It’s over, finito. I’m done with the final issue of Hellboy: The Fury. For the longest time it seemed as though I’d never be able to say that, a feeling I’m sure Mike Mignola and Scott Allie will all too eagerly attest to.
I was quite overwhelmed when Scott called me in November of 2005 with the invitation to draw Hellboy. That feeling has largely stuck with me in the intervening years and goes some way to explaining, if not excusing, the time slippage. Well, screw it. No further apologies are forthcoming; if Mike, Scott, Dark Horse, and my ailing finances could stand it, so can you! I pretty much made a commitment and a rod for my own back there and then. I accepted the challenge of trying to maintain Mike’s creation, to return it intact when my time was up. See, that’s nigh on impossible, bearing in mind the standard that Mike had set—that’ll be the rod I mentioned. Oh well, good intentions…
A chat with Mike followed immediately after, wherein Mike laid out before me what was to fill the intervening years for both Hellboy and me. I’m sure many story details changed along the way, but the main elements were all there, way back then. It’s all a bit of a blur, to be honest, but I do recall Mike asking, “Do you want to know how it ends?” I did not. This was and still remains my favorite comic book. I wanted to be surprised. I still do.
The nice thing is that although I was directly involved with Hellboy the surprises were still there for me, whether I was in conversation with Mike, outlining the direction and emotional beats of the story, or reading the script, initially thrilled to find out what happens next, usually followed by nagging doubts over how to draw it all.
One of the biggest challenges of drawing Hellboy were the differences in approach to storytelling between Mike and me. In the past I had a tendency to play fast and loose with the camera angles, but clearly that wasn’t going to be a good fit with Hellboy. Under Mike’s guidance, I reined in my wilder angles to better effect.
A shame I couldn’t apply that to my obsessive need to overtexture, but I was all too frequently saved by the extraordinary palette of Dave Stewart. The light and atmosphere that Dave creates cannot be understated, and I think The Fury is his best work yet. I can’t wait to see how the final issue looks. Cheers, Dave!
Thanks to Clem Robins, purveyor of fine type since 1837 (approximate date only).
Thanks to the long-suffering and ever-patient Scott Allie and his deputation of soothsayers and bringers of news both good and bad: Rachel Edidin, Samantha Robertson, and Daniel Chabon.
And last and foremost, thanks to Mike Mignola, without whom I could’ve been slogging away on some other lost, forgotten, and generally disregarded book. You’re a hard taskmaster, Mike, but hey, it was worth it!
So, over but not quite out. I’ll be sticking around with the big red guy for a while longer yet, visiting scrapes from his past adventures. Where we’ll be going is in a state of flux; Mike, as usual, is bursting with ideas. I think we’re up to five shorts at last count, but I dare say there are a bunch he hasn’t mentioned yet. I don’t mind where we go and I doubt you will either. It’s sure to be a blast.
Enjoy.