Mignolaversity

[Kees_L]

What does everyone else think of all this?

I think as a reader or fan and all that I simply just feel there is nothing to worry.

I'm hearing Scott Allie saying numerous times that the renumbering stuff or modernizations will just be for reflecting how things are or have been for the most part.

Like it'd be just for keeping things as good as they can be, also with all the newness like a slightly shifted mix of ongoingness, stand-alone stuff, retrospect stuff (such as BPRD 1948) and 'outside platforms' such as Witchfinder or Lobster Johnson.
As stuff might keep on shifting further, like say if gradually BPRD 1948 followups would close in on just modern BPRD further, or maybe if standalone stuff such as Abe being solo yet for impacting with Hellboy's and BPRD's immediate futures potentially? I'm thinking the line between ongoing or now-continuity of the BPRD vs other titles might tend to become more and more blurred than how they'd have been before.

I'd say that looking only at how the current BPRD-titles have been coming out in recent years might not be the way for understanding why new formats or renumbering is being implemented, because the situation to come, with mr Mike committed to handling Hellboy In Hell, yet also with more writers on board, that situation would be totally new, since that hasn't been really been a reality up to now. I'd think.

[Kees_L]

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.

I don't think so at all, because for 15 to 20 years now, both the BPRD and Hellboy have been OGNs basically, as limited series premiering as single editions but fairly swiftly getting reissued as great value-for-money Trade Paperbacks, with extra stuff like a sketchbook section and afterwords, yet the single editions are good too, complete with lively letter column and such.

But overlooking it as TPB's neatly forming story-arcs or either anthologies, has it all be to work out rather convenient and overseeable I'd think?
Because at the same time such allows for stories and arcs themselves to dictate their own pace and form. From short to long and anything in between.
And with stories forming arcs or TPB's of themselves, people can choose which ones they need to read and which ones they might rather save for later. So even part-fans or casual readers would be feeling catered towards, or in other words: the stories wouldn't demand total knowledge and commitment always (or only for getting the full of it completely) but they would be paying off pretty much immediately.

This might be just my preference 'though, because I normally foremostly resent how ongoing flagship titles like Batman or any X-Types tend to treat their narratives and continuity so heavily forced and constructed, seemingly not for telling stories intricately, but for selling and pushing as much titles and issues as possible, as by either repeating the same lame stuff or hyping crummy event after event.

For me both Hellboy and the BPRD have always seemed a perfect blend between monthlies and quality storytelling-driven sequential stuff, like all combined, be it graphic novel or single issue or whatever would be fitting a story.
Allowing for sequentialness shielded from getting scrutinized by hurried deadlines for no good reason, plus with allowing for offering unforced and ungeneric narratives and imagery design, to the full.
Because of the stories themselves demanding their own pace and format.

But y'know, now that Hellboy has shifted into a new kind of thing at least in part - to be handled by a main creator (of the whole of it), plus because BPRD has grown into being this full body with even stuff of its own flowing aside it for periods, but with a joint or coinciding future hanging over it all, with some stuff or elements changing or tending to become broke forgood, it might be that a more structured or monthly kind of approach for it all would be more practical than how things would have been before.

For Hellboy In Hell a monthly or less arc-for-arc approach would seem completely logical to me.
And well, depending how drastically the BPRD would get swamped up in turmoil or changes to come, for any of the titles it could seem logical, the more an overall narrative would be becoming appparent or setting itself up for a closing or whatever kind of resolvement?

I mean, I guess I could see such, and on the whole the books have only seemed great instead of anything else, as of day one. Although I haven't yet read any Ashley Strode and I don't know how much I'll like Sledgehammer, for what that's worth. But even if I wouldn't particularly be liking such I could live with it for sure.

[UnravThreads]

The way in which the series have been produced is irrelevant. What is important is the stories. 1947 comes off 1946 from what I understand, and '47 gives an understanding which can enhance/explain Exorcism - just as an example. Another would be Conqueror Worm - whilst Roger's presence in B.P.R.D. is kind of explained, it's still best shown - along with other aspects - in that Hellboy mini. Without that Hellboy mini, you don't have those details as clearly. And Seed of Destruction? Well, vital to the whole thing, I'd say.

It is true that B.P.R.D. and Hellboy have largely split ways, but I don't think that means they're separate works. There are separate works within those two headers (e.g. Pickens County Horror having very little to do with anything we've seen so far, I believe), but even some of the upcoming titles (Sledgehammer '44) have links, strong or otherwise, to other works within the Mignolaverse.

[Kees_L]

And with that I can mostly totally agree, Unrav, all the way, eventhough I'd think that such won't exclude any of the books (albeit some better than others) to being readable well already on their own. Perhaps not all BPRD but that's cool.

But for Hellboy I really think that "Hellboy: the Mole" can be read on its own. Or "Seed of Destruction".
I think I'd manage reading first the Wild Hunt, then The Storm And the Fury, followed by Darkness Calls, with it all still proving to make sense, because the larger continuity of it would be placing each of those parts into their own resolvement, as Darkness / Hunt / Storm & Fury.

Just because everything interconnects so organically or intricately instead of purely linearly or chronologically by itself. I guess because of how the series have been produced, as how the entry-point to it all could be when Professor Bruttenholm is about to get murdered by creepy frogpeople's hickeys. Or either whatever story you'd have been reading for a first.
I mean, for Hellboy such seems allowed because arcs mostly seem to start and finish by themselves, plus it doesn't seem to matter necessarily at which time a story or adventure would be starting itself up, because no matter the continuity, there might still be all kinds of adventures or stuff still coming up, like Fegredo's young Hellboy tale for instance, or maybe one of Liz first arriving at the Bureau, or her bolting for a first time, all such might be possible it seems to me.

Maybe this distinction of how reading or publication order as not having to be vital or encompassing for Hellboy would only be seeming apparent to me, but for me as a comics enthusiast I will mostly have been reading both as digging comics without ever being to be owning it all completely. There would always be some vital issues missing from what I'd have. And even now that I'd be up to speed at least where Mignola's stuff would be concerned, there's (luckily) still all the stuff that hasn't yet been published but which will be in the upcoming future.

I just think that is pretty cool. That so much seems possible or yet to get known or discovered with each reading or connection to make by myself personally, as due to my own reading of it, despite all the Wiki's or lists or whatever. I like the discoveries to be doing, better than the knowing I guess.
Some people might be liking Batman or Star Trek or Tolkien, but me, I'm liking the wild or weird wonder both as quaint familiarity to Hellboy, y'know?

[Middenway]

An interview with Mike Mignola.

Interesting that last bit about a B.P.R.D. series after Hell on Earth.

[Middenway]

Here's the highlights of the interview:

On the Mexico stories and future OGNs:

I have some ideas for some stories set in Mexico, which is a great chapter of Hellboy’s life. I don’t know who would draw that, though. I know Richard is busy with his own stuff. But, if Richard wanted to do Hellboy again, my first question would be, “Well, what do you want to draw?” And then we would work on that. Same thing with Duncan; actually, I’ve written Duncan a graphic novel, and he’s been busy with other stuff, but I think he’s just started working on that graphic novel, which is actually about Hellboy as a little kid. So, that is something we’ve never seen before…that would be fun.

On Ashley Stode:

Cameron Stewart is an interesting case, because Cameron had been doing some writing, wanted to do some more, and it was an experiment. We said, “So why don’t we take a character, and since Cameron likes drawing girls, is there a female character we’ve got, somewhere in the B.P.R.D. stuff, that we aren’t doing anything with, and don’t have any plans for?”

And there happened to be this one character [Ashley Strode] who was introduced and had a small part in one story, and we said, “Why don’t we give that character to Cameron, to do with whatever he wanted?”

Now, I had a hand in the first story, and using Ota Benga from B.P.R.D. 1947, I said, “Why don’t we put these characters together?” But, the idea was, that at the end of that story, that character is completely in Cameron’s hands. The hope is that, in between other books, Cameron will come back and pick up that character and really own that character. But, at this point, that character is Cameron’s to do whatever he wants with her.

On B.P.R.D.: Vampire (which had not yet been announced at the time of this interview:

There are a couple other artists that we’re working with right now… Am I at liberty to say anything about this book? I don’t think so, not right now. But, there are a couple other artists that I have worked with in the past, and they have created a character in one of my other books, so I said to them, “I love that character, you guys had a real hand in creating that character, and so if you want to do another B.P.R.D./Hellboy related book, why don’t you just take that character and do whatever you want?” In a way, I wind up this character and give it to them, and say, “Take it where you want.”

On Witchfinder:

I would love to see more stuff happen with the Witchfinder character [Sir Edward Grey], because I love that Victorian era, and we’re in talks with a novelist who I love to come in and write some more Witchfinder stuff.

On Lobster Johnson:

The artist who did The Burning Hand series, Tonci [Zonjic] is fantastic, and when he showed up, we said, “Oh yeah, we finally have our Lobster Johnson artist.” Now Tonci is a little slow, he’s juggling a few others books, so we said, “OK, we have Tonci on board, we have Lobster Johnson back up and running, before Tonci comes back and does another long run, let’s keep the character alive.”

So that is why we tossed out all these one shots to various artists, including Max [Fiumara]’s brother Sebastian, who is phenomenal, so, that was to keep things alive until Tonci could come back, which is why he stayed on as cover artist, and John and I are now talking about a longer, 5-issue or so arc, for Tonci.

On the end of it all:

Scott Allie, in past conversations with us, has somewhat hinted at things moving towards the end; is there an end game in sight for Hellboy or B.P.R.D.? Is there something we can expect the books to move towards? We’ve heard B.P.R.D. described as being three acts: Plague of Frogs, Hell on Earth, and then this new one.

Well, we’re still on Hell on Earth – I think we’re there until we come up with a new title. Both [Hellboy and B.P.R.D.] are definitely going someplace, and with Hellboy I definitely have a “and then this happens” kind of moment, but it is no time soon. So don’t worry.

[Skinkie]

Lots of good stuff there. Lots to look forward too

[Middenway]

Mignolaversity reviews Hellboy in Hell #1

And next week, they'll be posting an hour-long interview with Mike Mignola, John Arcudi and Scott Allie.

[rubberchickenben]

Any guesses on this "character that has never had his own series"?

[Middenway]

Trevor Bruttenholm in a series set in WWII?

[rubberchickenben]

I don't think so, unless you're saying he's in Sledgehammer? I doubt they'd have two World War 2 miniseries at once plus the postwar 40s.

[Middenway]

I'm sure he makes an appearance in Sledgehammer '44. Jason Latour mentioned he was having fun drawing Bruttenholm on Twitter, and Sledgehammer '44 was the only story he was working on at the time.

[Gary_B]

Well, I loved the challenge of not knowing exactly what I was looking at on any given panel. I liked having to place myself into a headspace where I couldn’t really listen to music, or toggle back and forth between reading an answering emails. This was a totally immersive reading experience, and those are rare nowadays.

Reading this makes me a bit sad. These people are trying to carve out a voice of authority regarding all things Mignola and they qualify their tiny attention spans in this way?

[Middenway]

I often feel this way when I read reviews. Reviewers rarely seem to have the time to read a book properly and as a result it seems like chunks of the story flew right over their heads and they never even noticed. But, they do it for a job and I guess they're busy people.

[Middenway]

An interview with Scott Allie, John Arcudi and Mike Mignola.