Hellboy Universe Essentials: B.P.R.D.

Mike Mignola’s fascination with ghosts and monsters began at an early age; reading Dracula at age twelve introduced him to Victorian literature and folklore, from which he has never recovered. Starting in 1982 as a bad inker for Marvel Comics, he swiftly evolved into a not-so-bad artist. By the late 1980s, he had begun to develop his own unique graphic style, with mainstream projects like Cosmic Odyssey and Batman: Gotham by Gaslight. In 1994, he published the first Hellboy series through Dark Horse. There are thirteen Hellboy graphic novels (with more on the way), several spin-off titles (B.P.R.D., Lobster Johnson, Abe Sapien, and Sir Edward Grey: Witchfinder), prose books, animated films, and two live-action films starring Ron Perlman. Along the way he worked on Francis Ford Coppola’s film Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992), was a production designer for Disney’s Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001), and was the visual consultant to director Guillermo del Toro on Blade II (2002), Hellboy (2004), and Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008). Mike’s books have earned numerous awards and are published in a great many countries. Mike lives in Southern California with his wife, daughter, and cat.

Michigan-based artist Guy Davis spent his youth drawing and sketching monsters and aliens, with an imagination fed on a healthy dose of late night creature features and monster mags! It was after graduating and not really having any idea of what to do with himself outside of drawing, that he decided to try and continue in comics. In 1984 he created a tongue-in-cheek space opera “Quonto of the Star Corps” for the small press Fantastic Fanzine. Quonto was soon forgotten but the fanzine would later become Arrow Comics and lead to work on the comic series The Realm. After a few years at Arrow Comics, his work on The Realm would take him to Caliber Press and his first creator owned series with Gary Reed; the Harvey Award nominated Baker Street. It was Baker Street that led him to DC/Vertigo and Sandman Mystery Theatre with Matt Wagner and Steve Seagle. Since then he has worked for most of the major comic publishers along with providing artwork and conceptual design for various role-playing games, as well as Guillermo del Toro’s projects Pacific Rim, The Strain, and Crimson Peak. He resides with his fiancée, Rosemary Van Deuren, along with a menagerie of pets and a trio of horse skulls named Becky, Conrad and Steptoe.

Dave Stewart is a multiple Eisner Award–winning colorist who works for Dark Horse, Marvel, and DC Comics. His credits include Iron Man: Enter the Mandarin, Daytripper, and Michael Chabon Presents The Amazing Adventures of the Escapist.