ANIMATED SHORTS: MIKE MIGNOLA, ATHF FALLOUT, NEW W&G

**MattBrady** · 02-06-2007, 08:57 AM

A HELLISH INTERVIEW WITH MIKE MIGNOLA
MORE AQUA TEEN NEWS, AARDMAN BACK IN ACTION

by Steve Fritz

Fans of Hellboy take notice, creator Mike Mignola will be making a personal appearance at Huntington Beach, California’s DVD Planet. He’ll sign copies of the just released Sword of Storms (Starz). As it turns out, Amazing Screw-On Head is also coming out that day.

That said, we couldn’t resist the opportunity to sit down with the incredibly busy guy about animation. We also talked about his days at Disney and the very short time at Warner Animation. A question or two about the next live action Hellboy, currently subtitled The Golden Army had to be asked.

Here’s what he had to say:

Newsarama: I thought we’d do this one on animation, just to be a bit different.

Mike Mignola: What’s different now is every interview I’m doing is about animation. I never pursued any work beside comics. The film thing kind of grabbed me by surprise.

NRAMA:: So what got you started in animation?

MM: Disney called and that led to me being a production designer on the film Atlantis. Again, I didn’t pursue it at all. They came to me. They basically said they liked my style and would I like to come on board. I said sure.

NRAMA: Did Tad (Stones, Director of the Hellboy Animation films) have anything to do with that?

MM: No. Tad came a few years later. Tad was working in TV. I was working in feature. Actually, it was just a novelty. I was between miniseries or something. I thought it would be an interesting experience.

NRAMA: Didn’t you also work on New Gods for Warners or something like that?

MM: Yeah. I worked on that twice. Tad wasn’t involved in that.

NRAMA: I wouldn’t think so. I thought it was Bruce Timm.

MM: No. Actually it was someone else. I just can’t remember who. What happened is the person I worked with said ‘I don’t think this is going to happen, but would you mind taking a stab at this?’ So I did a little bit. Then it went away. Then they called six months later and said ‘we’d like more of this stuff. The project isn’t quite dead, but it could be dead soon. So would you mind working on it again?’ I never got the impression at all that it was ever going to happen. But, it was kind of fun.

NRAMA: So, in reality, the first real animation work you ever did was Atlantis.

MM: Yeah. I think so.

NRAMA: Still, you’re one of the few who have managed to work on both sides of the fence. What would you say is the biggest difference between comics and animation?

MM: There are so many differences. My experience is with comics, what you do is seen. When you work in animation, just about all the stuff I’ve ever really worked on in animation has never been produced. The stuff of mine that has been produced, you probably really can’t tell what I did. It’s the difference between a little tiny piece in a big production or being a one-man show. Comics are certainly much better.

If you sit down to draw, if you want to see that drawing reproduced, nothing is better than comics. Now if you don’t mind toiling in anonymity with a million other guys, and maybe some little bit of what you do makes it to the screen, then animation is you thing. Oh! And live action is even worse than that. With live action, you’re doing drawings that are then being turned into real things.

NRAMA: So how does it feel to see Hellboy going well beyond the comic world? I mean I was talking to some people I know yesterday and mentioned I was interview you. They didn’t know what I was talking about until I mentioned you created Hellboy. Then they all wanted to know when the next movie is coming.

MM: Yeah. To be able to say ‘the creator of Hellboy’ and now a lot of people know what you’re talking about, does simplify your bio. You know, before the bio would say ‘Mike Mignola did this and drew this Batman story, and did that and did that.’ Now it only has to say ‘Mike Mignola created Hellboy.’ So if they didn’t know the comic, and more and more people don’t know the comic, they know the film. Hopefully they’ll know the animation.

Ummm…it’s good. It’s good to say I’ve done it. It’s done more than I ever expected it to do.

NRAMA: Does it help to have guys like Guillermo Del Toro and Tad in the corner with you?

MM: Oh, I got extremely lucky, extremely lucky, to have fans in all the right places. I’ve got a brilliant author, who’s written the novels, a writer who’s a Hellboy fan. I got an absolutely brilliant director. And I’ve got Tad, a very accomplished animator, who was a Hellboy fan before I ever met him. I’ve got these great resources.

I mean, if someone approached me about doing something in animation, the first thing I’d tell them is to get Tad Stone. He’s a guy who understands character. I mean before Tad went over to Film Roman, he was at Disney TV. I knew that he had pitched Hellboy to Disney years earlier. I knew he was a big Hellboy fan.

NRAMA: And I guess it doesn’t hurt he understands superheroes. His first creation was Darkwing Duck , which at its core was comic based.

MM: I never saw it. I had a conversation with him about Hellboy and that if he ever did the animation this would have been what he wanted to do. There was something where, before he did the Film Roman deal, where he coughed up a sample script or story ideas for Hellboy Animated. I don’t exactly remember why, but I do remember seeing the stuff and we were always speaking the same language. So when this opportunity happened, I skipped that stage which would have been a nightmare of having to explain Hellboy to somebody who doesn’t get it. I mean Tad gets it. I mean there’s always going to be little things where I would go ‘Nah…he wouldn’t say this’ or ‘He’d probably say that’ because no one is going to know Hellboy better than me. But Tad knows it pretty well, and he respects the fact that I know it even better.

I mean I’ve heard many a nightmare story where guys want to turn a comic book character into somebody else. In that, I’ve been pretty lucky. Everything I’ve ever worked on, people have wanted to keep it as much like my original source material as possible. That doesn’t happen all the time.

NRAMA: From what I understand, you were quite uncomfortable with Amazing Screw-On Head trying to be as close to your own drawing style as possible.

MM: Yeah. I mean I appreciate that they wanted to imitate my work. That was great. But that also makes it very hard for me to look at. The more they tried to do my work, the more that they pulled that off, where I got it wrong, it’s just glaring to me. I mean there was one thing I did wrong, and when I saw it animated it just looked SO bad to me.

With my work it’s always in the minor details, and when it goes into animation it always exaggerates them. Sometimes, my stuff is kind of angular, but it’s not meant to be so harsh and brittle, but it’s one of those qualities people kind of amplify when they imitate my work. So all I could see is where they were kind of overdoing my style or kind of missing it in little bits. You have no objectivity when it comes to that.

Again, with the Hellboy animation stuff, I knew it was going to be in a different style. So that made it much easier to deal with. We could say ‘that’s right.’ I didn’t have to deal with someone who wasn’t trying to second guess me.

NRAMA: Do you find it kind of interesting that Screw-On Head is being released the same day as Hellboy: Sword of Storms?

MM: Yeah. I heard about that. It’s really kind of funny.

I really had a kind of hands off relationship with Screw-On Head. It’s just how it worked out. Other than the first couple of meetings and some notes on the later scripts, it became very clear that conversations had gone on with the Sci-Fi Channel about what they had wanted to do with it. They needed to make it something different than what I intended. I didn’t intend to make it into a TV series. It was just this goofy, little one-off thing.

Well, I have no problem with them changing it. There was just nothing I could add. Any changes I would have done would have been to set it back to what I originally did. But if your goal is not to do what I originally did, then my comments are not what you are going to want to hear. So, in the end, I just said, ‘That’s great. Go and do what you are going to do. I’m going to move on.’

NRAMA: Now from what I was told, you did have input in choosing Sean ‘Cheeks’ Galloway for the character design of Sword of Storms. What was it about Cheeks that you liked?

MM: Tad literally walked me into a room that was full of different designs. All kinds of different takes on Hellboy. The stuff was beautiful but either most was either too close to what I was doing in the comic or too realistic. What I wanted was if we were going to do animation, I said ‘Let’s go and do something with more bounce to it. A lot more fun. A lot more exaggerated,’ and Sean was the only stuff like that in there.

It was just great. His shapes were just so great. He wasn’t doing exactly what I was doing but kind of taking what I do and taking it up a notch. So why do little legs? Do little, tiny insect legs! Why make shoulders kind of broad. Make shoulders super-broad! It wasn’t me, but it was an aesthetic that was true to me.

NRAMA: To be honest, even going back as far as Atlantis, I would have to say that your comic book style would be really hard to animate.

MM: I would agree. It was never my intention to do animation. I think one thing about my work is it appeals to animators because I’m very shapes conscious and silhouette conscious. I’m not a fussy rendering guy. Still, my style is all about these contrasting black and white shapes, which is not what you do in animation. You do it in little doses, but it is really difficult to pull that off. One panel to the next, my shadows go where they need to go and that’s not naturalistic at all.

NRAMA: So what is your final opinion on Sword of Storms?

MM: I was happy. Considering how fast it was done and the budget and everything, I thought it was great. I think the second one is better than the first one. But the second one was done right on top of the first one so there really was not breathing time. We should take the opportunity to look at both pictures and there is a learning curve.

I think if we get the opportunity to do more of these, there would be things that we do different. I mean, one of the things with the second film, and I only realized this when we were halfway through it, we were making kind of tribute to the Hammer/Dracula films. Unfortunately, I recognized it too late. If I had that one to do over again, I would have gone in Day One and made it more like a Hammer film. I’d have made it a more obvious tribute to Hammer.

If we do a third one, my idea is that we do a Universal monster movie. That one, if we do it, I’m going in saying, ‘Look at this. This is from Bride of Frankenstein. Look at this. Use these kinds of angles and architecture.’ We’ll go in with some very specific models and references to draw from.

NRAMA: When I interviewed Tad I got the impression he’ll have some very good news at New York Comic Con.

MM: I hope so. It would be nice.

NRAMA: If that is the case, do you look forward to more animated Hellboy?

MM: The problem for me is I’m involved with so many different things that while I look forward to being involved in them, I don’t know if I could continue to be as involved. For me, my main job is to always be doing the comics. I’m very happy with the way the animation stuff is going. If they ever turned it into a TV series then my involvement would be dramatically cut down. I just couldn’t be that involved. But if we do a film or two a year, I think I could stay about as involved in that.

NRAMA: How are things going with Golden Army?

MM: Real well. I think Del Toro is going through an amazing period where thanks to Pan’s Labyrinth he’s picking up all these awards and getting all this recognition…

NRAMA: Deserved…

MM: Oh yeah. Unbelievably deserving! I knew he deserved all these awards, but I didn’t think the rest of the world would recognize that. Of course, this has taken time from Hellboy 2.

But I’ve got a lot on my plate. He’s got ten times more. Still, we’ve done a round of pre-production here in L.A. Next month we are going to do another round of pre-production in Europe. The shooting schedule itself should start around May or June.

NRAMA: Final question. Do you think you’ve found your actor in Ron Perlman?

MM: Of course! There’s no question.

A friend of mine and I were talking were once talking about the movie, which at the time I didn’t think was going to happen. The person said the one to play Hellboy was Ron Perlman. As soon as that person said it, I said that, of course, he was right. Then, when I met Del Toro for the first time to discuss the picture, the first name that came out of both of our names was Ron. So there was never any question among the creators. There was some question among the studio execs.

It actually took a while to convince them that Ron was the perfect guy. Part of the problem was everybody knew him as the guy from Beauty & The Beast. What they didn’t realize is he is a character actor and that’s what we needed for the movie. You just can’t take any actor and stick a tail on his ass. We needed an actor who could work under the kind of makeup that he had to do.

What was great was even people who didn’t like the movie, liked the performance Ron gave. So we were pretty well vindicated there.

WARNERS SETTLES WITH CITY OF BOSTON

LAST MINUTE NOTE: CNN reports that Time Warner and the ad agency it employed on the Aqua Teen Hunger Force guerrilla ad campaign have reached a settlement agreement with the city of Boston. The settlement is for $2 million. There has been no formal statement from Warner, Cartoon Network or any of the related groups as of press time. CNN reported during Anderson Cooper’s show 360 that half the $2 million will go to the city, while the other $1 million will go to the Department of Homeland Security..

As reported last column, the city of Boston, Massachusetts went into a state of panic over a guerrilla marketing campaign. The campaign involved a series of Lite-Brite-like signs featuring the Moonite characters from the Adult Swim series Aqua Teen Hunger Force.

Some citizens of Beantown mistook them for bombs, resulting in all the major arteries of the New England city virtually shut down until all of the signs were taken down and destroyed. Since then, the fallout from the city’s debatable over-reaction has taken a number of interesting twists and turns. Here’s a few of them:

• Artists Arraigned:

The artists responsible for putting up the signs in Boston, Sean Stevens and Peter Berdovsky, were arrested and arraigned by the local court. ABC News is now reporting their friends and colleagues have started rallying to Stevens and Berdovsky’s cause, with some interesting allegations of their own.

According to fellow artists Toshi Hoo and Travis Vautour, the New York-based guerrilla marketing firm, Interference Inc., asked Berdovsky to keep his involvement quiet as the event was played out.

"We received an e-mail in the early afternoon from Peter that asked the community that he's a part of to keep any information we had on the down low and that was instructed to him by whoever his boss was in this advertising campaign gone wrong," Vautour said. "I don't know if it was for security reasons or it was to buy them some time or to buy Peter some time."

In an e-mail obtained by ABC News sent from Berdovsky to Hoo at 1:26 p.m. Wednesday, the artist writes, "My boss at the Cartoon Network's ad agency just called--she is asking that I pretty please keep everything on the dl (down low; quiet)."

The e-mail, supplied by Hoo, contains a large swath of blacked-out text that he claims contained personal information he'd rather not share.

ABC also reports Interface has released a full apology for the incident on the web.

"We at Interference, Inc. regret our efforts on behalf of our client contributed to the disruption in Boston yesterday and certainly apologize to anyone who endured any hardship as a result,” the apology says. “Nothing undertaken by our firm was in any way intended to cause anxiety, fear or discomfort to anyone. We are working with Turner Broadcasting and appropriate law enforcement and municipal authorities to provide information as requested and take other appropriate actions."

In the meantime, Verdowski and Steven have put in pleas of not guilty. They are the only two who have been charged, at least so far. The full extent of their charges had not been disclosed, but both men have been released on $2,500 bail. They will be returning to court for more pre-trial hearings this week.

• Copycat At Tufts University

The Boston Globe reported a fake pipe bomb was discovered at Tufts University, a local institution of higher ed. It was found was found in the basement of the Tufts New England Medical Center at 185 Harrison Ave.

"It's a hoax, and it's not funny," Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick told the paper. "I think we fell at this point, that there is not a reason for anyone to panic, but there are reasons to be diligent."

• The Merchandisers Are On the Move

The The Globe reported copies of the Moonite Lite-Brite signs started showing up on eBay as soon as Thursday, February 1. As it stood, one of them sold on Monday, February 5, for over $750.

Websites offering all other manner of merchandise are also spring up like mold in the ATHF’s New Jersey home. Just hit Google for the initial onslaught.

• ATHF Ratings Blow Up

Only in America. Apparently Nielsen ratings for the show more than doubled from 385,000 viewers on Thursday, January 25, to 790,000 on Thursday, February 1 (the day after the news broke). More accurate figures for the rest of the weekend is expected over the rest of the week, but most concur the ratings will probably drop after the news dies down.

AARDMAN ALREADY WORKING ON NEW W&G

In a press statement released through the London-based Reuters, Aardman Studios is already hard at work on new projects after their break-up with DreamWorks Animation. First thing on the docket is a new Wallace & Grommet. It is being headed by the duo’s creator, Nick Park.

"Wallace and Gromit are alive and kicking," Aardman spokesman Arthur Sheriff said. "There is a project on the table right now.

"It could be television, it could be a feature film. That depends on how the storyline develops. It will go into production as soon as he (Park) finishes writing it."

NEXT COLUMN: We speak with Kim Possible’s creators about how the show has returned for an unexpected fourth season. Also, maybe, just maybe, we’ll get that Green Arrow story..

KoozyK · 02-06-2007, 10:01 AM

Hellboy:
awesome!

Wallace and Gromit:
even more awesome!

sfritz · 02-06-2007, 10:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KoozyK

Hellboy:
awesome!

Wallace and Gromit:
even more awesome!

The first post is on Hellboy & Wallace/Gromit!

Truly awesome.

-s

Kolimar · 02-06-2007, 10:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MattBrady

He’ll sign copies of the just released Sword of Storms (Starz). As it turns out, Amazing Screw-On Head is also coming out that day.

Added to the list now.

The complete list of comics-based movies

Kolimar · 02-06-2007, 10:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MattBrady

NRAMA: Didn’t you also work on New Gods for Warners or something like that?

MM: Yeah. I worked on that twice. Tad wasn’t involved in that.

NRAMA: I wouldn’t think so. I thought it was Bruce Timm.

MM: No. Actually it was someone else. I just can’t remember who. What happened is the person I worked with said ‘I don’t think this is going to happen, but would you mind taking a stab at this?’ So I did a little bit. Then it went away. Then they called six months later and said ‘we’d like more of this stuff. The project isn’t quite dead, but it could be dead soon. So would you mind working on it again?’ I never got the impression at all that it was ever going to happen. But, it was kind of fun.

Whoa! I didn't know that one. That could have been very cool. When I think of all the possibilities... Ach...

Oh well. One more for The Complete List of DC Comics Movies

Kolimar · 02-06-2007, 11:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MattBrady

• ATHF Ratings Blow Up

Only in America. Apparently Nielsen ratings for the show more than doubled from 385,000 viewers on Thursday, January 25, to 790,000 on Thursday, February 1 (the day after the news broke). More accurate figures for the rest of the weekend is expected over the rest of the week, but most concur the ratings will probably drop after the news dies down.

At least, the campaign worked.

Kolimar · 02-06-2007, 11:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MattBrady

NRAMA:: So what got you started in animation?

Another pimperific day for me: Comic book creators and their work in other fields. What do you think? Huff...

Kolimar · 02-06-2007, 12:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MattBrady

MM: Oh, I got extremely lucky, extremely lucky, to have fans in all the right places. I’ve got a brilliant author, who’s written the novels, a writer who’s a Hellboy fan. I got an absolutely brilliant director. And I’ve got Tad, a very accomplished animator, who was a Hellboy fan before I ever met him. I’ve got these great resources.

I couldn't agree more. I think we all got extremely lucky.

Kolimar · 02-06-2007, 12:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MattBrady

NRAMA: When I interviewed Tad I got the impression he’ll have some very good news at New York Comic Con.

MM: I hope so. It would be nice.

Hrrrmmm... *impatient*

RedBaron · 02-06-2007, 01:22 PM

I forgot the Hellboy DVD was out today. I need to go get it. Loved the animated movie. It kept true to the spirit of the comics, but was a different approach just as the movie was a different approach. I can't understand the people who complain that a movie or TV show isn't exactly like a comic. First off, how can it be? Second, don't you want something fresh?

art4899 · 02-06-2007, 02:21 PM

I feel sorry that Mignola had to answer such banal and fatuous questions.

RTommyB216 · 02-06-2007, 02:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RedBaron

I forgot the Hellboy DVD was out today. I need to go get it. Loved the animated movie. It kept true to the spirit of the comics, but was a different approach just as the movie was a different approach. I can't understand the people who complain that a movie or TV show isn't exactly like a comic. First off, how can it be? Second, don't you want something fresh?

I agree with you here. I want an adaptation that stays true to the spirit of the original, but not an exact copy. On the other hand, Sin City was so amazing because it brought movement and voices to the images and writing we'd come to love. If they keep making these animated dvds with the quality they have thus far, I'll keep buying. And then they'll keep producing. And everyone is happy. Please, keep it up Mr. Mignola!

Boxful · 02-06-2007, 02:45 PM

Mignola is hellboy's pimp.

I wish Mignola would go back to illustrating hellboy stories. Not just covers and pinups. He was my favorite visual storyteller. Just one more reason why I don't buy comics anymore. Most of the artists I collected don't draw much interior art anymore.

I understand that there is a bigger world out there than drawing panels. I'd personally rather have more Mignola comics than cartoons and movies.

I'm just saying.

Thankfully Bachalo and Cho still crank out great comic work

pop monkey · 02-06-2007, 05:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by art4899

I feel sorry that Mignola had to answer such banal and fatuous questions.

"Banal"? "Fatuous"? Hey, hey, this is a comics message board here, fella! Have pity on us illiterate schlubs. Try something a little more down to earth, like "teh suck" (God, if I never see that again, it'll be too soon), or anything with "sux" in it. Perhaps something cleverly abbreviated, like BAF (banal and fatuous, get it?).
Seriously, though, I didn't think the questions were that bad... except for that last one -- it's been covered ad nauseum since before the first live action move.

Anyway, can't wait to see Sword of Storms!!

Mad Mustard
by popmonkey
on MojiZu

Uncle Jawa · 02-06-2007, 05:18 PM

I really appreciate Mike Mignola's attitude as a creator. He has a genuine love and passion for his characters, but is very open to new ideas and actually prefers to see different intrepretations of them when they move to different mediums from comics. It's very fresh, and a lot more pleasant than reading "Oh, they screwed it up, it sucks, they butchered my stuff!".

Scavenger · 02-06-2007, 06:21 PM

The more I think about it, the more I'm convinced the calls to the Boston government reporting the "devices" were from Time Warner folks. A $2 Million apology check is a small price to pay for the ammount of advertising they're getting.

JLAJRC · 02-06-2007, 07:05 PM

Sword of Storms was a great movie. Can't wait to get the DVD.

THe ATHF story just keeps getting dumber and dumber. Today, it was reported that the two guys videotaped all of the mayhem the ad caused. Doesn't quite help their case. Also, why would Hoo send a blacked-out e-mail?

innocentboy · 02-07-2007, 08:01 PM

wicked wicked Hellboy/Mignola read still.
loved it!

RedBaron · 02-09-2007, 02:55 PM

I picked this up at Wal-Mart the other day. Wal-Mart was selling the DVD in a stand alone package with the included comic "Phantom Limbs", but they also had a two pack with the DVD w/comic and the "Black Wedding" comic in digest form. I picked up the two pack.

Nobody · 02-10-2007, 05:39 PM

The producers of The Amazing Screw-On Head are liars.Throughout the DVD they keep saying "The only thing Mignola told us was to make it look exactly like the comic". Repeatedly, they say this. Clearly, in Mignola's own words, this isn't the case.

George986 · 02-11-2007, 01:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nobody

The producers of The Amazing Screw-On Head are liars.Throughout the DVD they keep saying "The only thing Mignola told us was to make it look exactly like the comic". Repeatedly, they say this. Clearly, in Mignola's own words, this isn't the case.

Actually, no one lied. Newsarama interviewed Brian Fuller (writer of the animated Screw-On Head, creator of Wonderfalls & Dead Like me, co-executive producer of Heroes, an amazing guy) and he said Mike Mignola told them to make it more like the comic, but wasn't happy AFTER he saw the results.