Jesse Lonergan and Mike Mignola are back for the second installment in their Miss Truesdale series (following Miss Truesdale and the Fall of Hyperborea) as they continue to expand on Dark Horse Comics and Mike Mignola’s expansive Hellboy universe.
We got to speak with Lonergan about the new Miss Truesdale and the Rise of Man series, as well as a number of other recent projects, in our exclusive interview with the artist.
You get to return to Miss Truesdale for the new Rise of Man series. Did you approach the story any differently than the last time based on the changes to the character?
Jesse Lonergan: In the first series, Miss Truesdale and Anum Yassa were two distinct characters, Miss Truesdale mousy and Anum Yassa a battle-hardened force of nature. But in this series, they’ve merged into one. The physical form of Anum Yassa is still the same, but I tried to render her a little gentler, a little calmer as she wanders new lands and meets new creatures. There are still a lot of battles and fights, maybe more than the first series, but I try to bring a little bit of Victorian etiquette to it.
Monsters are always one of the highlights of any story set in the world of Hellboy. Were there any monsters that you had fun designing or bringing to life in the Rise of Man?
Lonergan: Without spoiling the story, there’s a malignant entity following Miss Truesdale around and corrupting all the creatures it encounters. It was fun to figure out how to show that corruption and create these recognizable yet distorted beasts, limbs stretch out, joints seemingly coming apart, eyes loosening from their sockets. The sea creatures were particularly fun.
In terms of collaborating with Mike Mignola, how has it been the second time around on Miss Truesdale?
Lonergan: It was great working together on the first series, and I think it’s better this time because we’ve built up a familiarity with each other. The first time you work with someone, you’re not really sure how they work or how they’ll respond to things. Working on the first series, I was more hesitant to try things, but this time around I’m more comfortable pushing visual ideas further. There’s a sequence of pages in the third issue that I definitely wouldn’t have had the confidence to do in the first series.
If you were to do a series based on another Hellboy character, who would you pick and why?
Lonergan: Abe Sapien’s always a lot of fun to draw, and I really like the Sledgehammer 44 series, so probably one of those two. Probably not Hellboy because I think Mike draws him perfectly. I draw him a bit more in this series, and it’s always a challenge because I don’t want to copy Mike, but at the same time, I think of Mike’s version as the “right” version. I don’t know how much I’d enjoy doing a whole series with that feeling.
What are you memories of working on Man’s Best with Pornsak Pichetshote and drawing all of those animals?
Lonergan: Before the project, I was a little intimidated by the fact that there would be long stretches where I didn’t draw any humans. But I did a lot of preliminary sketching and I studied some Chuck Jones and Tex Avery character models to look at how they got emotions into animal bodies and faces. In the end, I kind of forgot I wasn’t drawing people, and Lovey remains one of my favorite characters to draw.
You recently released your Drome OGN. What can you tell us about the story and your approach to creating the graphic novel?
Lonergan: Drome was released by 23rd Street Books in August. It’s my first solo book since 2020 when Hedra and Planet Paradise came out from Image. It mainly follows the story of a demigoddess brought forth to bring order to a savage world, but I feel like saying that doesn’t really get at what Drome is. It’s the book that I spent five years putting everything I could into: mythology, surrealism, pulp fiction, battles, love, death, giant crabs, visual experiments and fireworks, everything.
Upcoming projects?
Lonergan: I always have solo projects going up on my Patreon. My current one is called Panda Delivery Service. It follows a delivery panda assigned to deliver eggs and all the forces that stand in his way. It’s more surreal and cartoony than stuff I have done before. Collaboration-wise, my next big thing will be time-traveling crime story with Matt Kindt at Oni. That’s still very early stages, but I think it’s going to be a lot of fun.
The first issue of Miss Truesdale and the Rise of Man is now in stores.
If you’d like to learn more about the first Miss Truesdale series, check out our previous interview with Lonergan right here.
