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Hellboy's childhood is nothing new to comic readers. Stories like The Midnight Circus fleshed out his history before Dark Horse decided to feature his kid self in his own series, Young Hellboy. The first arc of the installment, The Hidden Land, came out in 2021, and now, Young Hellboy is back for another adventure in Assault on Castle Death.
Issue #1 of the limited series is written by Thomas Sniegoski and Mike Mignola, drawn by Craig Rousseau, and colored by Dave Stewart. Before the book hits shelves July 20, Newsarama got the chance to ask writer Sniegoski about returning to Hellboy's childhood - read on to hear what he had to say.
Grant DeArmitt for Newsarama: Tom, catch us up on Young Hellboy. What are he and the BPRD up to at the beginning of Assault on Castle Death?
Thomas Sniegoski: Well, let's see… it's a few weeks after the Prof and Hellboy's rescue from the middle of the ocean after their plane crash (and their adventure in the Hidden Land). The big thing going on is that the B.P.R.D. is moving their base of operations from New Mexico to Connecticut. Hellboy is not in the least bit happy!
Nrama: Something you've brought back from the first Young Hellboy story, The Hidden Land, are the Brothers of Desolation. Can you tell us what their aim is, and how you came up with them?
Sniegoski: These guys are pretty creepy. They're an entire religious order of monks who have based their beliefs on the visions of a monk named Arnot De Falvy, who had apocalyptic visions of a red-skinned beast that would bring about the end of the world. They of course believe this is Hellboy, and they are trying to end his life before he can bring about the Apocalypse. These guys were cooked up by the genius of Mike Mignola, and I've just added some details here and there to make them a bit more spiffy.
Nrama: It's in this book that we see the BPRD headquarters established in Connecticut, where it is for most of the adult Hellboy series. Are there other "origins" we can look forward to seeing in Assault on Castle Death?
Sniegoski: Hmmm. We learn that the B.P.R.D. headquarters used to belong to a movie production company that's since gone out of business. And we get to spend a whole lot more time with Hellboy's dog, Mac. That's pretty darn awesome.
Nrama: In the same vein, how do you avoid writing anything that would contradict something that comes later in Hellboy's series? What's the process for keeping all that canon straight?
Sniegoski: I've got a pretty good memory for stuff, seeing as Hellboy is one of my all-time favorite comics… plus we've got Mike paying attention, on top of an amazing editorial team. We're being pretty careful to make sure that all this stuff fits in nicely and doesn't contradict established continuity.
Nrama: Speaking of processes, can you touch briefly on your collaboration in writing this book? What does writing with Mike Mignola look like?
Sniegoski: Mike and I bang out the basic idea first. I then take the idea and start the process of laying out the story, layering in all the details that will be the beats that take us through each of the issues. Mike reviews these, adds his two cents, and then when that's done he sets me loose to write out the actual scripts. From there, the scripts are reviewed by Mike and the editorial team (and writer Christopher Golden!), I make any revisions, and then it moves on to the amazing Craig Rousseau!
Nrama: I'm glad you brought up Craig Rousseau, who is returning to the world of Young Hellboy with you. How do you find yourself writing for his art style? What strengths of his do you use in storytelling?
Sniegoski: Craig's style is perfect for how Mike and I envision young Hellboy. There appears to be a misleading simplicity to his style, but then, at the same time incredible depth and detail. He's just an amazing artist, and we're really lucky to have him on the book. His take on Young Hellboy is just spot on. There's a real sense of fun to his art that lends itself perfectly to our scripts.
Nrama: There's a pulpy feel to both Rousseau's art and Young Hellboy in general. Are you a fan of old pulps? And if so, do you use anything from them in these comics?
Sniegoski: Anybody who really knows me knows that I absolutely adore the pulps. I have a great affinity for Lobster Johnson. I actually wrote a Lobster Johnson novel for Mike and Dark Horse a few years back! With the pulps, there's this real sense that anything goes… the crazier and more over-the-top, the better. This is something that I embrace with the Young Hellboy stuff, as well as quite a bit of the other writing that I do, actually.
Nrama: What about other Hellboy comics? Which of the Mignolaverse entries do you take the most DNA from to create Young Hellboy?
Sniegoski: Hmmm. It's probably a combination of the Lobster Johnson pulpy material and the regular Hellboy issues, though there's quite a bit of pulpy goodness in regular Hellboy as well. But yeah, those two things are what I'm thinking about when I'm plotting and writing the Young Hellboy scripts.
Nrama: The last time we spoke, I asked you how the events of The Hidden Land informed Hellboy's grown-up personality. Could I ask the same question, but this time for Assault on Castle Death?
Sniegoski: Like with Young Hellboy: The Hidden Land, these adventures are shaping Hellboy into the type of person he will become. I think with Assault on Castle Death Hellboy is being brought into a new phase of his life with the B.P.R.D. moving to Connecticut. He's no longer being hidden away in the desert of New Mexico. He's growing up.
Nrama: Finally, how much more of the Young Hellboy series is planned out beyond this story? Do you have an "ending" in mind?
Sniegoski: That's hard to say. We work so hard on each of these adventures that we're not really thinking about the next one. Ask me that question again in a few weeks, and maybe I'll have some more info.
Hellboy is one of the best supernatural superheroes of all time.
