"Bowling With Corpses": Hellboy Creator Mike Mignola Launches an All-New Shared Universe

Summary Hellboy's Mike Mignola launches new shared universe with Dark Horse Comics, starting with Bowling With Corpses and Other Strange Tales From Lands Unknown.

The anthology features fantastical stories rooted in folklore, showcasing Mignola's beloved writing and art.

Lands Unknown is co-created with Ben Stenbeck, who will soon release stories set in the universe's future.

Mike Mignola - the iconic writer and artist who created Hellboy and the BPRD - is launching a new shared universe with Dark Horse comics. Coming from Mignola's new Dark Horse imprint 'Curious Objects,' the Lands Unknown universe begins with the anthology Bowling With Corpses and Other Strange Tales From Lands Unknown.

Telling multiple stories rooted in folklore, Bowling With Corpses and Other Strange Tales From Lands Unknown is a 112-page hardcover that will feature writing and art from Mike Mignola, with colors by Dave Stewart and letters by Clem Robins. According to Dark Horse, the larger universe is being created by Mignola and Ben Stenbeck (Our Bones Dust), who will be publishing subsequent stories set in the same continuity.

Bowling With Corpses and Other Strange Tales From Lands Unknown Release Date: December 4, 2024 (see below) Writer & Artist: Mike Mignola Colorist: Dave Stewart Letterer: Clem Robins In Bowling With Corpses and Other Strange Tales From Lands Unknown, the stories are fantastical, odd and charming - from a search for the beating heart of a long-dead sorcerer, to a pirate girl who makes a deal with the devil, to the titular boy who wins a grim prize in a game with undead interlopers.

The actual release date for Bowling With Corpses and Other Strange Tales From Lands Unknown is currently unclear, with Dark Horse's website listing December publication dates but also referencing the book releasing in November. This article will be updated once this information has been clarified.

Hellboy is among the most beloved comic franchises in existence, telling the story of an antichrist-like hero who rejects his apocalyptic destiny to work with the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense, protecting innocent people from things that go bump in the night. Atmospheric, contemplative and steeped in a deep love of folklore, Hellboy led to multiple spin-off series and two sets of movie adaptations, neither of which fully captured the atmosphere that makes Mignola's world so captivating.

"...I created a whole new world. Not TOO different than our world a few centuries ago, but with a lot more gods and monsters." – Mike Mignola

Related Why Guillermo Del Toro's Hellboy 3 Never Became A Comic Book Hellboy creator Mike Mignola explains why he chose not to adapt his early scripts for Guillermo Del Toro's Hellboy III into a comic book series.

30 Years After Creating Hellboy, Mignola Launches Lands Unknown

This Ambitious Shared Universe Has Been Cooking for Years

Mignola's body of work doesn't begin and end with Hellboy, and he's often worked outside the world of the BPRD. Mignola and Christopher Golden similarly co-created the Outerverse Universe, and he worked with Greg Hinkle and Rachele Aragno on Radio Spaceman and Leonide the Vampire respectively. However, it's noteworthy for Mignola to launch this new project specifically as the beginning of a shared universe. In Hellboy's case, the larger BPRD mythos evolved gradually from Hellboy's solo series, with breakout characters like Abe Sapien and Koshchei the Deathless demanding their own stories. In contrast, it's clear Lands Unknown will begin life as one giant continuity, complete with different time periods. Mignola reveals that the entire Lands Unknown universe began with one specific folk tale, telling Dark Horse:

It all started with an Italian Folktale about a boy who goes bowling with corpses. I fell in love with the story as soon as I discovered it but I wanted to play fast and loose when adapting it, so I created a whole new world. Not TOO different than our world a few centuries ago, but with a lot more gods and monsters. Once I created that world new characters and stories just started pouring out of it. There is a whole lot to play with here and I expect to be at it for a very long time.

Mignola has already proved he's able to pull off the ambition and scale of a shared universe...

Co-creator Stenbeck makes it clear that Mignola's fascination with this new world has been building for some time, adding that:

For a few years now Mike has been emailing me designs and pages and ideas and maps and lists of place names for this world, and his enthusiasm for this project is indomitable and infectious. So often my reaction to these emails is 'that's great Mike! But I still have two books to draw before I can even move on to this work!' and then I find myself taking three days off to write a new story. Luckily Mike likes my stories. My first project is set far off in a distant corner of this world. That way I can't bump into anything Mike is doing and make a mess. Spoiler... it will have monsters in it.

One of the major selling points for Lands Unknown is that Mignola has already proved he's able to pull off the ambition and scale of a shared universe. While Hellboy began with the titular hero taking on supernatural Nazis and evil fairies, it blossomed into the apocalyptic tale of Lovecraftian monstrosities coming to Earth, forever altering humanity's place on the planet and its future as a species. If that entire saga grew out of a single character, then it will be fascinating to see what comes of Mignola deliberately setting out to weave a shared universe with such a strong creative team. Any fan of Hellboy will be counting the days until Bowling With Corpses and Other Strange Tales From Lands Unknown hits shelves.

Bowling With Corpses and Other Strange Tales From Lands Unknown is coming from Dark Horse Comics December 3 (in comic stores) and December 4 (wide release), 2024.

Source: Dark Horse