ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: As your final issue ofHellboynears release, whats the first thing on your mind?
Am I really gonna do this?
Fortunately I couldnt come up with any other ending, and I was on the last page.
Credit: Dark Horse
So it was like, Well Ive got to stick to my guns here.
Ive gotten good at trusting my gut.
Im really curious what people will think.
Dark Horse
Has it been fun for you to subvert expectations as you went?
There have been a couple times I was nervous.
I dont want to lose my audience.
Dark Horse
But that doesnt flare up too often.
Im very happy that my audience has seemed to follow me along for the ride.
ButHellboyis kind of my everything book, so theres no, I wont do that here.
Dark Horse
Anything I want to do, Im gonna do with this guy… at least until this point.
Unlike most stories with apocalyptic stakes,Hellboyactually followed through and destroyed the world.
What did you like about digging deeper and deeper into that?
Dark Horse
Ive been stuck with these prophecy things that pop up every once in awhile.
When I started them, I had no idea what they were going to turn into.
And you cant dismiss things like that.
Hellboy took down all of Hell pretty easily.
Was that a theme you were interested in, these big myths getting knocked down?
Its just by him showing up, it triggers certain events.
In Hell, he didnt really have to fight too many guys.
Run for the hills!
Hellboy, just by showing up, causes this gigantic event to happen.
Again, it wasnt something that wasnt really planned.
That is very accurate.
I had really run into a big problem with the way I drew and told stories.
I started second-guessing myself so much that I actually became paralyzed.
Thank God Duncan showed up so that story could get out there.
I just needed to get away from the drawing stuff.
By the end of that six years I was chomping at the bit to get back there.
But I really wanted to create my own world.
So yeah, when I came back I was very recharged and raring to go.
Even more than previous stories,Hellboy in Hellfeatures a lot of things that should be impossible to visualize.
What was your process for designing Hell?
But if you draw it too distinctly, if you dont use enough shadows, they become too solid.
They become a rubber monster.
You want that stuff to stay weird.
Im as involved with all the other books as I have been for years.
Im very happy to have these books in the hands of really good writers.
John Arcudi has leftBPRDat this point, but hes still writingLobster Johnson.
John and I will talk periodically about the direction of that book.
Same with Chris Roberson.
Hes gotWitchfinderand hes got theHellboy and the BPRDstuff.
So Chris and I had a lot of conversations about what hes interested in doing.
My involvement is fun.
After all these years ofHellboy, what do you look back on most fondly?
Theres a couple things I did, art-wise, that Im pretty proud of.
But as a writer, which is something I never thought Id be,The Crooked Man.
When I travel, thats usually theHellboycollection I take with me in case somebody asks me what I do.
