Mike Mignola
|
|
Mike_mignola.jpg
Mike Mignola (born in Berkeley, California on September 16, 1960) is an American comic book artist and writer, and he was also a cartoon artist.
| Contents |
Career Before Hellboy
Mignola has worked on numerous superhero comics. He began his career in 1983 by illustrating issues of comic books such as Daredevil and Power Man & Iron Fist for Marvel Comics, and later worked on titles such as Alpha Flight and Phantom Stranger.
However, it was not until he worked for DC Comics in 1988's Gotham by Gaslight - in which a Victorian version of Batman faces Jack the Ripper in Gotham City - that Mignola's work gained more widespread popularity. The well-received story inspired the Elseworlds concept. In 1998, he also drew the World of Krypton and Cosmic Odyssey stories.
After becoming a better-known artist, Mignola worked on such titles as Batman, the comic book version of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser and Ironwolf: Fires of the Revolution. He also became a consistently popular cover artist, and he has worked on numerous trading cards and posters featuring various superheroes and other licensed characters.
Hellboy
Previously, Mignola had always worked on characters and properties owned by others. He deviated from that practice in 1994, when Mignola's first Hellboy story, The Seed of Destruction, was published by Dark Horse Comics. Hellboy draws heavily on Mignola's own interests - folklore, B-movies, ghost stories, monsters and pulp stories, and the series about a paranormal investigator from Hell - the eponymous Hellboy - soon proved to be a popular and critical success. It has since been the endeavour Mignola has been most closely connected with, and he has kept up a steady stream of Hellboy stories and merchandise.
Prior to Hellboy, Mignola was not experienced in writing his own stories, and thus, at Mignola's request, the first series was scripted by John Byrne. However, the next Hellboy story, Wolves of St. August, was scripted by Mignola, who also wrote the majority of the subsequent Hellboy tales, though other writers and artists have also worked on the character since.
Mignola's Style
Hellboy-Mignola.jpg
Mignola is particularly noted for his highly distinctive style, which was once called "German expressionism meets Jack Kirby." It is a fairly accurate description.
While Mignola has heavily influenced a new generation of comics artists since becoming popular, he was something of an odd man out in the superhero comics industry in the beginning of his career. Compared to his contemporary comics artists' often highly polished style, Mignola's imagery stood in stark comparison - where others would draw muscular men and slim, well-endowed women, Mignola's characters are usually bulky and rough-looking, and more often than not defined by large shadowed areas rather than fine details. Mignola often takes the same approach to architecture, particularly in Hellboy, where he often sets the scenes in slowly dilapidating Victorian and Gothic surroundings. He is also fond of drawing machines that bring to mind steampunk imagery.
Work on Motion Pictures
Mignola's Hellboy was made into a feature film in 2004 by director Guillermo del Toro, and Mignola was closely involved with the movie's production.
Prior to that, Mignola worked as an illustrator for Francis Ford Coppola's 1992 movie Bram Stoker's Dracula. He was also the production designer for the Disney feature film, Atlantis: The Lost Empire in 2001, which he was specifically requested to participate in, and was a concept artist for 2002's Blade II, also directed by del Toro.
Trivia
Mignola and the creator of the Yu-Gi-Oh! manga, Kazuki Takahashi, once participated in an art exchange. Takahashi, who is a fan of American comics, drew a picture of hellboy with Yugi Mutou's hairdo, a Millennium Puzzle, and a duel disk. Mignola drew a picture of Hellboy wearing a Millennium Puzzle and a Yugi T-Shirt, and the two exchanged their artwork.
External Links
- Mignola's official site (http://www.hellboy.com/)it:Mike Mignola