MIGNOLA, MIKE 415
his popular Spawn character for a feature fi lm and an adult animated series. McFarlane
also developed his own toy company, which he used to market Spawn and other action
fi gures to both the traditional toy audience and adult collectors.
Merchandising and licensing revenue have often been at the center of disputes
about creator’s rights. Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster’s many lawsuits with DC for
the ownership of Superman, for example, were spurred by their recognition of the
value of the character’s licensing rights. While creators may have been reasonably (by
industry standards, at least) compensated for the creation of comic books, they
have often received no share of the far greater profi ts derived from the licensing and
merchandising of characters they have created.
Mark C. Rogers
MIGNOLA, MIKE (1960–). Th ough his reputation rests largely on his role as the creator
of the Hellboy series, Mike Mignola is a prominent artist and writer whose work has
spanned several titles and characters. He is noted for his distinctive style, which Alan
Moore once described as “German expressionism meets Jack Kirby .”
Growing up in the Bay Area of California, Mignola developed an early passion for
monster movies and horror novels, and concluded at an early age that he wanted to grow
up to be a comic book artist. His initial entry into the comics industry was through a
self-published fanzine called Th e Comic Reader. A graduate of the California College of
Arts and Crafts, Mignola transitioned from fan to professional when he began providing
covers and illustrations soon after his move to New York in 1982. A year later, Mignola
got his fi rst series work as the penciler for Marvel’s Rocket Raccoon. Following its success
as a cult title, Mignola provided illustrations, covers and inks with his trademark style
for Alpha Flight , Th e Incredible Hulk , and other Marvel superhero titles.
In 1988, Mignola left Marvel to work for their competitor DC Comics , which had
begun to publish comics with the kind of sophisticated subject matter that appealed
to Mignola, such as Alan Moore’s Watchmen and Th e Dark Knight Returns by Frank
Miller. His fi rst contributions at DC were as artist on a Phantom Stranger minise-
ries and on Th e World of Krypton. During his tenure at DC, he was recognized as an
accomplished artist, with a distinctly dark and shadowy style, which is evident on the
covers for the Batman: A Death in the Family series. He also lent his Kirby-esque art for
Gotham by Gaslight , an alternative reality Batman series set in 19th-century Gotham
that featured Jack the Ripper.
In 1992, Dark Horse Comics signed on for a comic book adaptation of Francis
Ford Coppola’s fi lm, Bram Stoker’s Dracula and Mignola was hired to provide the inside
illustrations. Later, Mignola, along with Miller, Art Adams, and John Byrne , went
to Dark Horse and pitched a new imprint that featured characters—not merely the
retelling of established stories. Th is fi nally led to Mignola’s signature character, Hellboy.
An orphaned demon who fi ghts to save the world from evil, Hellboy formally debuted
in 1994 in Th e Seed of Destruction , scripted by Byrne. Eventually Mignola took over
writing duties as more Hellboy series were published.
