Welcome to Mignolaversity News Update, your monthly recap of Mignolaverse-related news. As always, let’s kick things off with this month’s solicitations, but let’s flip it and start with the trade collection first…
“Hellboy in Hell” – Volume 2
The Death Card
By Mike Mignola
Colored by Dave StewartOn sale October 5, 2016
I won’t be running the solicitation blurb for this one as some may find it to be a mild spoiler for next month’s “Hellboy in Hell”. If you want to read the solicitations in full, head over to Comic Book Resources. This will collect issues #6–10.
“Mike Mignola and Dave Stewart work magic on those pages.” —Multiversity Comics (Hey, they quoted me!)
OK, on to the issues for August…
“Baltimore: Empty Graves” #5 (of 5)
Written by Mike Mignola and Christopher Golden
Illustrated by Peter Bergting
Colored by Michelle Madsen
Cover by Ben StenbeckOn sale August 3, 2016
After the Blood-Red Witch disappears with Baltimore, Sofia and the others must fend off her followers while Rose and Kidd follow a new lead to find the witch and save Baltimore.
“If you appreciate good horror stories and gorgeous artwork, there’s no excuse as to why you haven’t bought this already. Go. Now.” —ComixIRead
“Abe Sapien” #36
The Desolate Shore
Written by Mike Mignola and Scott Allie
Illustrated by Sebastián Fiumara
Colored by Dave Stewart
Cover by Sebastián FiumaraOn sale August 10, 2016
The future of mankind hangs in the balance as Abe Sapien finally comes ashore to face the necromancer who’s figured out how to use Abe’s role in the apocalypse to his advantage.
• Series finale!
“A dark and dangerous ride through a realm of evil.” —Comic Book Resources
“B.P.R.D. Hell on Earth” #144
Cometh the Hour (Part 2 of 5)
Written by Mike Mignola and John Arcudi
Illustrated by Laurence Campbell
Colored by Dave Stewart
Cover by Duncan FegredoOn sale August 17, 2016
Liz and Johann try to fend off the Ogdru Hem while Kate evacuates BPRD headquarters before the towering Ogdru Jahad can flatten it—and Varvara leads Iosif deeper into Hell.
“Witchfinder: City of the Dead” #1 (of 5)
Written by Mike Mignola and Chris Roberson
Illustrated by Ben Stenbeck
Colored by Michelle Madsen
Cover by Julián Totino TedescoOn sale August 31, 2016
Sir Edward Grey, occult adviser to the queen, confronts flesh-eating corpses and discovers a temple beneath London. The mystery that compels him the most is what the sinister Heliopic Brotherhood of Ra wants with it—and from him.
• Written by Mike Mignola and Chris Roberson!
So, “Abe Sapien” is ending. The cover is amazing… A nice reference to “Hellboy: The Wild Hunt” #7. Also, I don’t know if you noticed, but Duncan Fegredo’s covers seem to fit together. Now, onwards! To the news!
— Mike Mignola’s year of painting has begun and he shared his first day’s work on Facebook and Twitter. I know a lot of people are sad that he won’t be drawing any comics in the foreseeable future, but personally I’m pretty excited to see what he does in the next twelve months.
— “Witchfinder: City of the Dead” was finally announced! I guess you could say I am ridiculous excited about this book. Yes, I think that would be accurate. Chris Roberson talks about it over at Entertainment Weekly. And it sounds like he has some long-term plans too.
“I’m a big fan of Victorian occult detectives in general, and of Sir Edward Grey in particular, and I’ve reread the entirety of ‘Hellboy’ and all the related ‘B.P.R.D.’ titles roughly once a year since the beginning, so I had a lot of ideas about interesting places to explore with the character. We know from other stories a few details about Grey’s later life, including how he dies, but there’s a lot of empty space on that map that can be filled in. With Scott and Mike’s input and feedback, I’ve come up with a rough outline for Sir Edward’s globe-trotting adventures all the way through his final battle in 1916, and the seeds for a lot of that are planted in ‘City of the Dead’.”
Continued below— Mike Mignola and Ben Stenbeck join Chris Roberson in talking about “Witchfinder” on Dark Horses’s site.
— Richard Corben discussed his work on “Hellboy in Mexico” with Uproxx.
— And in case you were unlucky enough to miss out on the Free Comic Book Day “Hellboy” story, it’s now available on Dark Horse’s digital store (and it’s free, of course). It’s good to have Corben back on these books.
— Mike Mignola talks about his various covers for “Hellboy in Hell” with Inverse.
— And congratulations, Mike! Mike Mignola was named Grand Master of the 2016 Spectrum Fantastic Art Awards.
— “Hellboy’s World” author Scott Bukatman discusses the cultural significance of comics, including Hellboy.
— Comic Book Daily released a preview of Mike Mignola’s “The Amazing Screw-On Head and Other Curious Objects” Artist’s Edition and it looks bloody fantastic! The book’s release is currently scheduled for July.
— Paolo Rivera’s been giving followers of his blog a peek at his process on “Beyond the Fences”.
— Tonci Zonjic is sharing some teasing images from his upcoming “Lobster Johnson” story kicking off at the end of this month.
— Meanwhile Sebastián and Max Fiumara have been showing off so much stuff this past month, it could practically be a column on its own (and I’m not exaggerating either). It’s amazing stuff. So check out Max’s Tumblr and Sebastián’s. Duck into Twitter for even more. And also check out Facebook.
