B.P.R.D. Hell on Earth: A Cold Day in Hell

[Middenway]

Coming up in November at the end of the year is this two-parter by Mike Mignola and Scott Allie. In an interview with Mignolaversity Scott Allie announced A Cold Day in Hell which he's finished the first issue of. Earlier in the same interview he mentioned he had finalised colours and lettering on the first issue of a story coming out in November, so unless we're getting three issues of B.P.R.D. that month (unlikely), I think it's pretty safe to assume he was talking about the same story.

The artist was unnamed, but it was clear that it wasn't Tyler Crook since the artist had to draw this story well in advance in order to fit it into his schedule. Of the story Scott Allie only said this:

"...this two-parter, called A Cold Day in Hell, puts a piece on the table that is so significant that we can’t really say the stuff Tyler [Crook] draws is the main story because there are so many important things happening elsewhere."

That's all for now.

[Middenway]

...If this is still on the same schedule (very likely since it was finished well in advance), there's going to be three BPRD stories coming out in a single month.

[Mechano]

Please, lord, let it be drawn by harren and focus on abe... i want that so much i would eat my own head...

[Middenway]

I suspect not. A Cold Day in Hell was drawn more than eight months in advance because the artist would be busy with other things at this time of year. That's not likely to be James Harren, because after his stint on Conan he's working on at least two BPRD stories and powssibly more for the foreseeable future. I suspect he'll handle the ongoing plotline in the miniseries that follows Return of the Master, starting early January, to give Tyler Crook a break. But that's just a guess.

I also suspect the next Abe Sapien series will start very early next year, likely January or February... I hope. I think that may be what Jason Latour is working on, since he's busy with something, but it's not BPRD.

[Storey74]

I like the title... A Cold Day In Hell. Curious as to what it refers to... a lot of possibilities.

I miss the initial announcement in April, but I imagine we will find out soon as November solicitations are just around the corner.

[Middenway]

I miss the initial announcement in April, but I imagine we will find out soon as November solicitations are just around the corner.

It wasn't really an announcement. Scott Allie was talking about the editorial process and it was starting to get too abstract whenever he said "this one story", so finally he buckled and gave it a name. Other than the name, that it's two-issues long and that it's written by Scott Allie and Mike Mignola, we don't know anything.

[Middenway]

The penny just dropped.

A Cold Day in Hell is a two-issue series that was drawn prior to April 2012 because the artist was too busy to do it at a later date. Who is this mystery artist? My guess is Peter Snejbjerg. This is from his blog in February 2012:
. . .

So yeah, he drew that back in February and we haven't heard anything at all about it, so my guess is this is the story that was drawn so far in advance.

However, Scott Allie has previously said:

Peter Snejbjerg will be back -- I think this is the first time he's doing an arc in the regular run, after the War on Frogs one-shot and the Abe Sapien two-parter.

So it depends if by "the regular run" he meant the ongoing storyline by John Arcudi, or just the regular BPRD line.

[Kees_L]

The penny just dropped.

Ha! That sounds like something a Prime-Minister would say.

"I was holding it up, admiring its shine and there it went, just suddenly, down the drain. I must have dropped it. But I'm not going after it... Am I?"

[/QUOTE]

That is one sweet drawing.

'Panya, what slumbers or looms in the eyes of cats both as stray children, sitting untouchable as a statue or innocence, silently knowing, the true yet forbidden if not abandoned God of all things will be a lady, a cat-lady at that! And how this partly seeming World of men will come to know it...'

Must be quite a story in there somewhere .

[thwhtGuardian]

That is one awesome picture of Panya, i can't wait to see this.

[Middenway]

Actually, according to Scott Allie, that picture is from a story written by John Arcudi. I don't know if that means A Cold Day in Hell is written by Arcudi or whether it's from another story though. We'll find out in the solicitations in a week or so anyway.

[Storey74]

On Snejbjerg's blog, he mentions in the post two below the Panya one that he is working on BPRD: Dry Dock... here's the quote.

"Now, in 2012, it'll all be about BPRD: Dry Dock and the French album series, WWX..."

[Middenway]

On Snejbjerg's blog, he mentions in the post two below the Panya one that he is working on BPRD: Dry Dock... here's the quote.

"Now, in 2012, it'll all be about BPRD: Dry Dock and the French album series, WWX..."

Nice catch! Thanks for that!

UPDATE:
Nope, according to Scott Allie...

Dry Dock changed into Cold Day In Hell. We often move from working titles to final titles.

So, Peter Snejbjerg is indeed doing A Cold Day in Hell.

[Middenway]

I actually had assumed Scott Allie was writing A Cold Day in Hell due to this quote from the original Mignolaversity interview:

With different co-writing gigs I’ve been doing the past couple of years, it varies a lot. Like when I did Dead Remembered, the BPRD series that Mike and I did with Liz Sherman, the story was my idea, the basic gist of it was all my idea, and every step of the way I would bounce stuff off of Mike and he’d insert stuff and tweak my dialogue and stuff like that. The weight of that was much more on me.

Whereas Pickens County, the initial idea was Mike’s, Mike did put things on paper before I did anything. And that was the case also with O’Donnell, the upcoming one, and a two-parter we’re doing later this year, me and Mike, where he had a story he wanted to do, and it didn’t feel like an Arcudi story.

Since A Cold Day in Hell was mentioned in that same interview as coming out in November, it just seemed like he was talking about the same story. But now we know A Cold Day in Hell is being written by John Arcudi. So in the last two months of the year, if this mysterious other story is still on the schedule for this year, there will be issues of 1948, Return of the Master, A Cold Day in Hell and another BPRD story by Mike Mignola and Scott Allie. We could actually get four issues of BPRD stories in a single month. Not to mention Baltimore: The Play and the first issue of Hellboy in Hell.

[Storey74]

So in the last two months of the year, if this mysterious other story is still on the schedule for this year, there will be issues of 1948, Return of the Master, A Cold Day in Hell and another BPRD story by Mike Mignola and Scott Allie. We could actually get four issues of BPRD stories in a single month. Not to mention Baltimore: The Play and the first issue of Hellboy in Hell.

Sounds like a great way to spend the Holidays to me!

A Cold Day in Hell is a much more provocative title than Dry Dock...

[Middenway]

Sounds like a great way to spend the Holidays to me!

A Cold Day in Hell is a much more provocative title than Dry Dock...

Yeah, it is a much better title. It was a working title for a reason.

I think, if we are insanely lucky, we may even get another Lobster Johnson before the end of the year. I really can't get over the sheer volume of stuff we've got coming... and then next year we'll have a regular-ish Abe Sapien comic as well...