Mike Mignola


Michael Joseph Mignola is an American comics artist and writer best known for creating Hellboy for Dark Horse Comics, part of a shared universe of titles including B.P.R.D., Abe Sapien, Lobster Johnson, Witchfinder and various spinoffs. He has also created other supernatural and paranormal themed titles for Dark Horse including Baltimore, Joe Golem and The Amazing Screw-On Head.
Mignola's film work includes Bram Stoker's Dracula, , Blade II, the 2004 adaptation of Hellboy, its and 2019 reboot.

Career

Marvel and DC

Mignola was born in Berkeley, California. He began his career in 1980 by illustrating spots in The Comic Reader. His first published piece was in The Comic Reader #183, a spot illustration of Red Sonja. His first published front cover was The Comic Reader #196 in November 1981. In 1982 he graduated from the California College of the Arts with a BFA in Illustration.
In 1983 he worked as an inker at Marvel Comics on Daredevil and Power Man and Iron Fist and later on titles such as The Incredible Hulk, Alpha Flight, and the Rocket Raccoon limited series.
In 1987, he began working for DC Comics as well. He drew the Phantom Stranger and World of Krypton limited series. With writer Jim Starlin, Mignola produced the Cosmic Odyssey miniseries in 1988. Mignola drew covers for several Batman stories, including "" and "Dark Knight, Dark City". Writer Brian Augustyn and Mignola crafted the Gotham by Gaslight one-shot in 1989. Through the early 1990s Mignola worked on covers and backup features for various DC and Marvel Comics. He collaborated twice with writer Howard Chaykin. In 1990-1991, they produced the Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser limited series for Epic Comics, with inker Al Williamson. This was followed with the Ironwolf: Fires of the Revolution graphic novel in 1992.

''Hellboy'' and related spinoffs

''Hellboy''

Prior to 1994 Mignola had done work-for-hire illustration. That year, Dark Horse Comics released ', Mignola's creator-owned project. Though he wrote the story himself, it was scripted by John Byrne. The next Hellboy story, ', was completely written and drawn by Mignola. Since then all Hellboy stories have been written solely by Mignola with the exception of ', which was co-written by Joshua Dysart.
' was the first Hellboy story not drawn by Mignola, featuring the art of Richard Corben. Corben would return to draw many flashback stories for the series. Other artists have also had a hand in drawing flashback stories including Jason Shawn Alexander, Kevin Nowlan and Scott Hampton. In 2007, following after 2005's ', British artist Duncan Fegredo took over art duties on the ongoing story arc of Hellboy from ' onwards.
Mike Mignola returned as the full-time artist for Hellboy in 2012 for the ongoing series, Hellboy in Hell. The series is currently published sporadically, but multiple-issue stories are monthly.

''Abe Sapien''

In 1998 the first Hellboy spinoff, Abe Sapien, was launched. It was not written by Mike Mignola, but it did feature his Hellboy short story "" as a back-up. Abe Sapien did not take off properly until a decade later in 2008's The Drowning. Since then it has had several short stories and beginning in 2013 it became an ongoing series with Scott Allie as the lead writer with Mignola.

''Lobster Johnson''

Lobster Johnson was the next spinoff, debuting as a back-up feature in 1999's . The series got its own title later in 2007's Lobster Johnson: The Iron Prometheus. It returned again with the miniseries The Burning Hand in 2012, followed by various short stories.

''B.P.R.D.''

B.P.R.D. was the third spinoff, but it was the first one which was conceived to be more than just a one-off side story, but rather a series of stories. It began with 2002's ', which continued on from '. Beyond that followed a series of short stories designed to explore what the B.P.R.D. series could be. 2004's was the story that solidified what the series was, and would set the direction for future books to come, so much so that the first major story cycle is collected in omnibus editions titled B.P.R.D.: Plague of Frogs. A vast majority of the stories in this era were co-written with John Arcudi and drawn by Guy Davis.
B.P.R.D.: Hell on Earth is the main series continuing after the catastrophic events at the conclusion of the Plague of Frogs cycle. Guy Davis left the series in 2011 with the conclusion of Hell on Earth: Gods. Tyler Crook became the new ongoing artist beginning with Hell on Earth: Monsters, but he is joined by several regular artists, most notably James Harren and Laurence Campbell.
Continuing where Hell on Earth left off, The Devil You Know is written by Mike Mignola and Scott Allie with Laurence Campbell serving as the regular artist.

''Sir Edward Grey, Witchfinder''

Sir Edward Grey, Witchfinder began with a teaser story in 2008's, followed by a full miniseries in 2009. It follows the stories of the occult investigator, Sir Edward, agent of Queen Victoria.

''Frankenstein''

The Frankenstein began with Frankenstein Underground in 2015. Set in 1956, this miniseries follows Frankenstein as he ventures into the Pellucidar-like Hollow Earth. This also canonized Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. The series was further expanded in 2020 with Frankenstein Undone, a direct sequel to Shelley's novel.

Spinoff miniseries

The Hellboy Universe also includes numerous spinoffs that only span a single book:
Baltimore began with a 2007 illustrated novel, and continued as a comic book series. It was created by Mike Mignola and Christopher Golden.
Like Baltimore, Joe Golem: Occult Detective began as an illustrated prose novel and later continued as a comic book series. It was created by Mike Mignola and Christopher Golden and exists in a shared universe with Baltimore called "The Outerverse".

Style

has described Mignola's style as "German expressionism meets Jack Kirby". His style has also been likened to an amalgamation of Jack Kirby and Alex Toth.

Film and television

Mignola worked as an illustrator for Francis Ford Coppola's 1992 movie Bram Stoker's Dracula. He was also the production designer for the Disney feature film, ' in 2001, and was a concept artist for 2002's Blade II, also directed by del Toro, and a concept artist for Pixar's Brave.
Mignola was hired by Bruce Timm to provide character designs for ' in 1991. His redesign of Mr. Freeze was used for the series.
Mignola's design of the 1880s Batman costume from the comic ' appeared in '.
Hellboy was made into a feature film in 2004 by director Guillermo del Toro. Mignola was closely involved with the movie's production, and a was released in 2008. Hellboy has been made into two direct-to-video animated films, ' in 2006 and ' in 2007.
Mignola's The Amazing Screw-On Head debuted in 2006 on the Sci-Fi Channel, starring the voices of Paul Giamatti and David Hyde Pierce.
Mignola worked on the script for the R-rated Hellboy reboot film, that was directed by Neil Marshall, and starred David Harbour as Hellboy. He ended up receiving only a "based on" credit in the film.

Awards

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