Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.26: Mike Mignola

No.26: Mike Mignola

Mike Mignola is an American comic artist and writer whose career began in the 1980s at Marvel, drawing books like The Incredible Hulk, Alpha Flight and Rocket Raccoon. His work combines the painterly approach of legendary artist Frank Frazetta with the classic comic DNA of Jack Kirby. Mignola uses pulp sensibilities from writers like Robert E. Howard and Edgar Allen Poe but with his own unique artistic footprint. Words: Joel Meadows…

photo©Joel Meadows. All Rights Reserved

After working at Marvel for a few years on Incredible Hulk and Alpha Flight, he jumped over to DC where he drew books like Phantom Stranger, World of Krypton and Cosmic Odyssey. He was artist on the company’s Batman Elseworlds one-shot Batman: Gotham By Gaslight as well as creating covers for DC’s infamous Death In The Family story arc, where they put the fate of Robin to a phone in poll. He found it funny that this is still a talking point years later in an interview for Twomorrows in the early 2000s: “It’s so amazing to me that people are still talking about that damn thing. I didn’t know if he was going to live or die, because I did the cover ahead of time. So the idea was: I’ll draw him dead, and if he lives, then it’s just a cover of him being badly hurt. I’ve gotta say—I don’t think I was giving it a lot of thought. I never imagined I’d be talking about it all these years later.”

In the 1990s he worked with legendary writer Howard Chaykin twice: once on Fafhrd and The Gray Mouser at Marvel’s Epic Comics, adapting the Fritz Leiber books, and again on Iron Wolf: Fires Of The Revolution at DC, which was co-written by John Francis Moore.

It was the 1990s where everything changed for Mignola. In 1994, his own creation Hellboy debuted with Seed Of Destruction, a series scripted by industry legend John Byrne.

Since 1994, Mignola’s career has been dominated by the character. He took over writing as well as illustrating Hellboy with the Wolves of St August, continuing his work on the title mainly as writer-artist but also as writer with other illustrators like Adam Hughes and Richard Corben over the years.

The final Hellboy series that was written and drawn by Mignola was Hellboy In Hell which was published in 2012 and 2013. He has continued to produce covers for Hellboy since this series and has written a number of series set in the Hellboy Universe since. He is currently drawing something new for the Hellboy universe.

Mignola has also worked in film on Blade 2 with director Guillermo del Toro, Disney animated feature Atlantis and on two big-screen adaptations of Hellboy also with del Toro. Hellboy was adapted as a film again in 2019 with director Neil Marshall at the helm but that didn’t quite engage with audiences.

Mignola is a perfect example of a comic artist who began producing work for hire but thanks to his own creation, he has managed to carve his own niche. Mignola’s Hellboy has arguably become publisher Dark Horse Comics’ most iconic character, which is no mean feat. Mignola’s bold modern gothic graphic work is instantly recognisable with his unique sense of composition being his trademark. His work is also heavily stylised and uses abstract shapes to create his art.

Here’s links through to the other entries in our 101 Greatest so far as well

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.27: Basil Wolverton

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.28: Howard Chaykin

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.29: Moebius

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.30: Dave Gibbons

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.31: Creig Flessel

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.32: Milt Caniff

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.34: Burne Hogarth

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.35: LB Cole

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.37: Bill Everett

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.38: Robert Crumb

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.39: Mac Raboy

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.41: Jim Starlin

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.42: Mike Zeck

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.43: Adam Hughes

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.44: Daniel Clowes

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.45: Gene Colan

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.46: George Perez

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.47: Michael William Kaluta

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.48: Cary Nord

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.49: Frank Quitely

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.50: Mike Ploog

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.51: Johnny Craig

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.52: Darwyn Cooke

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.53: Steve Dillon

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.54: Gil Kane

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.55: Michael Zulli

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.56: John Romita

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.57: Joe Maneely

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.58: Marshall Rogers

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.59: John Severin

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.60: Alex Toth

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.61: Brian Bolland

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.62: David Mazzuchelli

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.63 Reed Crandall

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.64 Harry Anderson

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.65 Nick Cardy

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.66 Matt Wagner

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.67 Bryan Hitch

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.68 Shawn Martinbrough

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.69 Al Feldstein

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.70 Nestor Redondo

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.71 Tarpe Mills

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.72 Eduardo Risso

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.73 JH Williams III

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.74 Irv Novick

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.75 Dan Zolnerowich

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.76 Gilbert Shelton

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.77 Tommy Lee Edwards

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.78: Sean Phillips

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.79: Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.80: Dan DeCarlo

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.81: Marie Severin

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.82: John Paul Leon

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.83: Jim Lee

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.84: Denys Cowan

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.85: Ross Andru

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.86: Paul Gustavson

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.87: George Evans

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.88: Michael Golden

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.89: Matt Baker

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.90: Todd McFarlane

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.91: Fiona Staples

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.92: Carl Barks

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.93: Carmine Infantino

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.94: Alan Davis

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.95: CC Beck

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.96: Syd Shores

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.97: Bob Fujitani

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.98: Tim Sale

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.99: Jim Aparo

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https://tripwiremagazine.co.uk/headlines/tripwires-101-greatest-comic-artists-of-all-time-no-101/