#Grim Death and Bill the Electrocuted Criminal

[chernobog13]

The pulp-era crime fighter, Grim Death, from the 2017 novel Grim Death and Bill the Electrocuted Criminal, written Mignola and Tom Sniegoski.

[project-ragna-rok]

Mike Mignola

[middenway]

The Mignolaverse in 2017 – Part 4: Beyond the Hellboy Universe

Mignolaversity looks back at 2017 in a four-part interview. This time we focus on Jenny Finn, Grim Death and Bill the Electrocuted Criminal, Mr Higgins Comes Home, Baltimore: The Red Kingdom, and Joe Golem, Occult Detective.

[brokehorrorfan]

Hellboy creator Mike Mignola will explore the demonic superhero’s childhood in Young Hellboy: The Hidden Land. The first issue will published on February 17, 2021 via Dark Horse Comics.

Mignola co-wrote the four-issue miniseries with his Grim Death and Bill the Electrocuted Criminal co-author Tom Sniegoski. It features art by Craig Rousseau, colors by Dave Stewart, and lettering Clem Robins.

Matt Smith created the standard covers for all four issues. The first issue features a variant cover drawn by Mignola and colored by Stewart. Subsequent issues feature variants by Rachele Aragno (#2), Wylie Beckert (#3), and Anthony Carpenter (#4). 

Young Hellboy: The Hidden Land is a globetrotting adventure set in May of 1947, taking place before the events depicted in Hellboy: The Midnight Circus. Read on for the synopsis along with statements from the creatives.

Hellboy and Professor Bruttenholm are stranded on a strange island after a mishap on their way to a South American dig site. They soon find themselves confronted by all manner of monsters, and even when the stranger who rescues them turns out to be one of Hellboy’s heroes, they aren’t as safe as they think they are.

Mike Mignola statement:

Awhile back (when you could still do such things) I was at a convention in Boston and ducked out for lunch with Tom Sniegoski. Years earlier we co-wrote a more-than-slightly insane novel together, Grim Death and Bill the Electrocuted Criminal, and I brought up the idea of the maybe slightly insane globetrotting adventures of a very young Hellboy. Tom’s eyes lit up, as I kind of knew they would. So there was half the battle won, but we would need a special kind of artist to bring Tom's madman energy to the page—and artist Craig Rousseau just happens to be that artist. And Craig just happened to be at that same convention, and when I told him the idea his eyes lit up just the way Tom's had. It was almost too easy, and I’m happy to say the results are everything I could have hoped for."

Tom Sniegoski statement:

Young Hellboy: The Hidden Land is another look into our red-skinned paranormal investigator's childhood. The events in the series take place in May of 1947, before the events depicted in Hellboy: The Midnight Circus. Lighter in tone, Young Hellboy: The Hidden Land is an exhilarating adventure that embraces the thrills and chills of the pulp adventure stories of the 1930s. Mysterious islands, vampire queens, dinosaurs, giant ape gods, and a new and exciting addition to the Hellboy Universe—Scarlett Santiago, the Sky Devil. I've always been fascinated by the glimpses into Hellboy’s childhood that Mike has given us, and to be asked to contribute to these stories, along with Mike, Craig, and Dave, is a dream come true.

Craig Rousseau statement:

This may sound like a cliché, but as a fan of Hellboy since he arrived in Mike’s very first issue, it’s been an absolute thrill to work on this project with Mike and Tom and Dave. Getting to play in this universe with a story so full of over-the-top action, adventure, and fun has been an absolute blast and a career highlight.

[man-creates-dinosaurs]

“I couldn’t care less about dinosaurs…”

                                   - Mike Mignola* It may surprise followers of this blog to learn that my favorite comic book artist is not one who is predisposed to drawing dinosaurs, at least if the above quote is any indication. Mike Mignola (b. Sept. 16th, 1960) is a twelve-time Eisner Award winning American comic book artist and writer best known for his Lovecraftian, folklore-infused, occult-horror comic series including Hellboy, B.P.R.D., Abe Sapien, Jenny Finn, The Amazing Screw-on Head, Lobster Johnson, and Sir Edward Grey: Witchfinder. Mignola has also co-authored and illustrated three novels with writer Christopher Golden - Baltimore, or The Steadfast Tin Soldier and the Vampire (2007), Joe Golem and the Drowning City (2012) and Father Gaetano’s Puppet Catechism (2012) - and one with writer Thomas E. Sniegoski: Grim Death and Bill the Electrocuted Criminal (2017). He has also worked as a concept artist on a number of films including BRAM STOKER’S DRACULA (1992, Dir. Francis Ford Coppola), Disney’s ATLANTIS: THE LOST EMPIRE (2001, Dir. Gary Trousdale & Kirk Wise), BLADE II (2002, Dir. Guillermo del Toro) and Pixar’s BRAVE (2012, Dir. Mark Andrews & Brenda Chapman). Mignola is best known for his distinct high contrast, angular art style which writer Alan Moore has described as “German expressionism meets Jack Kirby.” Though today a source seemingly unending accolades, Mignola’s unique drawing style was initially seen as an impediment when he began working in the comics industry in the early 1980s. Poorly suited for the kind of kinetic action and supermodel physiques which typify superhero comics, Mignola’s early work on miniseries like DC’s Cosmic Odyssey (Dec. 1988 - March 1989, 4 issues) were notorious disasters. The following year however Mignola drew the one-shot Batman story Gotham by Gaslight, by writer  Brian Augustyn, which re-imagined Batman as a Victorian-era detective hunting down Jack the Ripper. With his moody art carrying what would become the vanguard of DC’s Elseworlds line of alternate reality comics, Mignola had finally come into his own. Eventually Mignola would break away from the mainstream superhero markets of DC and Marvel and join the budding independent publisher Dark Horse Comics where he would create his own monster-centric, horror comic series like Hellboy. Prior to that however the mainstream publishers needed to figure out something to do with him which is how Wolverine: The Jungle Adventure (1990, one-shot) with writer Walt Simonson, came about. As Mignola tells it in Comic Book Artist #23 (TwoMorrows Publishing, Dec. 2002) he was approached with the project because it had been decided that while he couldn’t draw superheroes he could probably handle “dinosaurs and cavemen.” So for the first and last time, we present Mike Mignola’s drawings of dinosaurs... Above:               

1) Wolverine, stranded in the Savage Land, befriends the Tribe of Fire and becomes their champion. Here they move across and the plains while a lone sauropod wades in the background. 2) Wolverine finds himself quite at home in the Savage Land, impressing his caveman comrades by killing a dimetrodon with his bare hands… em, claws. 3-5) Wolverine becomes the champion of the Tribe of Fire - henceforth the Tribe of Wolverine - by slaying a marauding T. Rex. Mignola may not care about dinosaurs but damn, he certainly can draw them.  *Deliberately taken slightly out of context. The full quote, which appeared on the back of Ricardo Delgado’s Age of Reptiles: The Hunt #2 (Dark Horse, June 1996), is “I couldn’t care less about dinosaurs, but I love Age of Reptiles.”

[hyperboreanchaos]

Cover for Grim Death and Bill the Electrocuted Criminal An illustrated novel by Mike Mignola & Tom Sniegoski

[nfcomics]

Night Flight Comics—6222 South State Street Latest Arrivals: Wednesday—March 1st 2017

ADVENTURE TIME #62 ALL STAR BATMAN #7 [R] AMAZING SPIDER-MAN RENEW YOUR VOWS #2, #3, #4 [R] AMERICA #1 ANIMAL NOIR #1 ANIMAL NOIR #1 SUB VAR AQUAMAN #13 [R] AQUAMAN #18 AQUAMAN #18 VAR ED ASSIGNMENT #3 (OF 3) CVR B REIS ASSIGNMENT #3 (OF 3) CVR C SCOTT ATOLL #2 AVENGERS #5 AVENGERS #5 MARQUEZ VENOMIZED VAR BALTIMORE THE RED KINGDOM #2 BALTIMORE HC VOL 03 PASSING STRANGER & STORIES [R] BATMAN #18 BATMAN #18 VAR ED BATMAN 66 MEETS STEED & MRS PEEL HC BATWOMAN REBIRTH #1 [R] BIG TROUBLE LITTLE CHINA ESCAPE NEW YORK #6 BAYLIS BIG TROUBLE LITTLE CHINA ESCAPE NEW YORK #6 SUB BITCH PLANET TP VOL 01 EXTRAORDINARY MACHINE [R] BLACKEST NIGHT GREEN LANTERN TP [R] BULLSEYE #1 [R] BULLSEYE #2 (OF 5) 

CALL OF DUTY ZOMBIES #3 CAPTAIN AMERICA STEVE ROGERS #11 [R] CEREBUS IN HELL #2 CHAMPIONS #6 CHAMPIONS #6 DEODATO VENOMIZED VAR CINEMA PURGATORIO #8 CODE PRU CVR CINEMA PURGATORIO #8 MODDED CVR CIVIL WAR II #1 (OF 8) DJURDJEVIC 2ND PTG VAR CIVIL WAR II #2 (OF 8) 3RD PTG DJURDJEVIC VAR CLONE CONSPIRACY OMEGA CLONE CONSPIRACY OMEGA GRANOV VAR CLONE CONSPIRACY #1 (OF 5) 3RD PTG DELLOTTO VAR CLONE CONSPIRACY #2 (OF 5) 2ND PTG DELLOTTO VAR CLONE CONSPIRACY #3 (OF 5) 2ND PTG DELLOTTO VAR CLONE CONSPIRACY OMEGA GRANOV VAR CYBORG #10 CYBORG #10 VAR ED DAREDEVIL #17 [R] DAVE STEVENS ROCKETEER ARTISAN ED TP DIRECT MARKET DC COMICS BOMBSHELLS #23 DEADPOOL #28 DEADPOOL #28 LOPEZ POSTER VAR DEADPOOL #28 LOPEZ VENOMIZED VAR DEADPOOL ADAMANTIUM COLLECTION SLIPCASE HC DEATH OF HAWKMAN #6 (OF 6) DEATH OF X TP DOCTOR STRANGE #18 DOCTOR STRANGE #18 FOWLER VENOMIZED VAR DOCTOR STRANGE SORCERERS SUPREME #5 [R] DOCTOR WHO 10TH YEAR THREE #2 CVR B PHOTO [R] DOCTOR WHO 9TH #10 CVR A BOLSON DOCTOR WHO 9TH #10 CVR B PHOTO DOLLFACE ST PATRICKS DAY SP CVR B TATTERED & TORN ELEKTRA #1 [R] EVERAFTER FROM THE PAGES OF FABLES #7 EVERAFTER FROM THE PAGES OF FABLES #7 VAR ED EXTREMITY #1 EXTREMITY #1 VAR FALL AND RISE OF CAPTAIN ATOM #3 (OF 6) FLASH #14 [R] FLASHPOINT TP [R] FLASHPOINT WORLD OF FLASHPOINT BATMAN TP [R] FLASH GORDON KINGS CROSS #5 (OF 5) CVR C EXC SUB FLINTSTONES #9 FLINTSTONES #9 VAR ED GAMORA #3 [R] GLITTERBOMB TP VOL 01 RED CARPET GOLD DIGGER #239 GREEN ARROW #18 GREEN ARROW #18 VAR ED GREEN LANTERNS #18 GREEN LANTERNS #18 VAR ED GFT RED AGENT HUMAN ORDER #4 CVR A GOH GFT RED AGENT HUMAN ORDER #4 CVR B SILVA GFT RED AGENT HUMAN ORDER #4 CVR C CASAS GRIM DEATH & BILL ELECTROCUTED CRIMINAL HC GRIMM FAIRY TALES #3 CVR A SILVA GRIMM FAIRY TALES #3 CVR B OTERO GRIMM FAIRY TALES #3 CVR C RUIZ GUARDIANS OF GALAXY #17 [R] HARD CASE CRIME TRIGGERMAN #5 (OF 5) CVR C SCOTT [R] HARLEY QUINN #14 [R] HARLEY QUINN #15 HARLEY QUINN #15 VAR ED HAWKEYE #4 HELLBLAZER #6 [R] HE MAN THUNDERCATS #5 (OF 6) [R] IMAGE PLUS #11 (WALKING DEAD HERES NEGAN PT 11) INJUSTICE GODS AMONG US YEAR THREE TP VOL 01 [R] INJUSTICE GROUND ZERO #7 INVADER ZIM #17 [R] INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #4 [R] INVISIBLE REPUBLIC #15 IVX #5 (OF 6) [R] JAMES BOND #1 CVR A CASSADAY JAMES BOND #1 CVR B REARDON JAMES BOND #1 CVR C MASTERS JAMES BOND #1 CVR D MONTES JAMES BOND #1 CVR E MORITAT JAMES BOND #1 CVR F VAR JUDGE DREDD ANNUAL #1 JUDGE DREDD ANNUAL #1 SUB VAR JUNGLE FANTASY IVORY #7 LUSCIOUS ADULT CVR JUSTICE LEAGUE #16 JUSTICE LEAGUE #16 VAR ED KINGSWAY WEST #4 KISS #5 CVR B SHOURI EMOJI [R] MAD MAGAZINE #544 [R] MARVEL NETFLIX MINIMATES DAREDEVIL SER 2 BOX SET MARVEL UNIVERSE AVENGERS ULTRON REVOLUTION #9 MARVEL UNIVERSE ULT SPIDER-MAN VS SINISTER SIX #8 MASK MOBILE ARMORED STRIKE KOMMAND #3 MASK MOBILE ARMORED STRIKE KOMMAND #3 ARTIST ED VAR MASK MOBILE ARMORED STRIKE KOMMAND #3 SUB VAR MEGAMI FEB 2017 MEGAMI JAN 2017 MIDNIGHTER AND APOLLO #6 (OF 6) MOCKINGBIRD TP VOL 01 I CAN EXPLAIN [R] MONSTERS UNLEASHED #4 (OF 5) MONSTERS UNLEASHED #4 (OF 5) FRANCAVILLA 50S MOVIE MONSTERS UNLEASHED #4 (OF 5) HOMARE VAR MONSTERS UNLEASHED #4 (OF 5) LAROCCA MONSTER VAR MOON KNIGHT #12 MOTOR GIRL #4 MY LITTLE PONY ANNUAL 2017 #1 MY LITTLE PONY ANNUAL 2017 #1 SUB VAR MYCROFT #5 (OF 5) CVR A RONALD [R] NAILBITER #30 NAILBITER TP VOL 04 BLOOD LUST [R] NEWTYPE JAN 2017 NIGHTWING #16 NIGHTWING #16 VAR ED OLD MAN LOGAN #13 [R] ONE PUNCH MAN GN VOL 01, VOL 02 [R] ONYX #1 (OF 4) REG WOOD [R] OVER GARDEN WALL ONGOING #1, #2, #4, #7 [R] OVER THE GARDEN WALL TP MINISERIES [R] PAPER GIRLS #12 POP MARVEL CLASSIC LUKE CAGE PX VINYL FIG POP MARVEL IRON FIST PX VIN FIG POP PINKY & THE BRAIN PINKY VINYL FIG PREVIEWS #342 MARCH 2017 RAT QUEENS #1 CVR A GIENI RAT QUEENS #1 CVR B GIENI RAVEN #4 (OF 6) [R] RIVERDALE ONE SHOT CVR B VAR DEREK CHARM RIVERDALE ONE SHOT CVR F VAR MORITAT RIVERDALE ONE SHOT CVR I VAR MATTHEW DOW SMITH ROCK & ROLL BIOGRAPHIES PANTERA ROYAL CITY #1 SAVAGE DRAGON #221 SAVAGE THINGS #1 (OF 8) SCOOBY DOO WHERE ARE YOU #78 [R] SHADE THE CHANGING GIRL #6 SHADE THE CHANGING GIRL #6 VAR ED SILK #18 SLAPSTICK #4 SNOTGIRL #1, #4 CVR A HUNG [R] SONS OF ANARCHY REDWOOD ORIGINAL #1 (2ND PTG) SPIDER-MAN #13 [R] SPIDER-MAN 2099 #21 SPIDER-MAN HOMECOMING PRELUDE #1 (OF 2) STAR TREK BOLDLY GO #5 SUB VAR [R] STAR TREK GOLD KEY 100 PAGE SPECTACULAR STAR WARS #29 STAR WARS #29 CHIRSTOPHER ACTION FIGURE VAR STAR WARS #29 WADA STAR WARS 40TH ANNIV VAR STAR WARS DARTH MAUL #1 (OF 5) [R] STUFF OF LEGEND CALL TO ARMS #1 SUICIDE SQUAD TP VOL 01 THE BLACK VAULT (REBIRTH) SUPER POWERS #5 (OF 6) SUPERMAN #18 SUPERMAN #18 VAR ED SUPER SONS #1 [R] TALES FROM THE DARKSIDE HC THANOS #4 [R] THINK TANK VOL 5 #1 CVR A EKEDAL THINK TANK VOL 5 #1 CVR B EKEDAL TITANS TP VOL 01 THE RETURN OF WALLY WEST (REBIRTH) ULTIMATES 2 #4 [R] UNHOLY #2 STUNNING CVR UNHOLY #2 YAEL ADULT EXTREME CVR UNSTOPPABLE WASP #3 VENOM #4 JUSKO CORNER BOX VAR [R] WALKING DEAD #165 WALKING DEAD TP VOL 27 WHISPERER WAR WAYWARD TP VOL 04 THREADS & PORTENTS WILSON TP [R] WOLFCOP #3 [R] WOLVERINE OLD MAN LOGAN TP [R] WOODS #30 WOODS TP VOL 04 [R] X-FILES (2016) #11 X-FILES (2016) #11 SUB VAR X-FILES DEVIATIONS 2017 X-FILES DEVIATIONS 2017 MASH-UP VAR ZATANNA BY PAUL DINI TP

Night Flight Comics—6222 South State Street Latest Arrivals: Wednesday—March 1st 2017

[dynamitecomics]

Tweeted

Keeping up with the Halloween tradition. 🎃 When I get home I’m making time to start rereads of @TroyBrownfield & @FritzCasas’ BLOOD QUEEN and @artofmmignola & @TomSniegoski’s GRIM DEATH AND BILL THE ELECTROCUTED CRIMINAL. pic.twitter.com/yNfGz8KY5X

— Steven Derrick (@swartstudio) October 30, 2019

[the-homestead-reader]

Grim Death and Bill the Electrocuted Criminal are not your average heroes, but they want justice. . Uneasiness festers upon the city streets, threatening the peace and safety of law abiding citizens. A war is escalating, and it seems as though the good and righteous are being crushed beneath the unholy weight of evil’s onslaught. Organized crime is spreading in an unchecked reign of terror. Until a mysterious agent of retribution rises up from the shadows to challenge the villains. A lone figure, clad in a slouch hat and clothes seemingly stitched from the blackest shadows, masked in the guise of a skull-faced death—a Grim Death—emerges with guns blazing. With him, a wronged ex-con clad in the striped costume of his misfortune—Bill the Electrocuted Criminal. . My last of my funner spooky read recs as we close in on Samhain and All Hollows Eve. Hope everyone's weekend is going well. #mikemignola #thomasesniegoski #grimdeathandbilltheelectrocutedcriminal https://www.instagram.com/p/BpcXamGFXh6/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=kmvgr0vvwjdi

[multiversitycomics]

Mignolaversity: Ahead in 2017—“Grim Death and Bill the Electrocuted Criminal”

Mignolaversity: Ahead in 2017—“Grim Death and Bill the Electrocuted Criminal”

It’s 2017, and though a lot of Mike Mignola’s books wrapped up in 2016, there’s still much more to come this year. This week Mignolaversity is talking to various creators about what’s ahead. Today we’re talking to Thomas Sniegoski, cowriter of “Grim Death and Bill the Electrocuted Criminal,” a new illustrated prose novel from St. Martin’s Press. Earlier today Mike Romeo spoke Mike Mignola on…

[neothebean]

Neo’s Book Reviews Week 6

Grim Death and Bill the Electrocuted Criminal by Mike Mignola and Thomas E Sniegoski

After his parents’ fiddling in the matters of life and death, Bentley Hawthorne has been recruited as an avatar of Death itself. Under the guise of the skull-faced Grim Death, Bentley is responsible for avenging those taken too soon from the world. The ghosts ask; Grim Death answers.

4/5: Good imagery, interesting concept, so-so writing

This is a story that would have worked better in another medium, like a comic or movie, where the visuals could have been put to better use and the actual writing kept in the backroom. The dialogue and characters certainly felt like comic book characters, and considering one of the authors is the creator of Hellboy, I suppose I’m not surprised. The story itself was good, cliched in all the right ways with a workable setting and characters ready for a series full of evolution, supposing it becomes a series. The potential is certainly there, though I’ll admit that it had a bit of a drawling start and the characters tended to fall rather flat. Then again, seeing as it’s an origin story, that’s rather standard for comics, which I can’t stop thinking this book really should have been. 

Bring on a sequel, though, I’m ready for it.

(A side note: The official synopsis for this book is terrible. It didn’t prepare me at all for the book I actually read and seemed instead to be for the series that doesn’t yet exist. If you check this book out, read the blurb with a grain of salt.)

(Recommended by @leavesunseen)

[middenway]

Mignolaversity: Ahead in 2017

• Ahead in 2017: Interview with editor Scott Allie • Lobster Johnson: Interview with John Arcui, Stephen Green, and Tonci Zonjic • Baltimore and Joe Golem, Occult Detective: Interview with Christopher Golden, Peter Bergting, and Patric Reynolds • Robots From Tomorrow: Interview with Mike Mignola • Grim Death and Bill the Electrocuted Criminal: Interview with Thomas Sniegoski • Witchfinder, Rise of the Black Flame, The Visitor, and Hellboy and the B.P.R.D.: Interview with Chris Roberson, Paul Grist, and Brian Churilla • Hellboy: Into the Silent Sea: Interview with Gary Gianni • April 2017 Solicitations

[project-ragna-rok]

Mike Mignola has an upcoming novel with Tom Sniegoski, Grim Death and Bill the Electrocuted Criminal