up now. And keep your eyes open near the end of the month, as the final part of my Abe Sapien series of Hell Notes will be popping up around then.
