Mignolaversity

[Middenway]

Mignolaversity is a part of the Multiversity Comics website focusing on (surprise!) Mignola's stuff. So far it's mainly been reviews, but lately they've started doing interviews with the creators. And they're good interviews too, by people very familiar with Mignola's work.

Here's their first interview with Tonči Zonjić.

And here's their second with James Harren.

Expect more in the future.

[Middenway]

Here's the latest interview on Mignolaversity, this one with Scott Allie, and it is HUGE. Excellent interview, certainly the best I've ever read with Scott Allie. It is a fascinating read.

[UnravThreads]

We’re doing these hardcover books collecting all of the old stuff, called Plague of Frogs. We’re basically looking at all of the Guy Davis stuff, that entire group, everything we did from the first series Hollow Earth to Liz torching the center of the Earth, is called Plague of Frogs. That was the frog army thing, the whole Plague of Frogs thing is being collected in these four hardcovers.

That quote, to me, explains why half of the PoF HC stuff isn't about the frogs at all.

Must confess I quite liked the interview, but was saddened by Allie not giving Cameron Stewart even a glancing mention.

[Middenway]

Must confess I quite liked the interview, but was saddened by Allie not giving Cameron Stewart even a glancing mention.

You'll have to wait until Mignolaversity interviews Cameron Stewart, I guess

The interview was focused on Scott Allie's work as an editor and writer, and I enjoyed that. Especially the stuff about scheduling. It's sounds like an elaborate juggling act.

[UnravThreads]

Oh, I understand that, it's just they asked him about most of what's coming out now... except that one, and he didn't mention it or even allude to it, I think. Just seemed a little odd.

[Jr. Wormwood]

Here's the latest interview on Mignolaversity, this one with Scott Allie, and it is HUGE. Excellent interview, certainly the best I've ever read with Scott Allie. It is a fascinating read.

This definitely grabbed my attention:

"So you’re juggling all these schedules on the Mignola books. Yesterday, I pretty much finalized the yellow slip. It’s a certain stage in the approval process. I pretty much finalized the lettering and coloring for a B.P.R.D. issue coming out in November. But the five issues preceding that aren’t done yet…I think it’s November…but that just works with the artist. The guy doing this particular story that starts in November, we just needed to be way out in front with him. He’s busy, he’s got other stuff to do, we could have waited longer for him to do it, but he’ll be on another job at that point so he jumped in on this one here.

It’s funny, finalizing that lettered comic and the dialogue refers to stuff that hasn’t even been scripted yet because the artist on the preceding arc is on such a different schedule. So there’s just…reading that I was like “wait a minute, what?!” but then I thought “oh yeah, John will get to writing that eventually.” There’s a specific line where one character says to another character “oh poor, poor (this guy).” Fill in the name of a guy who got wiped out. “But that guy is fine right now. What’s he talking about? Oh yeah, this comic doesn’t come out for 8 months.”

[Jr. Wormwood]

Moved this post to "publishing order" thread.

[JonNik]

That quote, to me, explains why half of the PoF HC stuff isn't about the frogs at all.

First things first, hello all. Long time Mignola fanboy, formerly distanced from comic books for a few years and now struggling to catch up :)

That quote and your take confused me a bit so I'll take this opportunity to ask here. Isn't the HC Plague of frog volumes (I bought 1-3) simply
collecting the B.R.P.D trades in chronological order (3 TPBs in 1 HC) ?

Are stuff being skipped ?
i.e shouldn't I be expecting #4 to contain 1946, the warning, Black goddess, War on Frogs etc ?
(1946 in particular is both something of an interlude and not Guy Davis stuff ? to be more specific)

Don't the TPBs comprehensively collect everything released in chronological order for that matter ?

It would be good to know that because HC #4 seems to be some ways off and I would like to buy some trades in advance if they
are not included there.

Any good, digested and organized, resource out there on released trades and chronological order so I don't bug you people about it ?
(if it got info on the contents of #4 it would be great).

P.S Sorry if this is off topic for this thread (Should I move it in the publishing order thread ?) and for the deluge of questions but I am trying to both make sense of the volume of released material and not read too many spoilers ;)

[Middenway]

Isn't the HC Plague of frog volumes (I bought 1-3) simply
collecting the B.R.P.D trades in chronological order ?

Are stuff being skipped ?
i.e shouldn't I be expecting #4 to contain 1946, the warning, Black goddess, War on Frogs etc ?
(1946 in particular is both something of an interlude and not Guy Davis stuff ? to be more specific)

Don't the TPBs comprehensively collect everything released in chronological order for that matter ?

It would be good to know that because HC #4 seems to be some ways off and I would like to buy some trades in advance if they
are not included there.

Any good resource out there on released trades and chronological order so I don't bug you people about it ?
(if it got info on the contents of #4 it would be great).

P.S Sorry if this is off topic for this thread and for the deluge of questions but I am trying to both make sense of the volume of
released material and not read too many spoilers ;)

I have a thread on the topic you should find useful, The Hellboy Universe Publishing Order. Specifically, you'll want to check out the section on Library Editions and Omnibuses.

Basically, the current omnibuses only collect the stories involved in the Plague of Frogs story cycle (B.P.R.D. trades 1-8, 10-12, 14). Volumes 9 and 13 are 1946 and 1947, which have nothing to do with the Plague of Frogs cycle, however since 1948 is on its way (and it will be the last of these B.P.R.D. 1940s books), it's likely these three trades will one day be collected in their own omnibus some day.

The order of the stories in the second volume of B.P.R.D. Plague of Frogs has been juggled around a bit. Scott Allie explained this was to make for a more logical reading order. The omnibuses are collected in the best possible order, don't worry. There's an article about it on the Hellboy Wiki here. (You'll see War on Frogs was not just moved to a different place, but cut up and rearranged around The Black Flame)

And you won't have to wait too long for B.P.R.D. Plague of Frogs - Volume 4. It should be coming out roughly December this year give or take a month or two.

As for the B.P.R.D. Hell on Earth story cycle, it's going to be collected in omnibuses too, but only when the entire thing is finished, and that's a looooooong way off.

The only B.P.R.D. trade that looks unlikely to ever be collected in the omnibus format is B.P.R.D.: Being Human.

[JonNik]

Thanks Middenway couldn't have possibly asked for a more thorough reply!

Basically, the current omnibuses only collect the stories involved in the Plague of Frogs story cycle (B.P.R.D. trades 1-8, 10-12, 14). Volumes 9 and 13 are 1946 and 1947, which have nothing to do with the Plague of Frogs cycle, however since 1948 is on its way (and it will be the last of these B.P.R.D. 1940s books), it's likely these three trades will one day be collected in their own omnibus some day.

Hmm I do not mind buying them separate as trades. This is exactly what I was hopping for really as I would like to get those two (1946,1947) asap...

As for the B.P.R.D. Hell on Earth story cycle, it's going to be collected in omnibuses too, but only when the entire thing is finished, and that's a looooooong way off.

The only B.P.R.D. trade that looks unlikely to ever be collected in the omnibus format is B.P.R.D.: Being Human.

Oh I'll probably buy trades going forwards. But I have to wait and buy HC #4 for uniformity plus there is a lot of "interlude stuff" (I'll also order the two Abe Sapien trades for now) to keep me occupied it seems in the meantime. Thanks for the wiki link (should have occurred to me to look) should be easy to compile my checklist now.

Cheers

[Middenway]

They have a niftly logo now:

And here's their latest review.

[Middenway]

Here's an interview with Tyler Crook.

[Middenway]

Mignolaversity interviews Scott Allie at NYCC:


I found this interesting. About the Hell on Earth titles, he said:

All the modern day stuff needs to be linear, one book a month. We were looking at a month where we were going to up to three BPRD books a month, plus trade paperbacks, and it's like, nah, it's too many, you're stretching the audience thin, comics are a lot of money. Y'know, we've gotta be mindful of that.

Which is true, and he brings up a very good point, but there is another thing that concerns me. Hell on Earth is split up into so many pieces right now. There's the main John Arcudi stuff, the little side horror stories, and then there's the Ashley Strode stuff. Putting all that on a monthly schedule really seems to be slamming on the breaks for the main plotline, and as a result, I think readers may come to resent the side stories because they interfere with this. It's a concern I've had since I first heard about the renumbering. I figured the book would probably change to one Hell on Earth title per month, but that means if a three-issue Ashley Storde story comes along, the other stuff is put on hold for three months. With only twelve issues coming out a year, those issues will have to be divided between these three camps.

There seems no easy solution for this either. The points Scott Allie mentions are really good points, and with Hellboy, Lobster Johnson and soon Abe Sapien, not to mention Baltimore in the mix it's a lot of books. In the first six months of next year there are already 6 issues of BPRD Hell on Earth, 6 issues of BPRD, 3 Hellboy in Hell, 3 Lobster Johnson, 2 for Sledgehammer '44 and 2 for Baltimore. That's 22 issues in 26 weeks. And that may not even be all that's coming. Personally, I'm thrilled about that, but not everyone is going to like it.

So I don't think it's realistic to add more Hell on Earth titles per month, but I do think there will be a drawback in terms of pacing. These detour stories, which will play a larger role in the future I'm sure, could push the patience of less committed readers. But all these pieces have been put on the table now. It's a little late to hastily put them back away.

I hope there may occasionally be a burst of speed with the series, where for certain arcs or plotlines, especially the side plotlines, the comic switches to bimonthly, then back to monthly again for the more important stuff. I'm just throwing that out there. It may actually be a terrible idea. To be honest, I haven't actually given it that much thought.

Of course, there're other options. These side stories could come out as plus-sized issues. A story that would normally come out as a two-parter could come out as a single double-length comic. Or they could come out as OGNs. Or appear in the pages of Dark Horse Presents. Or as Dark Horse Digital exclusives (That'd be cool for the Ashley Strode stuff, which seems to stand alone much better than other Hell on Earth stuff. Just sayin'). Or maybe there's something else I haven't thought of.

What does everyone else think of all this?

[Middenway]

Of course, they could also have a very clever way of consolidating Hell on Earth that I haven't considered.

[UnravThreads]

Truth be told, the Hellboy/B.P.R.D./LoJo/Abe/Witchfinder/194X reading order is ridiculously complex. They've built themselves into this corner where if you've not read some things you won't necessarily understand the importance or the relevance of other things. What I think would work best is if they keep adding unnumbered stories. So, as Ash is pretty separate from the rest of it, she could be an unnumbered series that releases alongside B.P.R.D. - I think Sledgehammer '44 could be the same. Baltimore, as of late, seems to be down to shorter stories and one-shots (LoJo is the same, right?), so those are fine as long as they're not all together in one go. Baltimore I think we can largely discount as it's not shown to be tied to B.P.R.D./Hellboy yet (I think), anyway.

What I think they might need to consider is switching to OGNs for some stories, e.g. Baltimore. I think an OGN of Baltimore shorts would remove one title from the monthlies, but perhaps allow Ben, Chris and Mike to flex their muscles in different ways - ways that might actually benefit the story as they're not restricted to X pages per month/story.