Wolverine is ready to take on Apocalypse in Wolverine: The Jungle Adventure Vol. 1 #1 (1993), Marvel Comics. Words by Walter Simonson, art by Mike Mignola, Bob Wiacek, Mark Chiarello, and Ken Bruzenak.
According to Hellboy creator Mike Mignola, were it not for a combination of the X-Men, artist Rob Liefeld, and a particularly sleazy move from a Marvel Comics editor, his fan-favorite demon protagonist may never have seen the light of day.
Mike Mignola sketches a new piece in Mike Mignola: Drawing Monsters (2022), Ink On Paper
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The esteemed comic book creator revealed the true circumstances of Hellboy’s origins during a recent interview given to ScreenRant’s Owen Danoff in promotion of the streaming release of the biographical documentary Mike Mignola: Drawing Monsters.
Amidst a larger reflection of his long-standing industry career, Mignola was eventually pressed by as to whether or not there “Was there a specific moment that was the impetus for you to leave Marvel?”
In turn, the comic book veteran recalled, “That’s one of the real big turning point moments that I remember so clearly.”
Hellboy makes his first official appearance in San Diego Comic-Con Comics Vol. 1 #2 (1993), Dark Horse Comics. Words by John Byrne, art by Mike Mignola.
“I was on a completely different track at that point,” he told Danoff. “This was the early ‘90s, and I was spending a lot of time at Marvel in the X-Men office. This was the really brief, super commercial version of me. I had come off Gotham by Gaslight and [Wolverine: The Jungle Adventure], I had these two big projects lined up, and then I half-jokingly said to the X-Men editor at the time, ‘Rob Liefeld—he’s not the best artist, but there’s a lot of enthusiasm in his stuff. What would it be like to work over his layouts?’”
“He said, ‘Why don’t you try that?’ so I did an issue of X-Force [Vol. 1 #8] over Rob’s thumbnail layouts,” said Mignola. “It was fun to do, but I had said, ‘Let me do the cover if I’m drawing the comic,’ [because] I’d spent so many years doing covers for other people’s books. The editor said, ‘Okay, you can do the cover.’”
Cable leads the Wild Pack into battle in X-Force Vol. 1 #8 (1992), Marvel Comics. Words by Fabian Nicieza and Rob Liefeld, art by Rob Liefeld, Mike Mignola, Bob Wiacek, Steve Buccellato, and Chris Eliopoulos.
“I designed a cover where I would do three-quarters of it and Rob would do the rest, because he was doing a framing sequence in the book, and I got approval for the idea, but never got the go-ahead on the cover. I kept saying, “When do you want me to do the cover,” continued the former Alpha Flight Vol. 1 artist. “Eventually, I walked into the office, and there was the cover drawn by Rob. I couldn’t believe that they didn’t value what I was doing and that [the editor] would lie to me to get this one more cover out of Rob. I was so disgusted and hurt, but mostly I was just really angry. I know this editor had a problem with being straight with people, but he could have made up any story. [It was] the fact that he just kept lying and lying and lying until I walked in and caught him.”
“I was about to start this other X-Men book, and I was waiting on a script,” Mignola further detailed. “It was a four-issue miniseries, and it was going to be a high-profile book. I said, ‘If I haven’t gotten the script in the next 24 hours, I’m out of here.’ 24 hours came and went, and the script didn’t show up, so I called and said, ‘I’m gone. Get somebody else.’ That book has actually never been done.”
Wolverine and Apolcaypse tear each other apart in Wolverine: The Jungle Adventure Vol. 1 #1 (1993), Marvel Comics. Words by Walter Simonson, art by Mike Mignola, Bob Wiacek, Mark Chiarello, and Ken Bruzenak.
Drawing this anecdote to a close, the artist ultimately asserted, “And I’d always been a Marvel Comics guy. It felt really strange to say, ‘I’m done. That part of my career is completely over.’” And I didn’t know anything about DC Comics—I didn’t really have any affection for those characters—so, suddenly, instead of having two publishers in New York, I had just one. I did one issue of Batman, I plotted it myself, and I loved what I did not because it was Batman, but because of the story.”
“I think the fact that I left Marvel and went to DC, where I wasn’t really in love with the material, made Hellboy happen,” he concluded. “I guess I should thank that X-Men editor for pushing me out the door.”
Hellboy makes the mistake of letting his guard down in Hellboy: Seed of Destruction Vol. 1 #1 (1994), Dark Horse Comics. Words by John Byrne and Mike Mignola, art by Mike Mignola, Mark Chiarello, and Matt Hollingsworth.
Notably, though Mignola did not specify which X-Men editor decided to jerk him around, an educated guess based on the time the event took place suggests it was none other than former Marvel Comics and DC Editor-in-Chief Bob Harras – whose tenure notably saw the publisher go through some of its worst financial and creative troubles (including Heroes Reborn and the Clone Saga).
Mike Mignola: Drawing Monsters is now available to rent from such video on-demand services as Amazon Prime, Google Play, Apple TV, and YouTube.
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Were it not for a combination of the X-Men, Rob Liefeld, and a poor Marvel Comics editor, Mike Mignola says Hellboy may never have been born. Read More