Intellectual Property: Mike Mignola and Hellboy

[bampotkaila]

Hello!

I'm currently writing a research paper regarding the legal issues involved with the comic book industry and one thing I'd like to explore in this paper is Mike Mignola's relationship with Hellboy. I've heard that Mignola owns Hellboy himself, and that Dark Horse only owns the distributing rights but I simply CAN'T find any article online to back this information up. Can any of you help me? Or am I completely misguided in my thoughts on who owns Hellboy?

Thanks!

[hellboyone]

I'm sure Mike owns the character outright and has complete control of how he appears in print. I have no clue if Dark Horse has any exclusivity to publishing.

[bampotkaila]

I'm sure Mike owns the character outright and has complete control of how he appears in print. I have no clue if Dark Horse has any exclusivity to publishing.

Do you know of any interview, article or website that states this? I believe what you're saying but I need something to cite, haha. Also, thanks for the reply :D

[patrick r]

I can't recall ever seeing an article online or otherwise that outlines the intellectual property rights for Hellboy or any other comic character. Unless you count the legal processes that have made it to the news. You may want to contact Dark Horse directly for information like this; however, it is unlikely they will provide you anything unless you are seeking to obtain a licensing agreement as a business. Doesn't hurt to try.

[Maija]

Uh, just refer to the publication information on the inside front leaf of any Hellboy publication: "©[date] Mike Mignola. Hellboy™, Abe Sapien™, Liz Sherman™ and all other prominently featured characters are trademarks of Mike Mignola".

[shonokin]

There was an article in COMICS JOURNAL in the late 90s that talked about the relationship of Dark Horse with the "MAVERICK" creators (no relation to John McCain). These were the people who owned their content distributed by Dark Horse. Each had their own custom Dark Horse icon designed by that particular artist. This line up included Mignola, Frank Miller, Art Adams and many others.

I have a CBLDF (http://cbldf.org/) drink coaster with all the different icons on it.

You can probably google "dark horse maverick" and find info on the setup.

[Kees_L]

The 'Maverick' imprint was also known as (or initially called?) the 'Legend Imprint'. For an online link I found this:

The Art Questions

Q: When you were first working on putting Hellboy together, how did you arrive at his look?

MM: I didn't put anything together; I didn't take it around — again, the shit I get away with. Image had started up. Art Adams was talking to Image, and Image was talking to him, and they wanted him to do stuff, and we all started talking about doing creator-owned stuff. I tried thinking of some commercial kind of things but I knew damn well if I came up with some commercial-type Image book I'd hate drawing it and I'd be the first guy who didn't make a dime. You know, everybody's making a million dollars but I knew damn well if I spent the time to do something I'd end up being the one guy where they go "Oh! [Your] comics don't sell anymore!" So I would have spent all this time for no reason. So I then I said, "Well then, if I'm going to do something, I'll do what I want to do. I'll probably only get one shot at it, but at least when I'm on my death bed I can say, 'At least once I had the opportunity to do the book I wanted.'"

And we figured we'd do it for Dark Horse. Frank Miller was doing stuff at Dark Horse; Geof Darrow was at Dark Horse; all the guys we kind of were pals with were doing stuff at Dark Horse. It was much more our kind of stuff. So we started talking and eventually it evolved into this Legend imprint and we went up to Mike [Richardson] at a party and said "Do you want all our books? Give us the same deal you're giving Frank" — which I don't even think Frank knew what his deal was — but we said "We want his deal" and Mike said "Yeah. What are you going to do?" "I'm going to do Hellboy." "Okay." He never saw it; I hadn't drawn anything; I just, uh, it was easy. [You] don't get that at DC or Marvel, I don't think. ~ Sequential Tart interview 'Demonology 101: Mike Mignola' by Laurie J. Anderson, for which the link = http://www.sequentialtart.com/archive/june02/mignola.shtml
There is also an interview on the 'Legend Imprint' in The Comics Journal #163 from 1993, just as abundantly clearifying as this one, so good luck with that :biggrin:.

[bampotkaila]

The 'Maverick' imprint was also known as (or initially called?) the 'Legend Imprint'. For an online link I found this:

~ Sequential Tart interview 'Demonology 101: Mike Mignola' by Laurie J. Anderson, for which the link = http://www.sequentialtart.com/archive/june02/mignola.shtml
There is also an interview on the 'Legend Imprint' in The Comics Journal #163 from 1993, just as abundantly clearifying as this one, so good luck with that :biggrin:.

Thank you so much!!! That's so perfect :D

[bampotkaila]

There was an article in COMICS JOURNAL in the late 90s that talked about the relationship of Dark Horse with the "MAVERICK" creators (no relation to John McCain). These were the people who owned their content distributed by Dark Horse. Each had their own custom Dark Horse icon designed by that particular artist. This line up included Mignola, Frank Miller, Art Adams and many others.

I have a CBLDF (http://cbldf.org/) drink coaster with all the different icons on it.

You can probably google "dark horse maverick" and find info on the setup.

Thank you for the help!! :D

[Rachel Edidin]

Hello!

I'm currently writing a research paper regarding the legal issues involved with the comic book industry and one thing I'd like to explore in this paper is Mike Mignola's relationship with Hellboy. I've heard that Mignola owns Hellboy himself, and that Dark Horse only owns the distributing rights but I simply CAN'T find any article online to back this information up. Can any of you help me? Or am I completely misguided in my thoughts on who owns Hellboy?

Thanks!

While I don't know if there are articles to that effect, it's information you'll find in the indicia of any given Hellboy or B.P.R.D. comic.

(ETA: D'oh--just noticed Maija beat me to it. So, yes, what she said. =D)