Interview: Mike Mignola on Hellboy

Posted by bob in Comics, Films, Interviews on July 11th, 2008

Hellboy creator Mike Mignola began his career as an illustrator for comic book fanzines and then made his professional debut as an inker for Marvel Comics. He worked on familiar titles such as Incredible Hulk and less familiar projects such as the adorable Rocket Raccoon. At DC Comics, he did a well-regarded Phantom Stranger miniseries in addition to Gotham by Gaslight which launched the Elseworlds line of books.  His design sense sand strong graphic style let him segue from occult to super-heroes to sword & sorcery. When given a chance to create something on his own, in 1994 he began producing stories for Dark Horse Comics featuring Hellboy.  While he at first plotted and drew the stories, with dialogue from John Byrne, Mignola grew in confidence and began writing the full story on his own.

He began his design work for Hollywood in 1992 with Bram Stoker’s Dracula and then designed the undersea world for Disney’s Atlantis. The Batman the Animated Series incarnation of Mr. Freeze was based on a designs specifically requested by Bruce Timm.

To his delight, Hellboy became a live-action film from director Guillermo del Toro and he’s been intimately involved on Hellboy II: The Golden Army as well.  In this exclusive interview from his home in California, Mike talks about the new film, opening today.

FM: You share the story credit with Guillermo Del Toro, how’d you guys work out the story together?

Mike Mignola: It was pretty easy. We tried to work out an adaptation of one of my stories—Almost Colossus—but after a couple hours we hit a snag so we decided to just make up something completely new. Del Toro was writing Pan’s Labyrinth around that time and I was starting to plot the current story line in the comic that’s all about a war with elves and witches so it was natural for both of us to come up with something with a fairytale/folktale feel to it.

FM: Are there elements you discussed that aren’t in the final script?

MM: There’s a huge difference between our original idea and what del Toro wrote for the screenplay. In the original story there was no Golden Army for one thing. That’s a pretty big difference.

FM: You did some design work on the first film; did you do any for this one?

MM: I did a little design work. I spent the same amount of time in preproduction on this one as I did on the first (about three months) but less of my work shows in this one. I did design the puppets for the flashback scene. I’m pretty proud of those.

FM: You had told me you were on the set during shooting, how surreal an experience is that to see your creations walking by you?

MM: What’s a little odd is that most of the time I felt I was just looking at del Toro characters—not characters I created. There was a day when I saw Ron (as Hellboy) wearing a coat but with no shirt—the way I usually draw him in the comic, but not the way he appeared in the first film—and I said “Hey, I made him up.” Somebody else had to lean over and point out that most of the characters on the set where characters I’d made up. I’d lost sight of that.

FM: Was there much opportunity to discuss the characters with the actors?

MM: I may have talked to Ron a little about that stuff on the first film, but mostly that’s something for del Toro to do. On the set I try to stay out of the way and not cause any trouble.

FM: How different do you find the movie Hellboy from your comic book character?

MM: The details are different, but I think he’s still pretty true to the spirit of the character I created in the comic.

FM: Are there things del Toro added that you intend to use in the comics?

MM: No. There are some things in the new film that are similar to things I’m doing in the comic, but those are things I had already been planning when we started work on the film.

FM: What surprised you the most about the way Hellboy II came together?

MM: I am amazed at how huge the film turned out—considering the budget wasn’t that much bigger the first one. I don’t know how del Toro did it.

FM: Have you seen it yet and if so, what did you think?

MM: I’ve seen the finished film twice now and I’m very happy with it. When you work on something like this for a long time, through a lot of changes, and the characters are sort of yours, it’s hard to be objective. But after seeing it a couple times I can see it and appreciate it for what it is. Del Toro has sort of made these characters his own and he is telling his own story with them in the films. It’s different than what I’m doing, but there’s a real beauty to his version.

FM: How likely will there be a third film, something del Toro has talked about?

MM: It will, of course, depend on how well Hellboy II does. We’ll see.

FM: Between Hellboy and Atlantis, do you have the film making bug?

MM: Nope. I like doing comics.

FM: What appeals to you about horror?

MM: I have no idea how to answer that. I’m not a blood and guts guy. I love the mystery and atmosphere. I’m very old fashion in my horror sensibilities. And I just love monsters.

FM: Where there monsters or horror stories that particularly affected you as a kid?

MM: For me it all really started when I read Dracula around the time I was thirteen. But my all time favorite monster would have to be Boris Karloff’s Frankenstein’s Monster—especially in Bride of Frankenstein.

FM: What else do you have coming up?

MM: I’ve written a three-issue Hellboy story for Richard Corben — The Crooked Man — that takes place in the Appalachian Mountains. I’m writing a huge Hellboy mini-series for Duncan Fregrado — The Wild Hunt — that’s a sequel to last years Darkness Calls. I’m still not writing the BPRD comic. And I’m actually writing a drawing a one-issue Hellboy story myself—In the Chapel of Molock. It’s been a few years since I did a whole comic myself and I love it. I never want to stop again.

FM: Thanks for everything, Mike.