Mike Mignola and Hellboy fans will be happy to hear that the artist/writer will open a new door to the strange and unusual in the form of his upcoming original graphic novel Bowling With Corpses and Other Strange Tales From Lands Unknown, the first release from his new Dark Horse Comics imprint Curious Objects.
Bowling with Corpses is a hardcover anthology of folklore-inspired fantasy stories written and illustrated by Mignola, colored by Dave Stewart, and lettered by Clem Robins, set in the “Lands Unknown” universe created by Mignola and Ben Stenbeck.
Readers can look forward to tales about the beating heart of a long-dead sorcerer, a pirate girl’s deal with the devil, and a boy who plays for a grim prize in a game with the undead.
Mignola’s inspiration for the new imprint and anthology “… 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.”
Stenbeck said “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.”
Bowling With Corpses and Other Strange Tales From Lands Unknown will be available in comic shops on December 4.
Check out the cover below and stay tuned to Conskipper for more Curious Objects.
