Mike Mignola Returns to the Hellboy Universe with ‘Rise of the Black Flame’

John F. Trent |

Jun 19, 2016

Legendary Hellboy creator Mike Mignola, iZombie co-creator Chris Roberson, 30 Days of Night artist Christopher Mitten, and award winning colorist Dave Stewart team up for Rise of the Black Flame.

Rise of the Black Flame will be a five issue miniseries about an ancient evil power. Young girls are going missing from the cities of Siam and the trail leads to the jungle hideout of a bloodthirsty cult – the Cult of the Black Flame.

“There have been several villains in Hellboy’s world who’ve been called the Black Flame, and the striking visual of a skeleton burning with dark flames is pretty hard to beat,” said co-writer Chris Roberson. “In RISE OF THE BLACK FLAME, we reveal that before there was a man called the Black Flame, there was an ancient cult hidden deep in the jungles of Southeast Asia known by that name. We plumb the depths of cruelty and ruthlessness that groups of people are capable of reaching, and explore how this cult which reaches back to prehistoric times is connected to the most dangerous villain in the history of the Hellboy books.”

“After all these years it’s still so exciting to find new corners (or in this case a giant shadowy, uncharted abyss of horror) of the Hellboy world left to explore,” said Mike Mignola.

And in case you hadn’t heard already, Mignola and Roberson will also be co-writing Hellboy & The B.P.R.D.: 1954 and Witchfinder: City of the Dead.

Rise of the Black Flame will be Christopher Mitten’s first foray into the Mignolaverse.

“It is tremendous fun–and a little surreal–to be given the chance to dive into this fantastic universe,” said Christopher Mitten. “Mike and Chris (with whom I’ve long wanted to work) have concocted a fantastic story, and then there’s Dave Stewart…I mean, KNOWING Dave would be coloring and then actually SEEING his artistry in action are two wholly different things. Getting a chance to dip my toe into this expansive world has made me want to dig in and explore more of it, to go off into little corners and find what strangeness, what beauty, lurks there.”

Rise of the Black Flame #1 hits comic book shelves on September 7.