We had a chance to talk with Hellboy creator Mike Mignola about the new Hellboy mini-series Darkness Calls, Abe Sapien, the death of Roger, and the second Hellboy motion picture.

Dark Horse: In fifty words or less--only because people ask so often--why aren't you drawing Darkness Calls?

Mike Mignola: Darkness Calls is the first of four Hellboy books that make up one gigantic story. As slow as I am, with all the different projects I'm trying to do, if I tried to draw the book myself it would never get done. And if I didn't have the right artist it would never get done. But I do have the right artist and I'm very lucky to have him. What Duncan is doing with the story is better then what I would have done.

DH: We've hyped Darkness Calls as being a new stage in Hellboy's life. Is it just that he quit the Bureau, or is he going through bigger changes?

MM: Hellboy is going through huge changes. Real changes. He is entering an entirely new phase of his life.

DH: The artists you're collaborating with these days have radically different styles. Is that a conscious decision, to avoid Mignola clones or a house style?

MM: I work with different artists for different reasons. Guy Davis draws nothing like me and is perfect for the B.P.R.D.. For Hellboy, I needed an artist who had a similar style to mine--because of the way Hellboy has always been drawn--but I never wanted an artist who would just imitate me. I've been a fan of Duncan's work for years and we have some of the same sensibilities, but I don't think anyone would say he is imitating me.

DH: Do you do any painting anymore?

MM: I still do a few paintings. I did two book covers recently, but unfortunately, I just don't have the time to do much of that kind of work. Someday.

DH: Abe's getting a miniseries later this year. What can you tell us about that story?

MM: Abe's mini-series-The Drowning of St. Sebastian--takes place back in the early 1980's. It's the first mission where he wasn't Hellboy's sidekick and all kind of horrible stuff happens--undead guys, a witch, a squid, giant eels and a ghost.

Mike Mignola signs at the DH Booth at WonderCon 2007


DH: Will Liz Sherman get her own series?

MM: No plans for a Liz mini-series, but you never know!

DH: Why'd you kill Roger?

MM: I always say when characters die in the Hellboy and B.P.R.D. comics it just makes them more interesting characters.

DH: Will he really never come back?

MM: See above.

DH: Where do you think your interest in occult and folklore originated?

MM: I read Dracula when I was 12 or 13 and I never recovered.

DH: If you compare your Darkness Calls covers to your Garden of Souls covers and your trade paperback covers . . . you seem to settle on a theme for a run of covers, then strike off in some radically different direction on the next batch. How do you decide on that sort of thing?

MM: I'm just always trying to come up with something that works. I don't like to repeat myself.

DH: Can you give us an update on the next Hellboy movie?

MM: Hellboy 2: The Golden Army is in the last stages of preproduction in Budapest. I was there a couple of weeks ago working with director Guillermo del Toro on the script and some designs. We're both really happy with how things are looking. Filming starts in June.

DH: How do you like working on movies compared to comics?

MM: The film stuff is fun, but I'd always rather be home in my studio working on comics.

DH: Your cameo in the first Hellboy film wound up on the cutting room floor, right?

MM: No, my cameo is in the film, but I'm wearing a full suit of armor so you can't recognize me!

DH: Maybe you can get a more significant cameo in this one, something they can't do without.

MM: I feel no need to have a more significant cameo!