FROM THE PAGES OF HELLBOY

® TM

In the Service of Angels

® DARKHORSE.COM Sir Edward Grey WITCHFINDERTM

CREATED BY MIKE MIGNOLA In the Service of Angels

STORY BY ART BY MIKE MIGNOLA BEN STENBECK

LETTERS BY COLORS BY CLEM ROBINS DAVE STEWART

COVER ART BY MIKE MIGNOLA and DAVE STEWART

designer AMY ARENDTS • associate editor SAMANTHA ROBERTSON assistant editor RACHEL EDIDIN • editor SCOTT ALLIE • publisher MIKE RICHARDSON

NUMBER 1 IN A SERIES Sir Edward Grey, Witchfinder: In the Service of Angels #1, July 2009. Published by Dark Horse Comics, Inc., 10956 SE Main Street, Milwaukie, Oregon 97222. Sir Edward Grey, Witchfinder: In the Service of Angels is Copyright © 2009 Michael Mignola. Dark Horse Comics® and the Dark Horse logo are trademarks of Dark Horse Comics, Inc., registered in various categories and countries. All rights reserved. No portion of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the express written permission of Dark Horse Comics, Inc. Names, characters, places, and incidents featured in this publication either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons (living or dead), events, institutions, or locales, without satiric intent, is coincidental.

® DARKHORSE.COM ® DARKHORSE.COM ® DARKHORSE.COM ® DARKHORSE.COM ® DARKHORSE.COM ® DARKHORSE.COM ® DARKHORSE.COM ® DARKHORSE.COM ® DARKHORSE.COM ® DARKHORSE.COM ® DARKHORSE.COM ® DARKHORSE.COM ® DARKHORSE.COM ® DARKHORSE.COM ® DARKHORSE.COM ® DARKHORSE.COM ® DARKHORSE.COM ® DARKHORSE.COM ® DARKHORSE.COM ® DARKHORSE.COM ® DARKHORSE.COM ® DARKHORSE.COM ® DARKHORSE.COM Scott, I just nished reading e Wild Hunt #1. I love when the birds talk! It’s awesome. Matt Strackbein H Longmont, CO c/o Dark Horse Comics  10956 SE Main St. Milwaukie, OR 97222 Dear Scott, Today I just picked up the newest issue of Hellboy e-mail to [email protected] and I was very thrilled. I was thrilled at the fact that y’all were making a nod toward something I knew about— Hey, gang, mythology (Odinic, Norse mythology, at that). e title I’m happy to welcome back Ben Stenbeck, who drew e Wild Hunt reminded me of the Nordic Oskorei, the the Johann Kraus one-shot last year. He’s really been Oskorei being the great hunt in which some very great pouring it on here for Mike and Edward Grey. Keep a beings (such as demons) would be involved. Just out of close eye on this guy. He’s already got his next Mignola curiosity, were you guys making an adaptation of the project lined up after this, and it’s a big one. Oskorei (kind of)? e story and the art, as always, look And it’s Sir Edward that I’m really excited to nally kick ass. Keep up the good work! introduce. He rst appeared, what, thirteen years ago, in Yours truly, Wake the Devil? Mike’s all about the slow payo—trust A fan forever, me—but even for him, this is a long time for a character Rob Echerd to step out into the light. Exactly how the guy in this comic—whom Kateellmail talked about in the slide show in anks, Rob, and yeah, e Wild Hunt draws upon the beginning of Wake, and who rst really appeared in traditions from a few northern cultures. Although I think last year’s Abe Sapien: e Drowning, then in a short maybe “King Vold,” in e Right Hand of Doom, might story on MySpace Dark Horse Presents—connects to be more what you’re into? the masked, cloaked Sir Edward who showed up in the nal act of Wake, and has ever since been seen talking to Re: e Wild Hunt #1 the most mystical characters in the series, is something for Wow! You guys are really ring on all cylinders. which you’re gonna have to wait even longer. at’s everything a comic should be . . . Absolutely jam But for now, I hope you enjoy this series, where we nally packed with gorgeous artwork and excellent writing give you an honest-to-God Victorian occult detective . . . showcasing some of the most incredible creatures and characters. e humor is spot on, the character designs In the vein of the great oversized Hellboy Library are spectacular, and that ending . . . Whew!! Cue fan and Edition hardcovers, can we expect B.P.R.D. (including fecal matter. Abe Sapien) library hardcovers to come out? Am I gushing? You bet your sweet ass I am. I thank I really hope so, as I have held o buying any trades you for giving me something to gush about and am in the hopes of seeing this! looking forward to all you have planned for the big Are they in the plans? red ape. Auguste Sincerely, Rick Yankosky Nope—we have a plan for a new packaging of Hainesport, NJ B.P.R.D., but it’s not a hardcover. We hope to start rolling it P.S. A big thanks for the Free Comic Book Day issue, as out in 2010. Since you mention it, I’ve been working on the well. It may please you to know that my bride, Jolene, third volume of the Library series this week, and it’s coming and I gave away many a copy as favors at our wedding together great. We upped the page count by sixteen pages this past June. to expand the sketchbook section, in part to address the trouble Mike had creating e Island while getting the rst Dear Dark Allie, Hellboy movie made, but in part to show o his Prague is is just an e-mail to say thank you for the sketchbook, from when he was on set for that lm, and wonderful work that is being done in the Hellboy spent his free time in the hotel room designing monsters. It universe. By no means was I alive during the Silver was a weird time for Mike, and arguably the best thing that Age of Marvel Comics, but I believe that reading came from it was a twisted new approach to monsters. Hellboy/B.P.R.D. is what it must have felt like. e ® DARKHORSE.COM

WFSA #1 continuity is excellent and everyone involved with e only reason we keep Abe around is because he knows the various projects has continued to produce stories how to take a beating, Ontarah. at and he looks great in that continue the great epic started with Seed of bike shorts. Destruction. Now, I know that Mike is the head Actually, Abe’s on vacation right now, along with the honcho and many people long for the day that Mike whole contemporary B.P.R.D. team. Next week, B.P.R.D: illustrates a complete Hellboy series again (I myself 1947 #1 goes on sale, by Mignola, Josh Dysart, Gabriel would love that as well), but I can tell you that his Bá, and Fábio Moon, in which we pick up from last writing paired with various artists is easily just as good year’s 1946, checking in on the earliest adventures of the and leaves opportunity for more stories. I’m sure any B.P.R.D., before Liz or Abe, even before Hellboy was an true Hellboy fan will agree that more Hellboy is a active agent, although little Hellboy, circa “Pancakes,” does good thing. Keep up the good work and know that I make an appearance. As with Witchnder, 1947 gives us a will be reading as long as I have eyes. chance to explore a real old-world gothic adventure, the best Sincerely, vampire story you’re gonna see in comics this year. Curtis Rezek And speaking of great horror stories, here’s one you might not know to pick up: I highly recommend Pixu: e Mark Hope you liked this one, Curtis! of Evil, an original graphic novel from our 1947 artists, Fábio and Gabriel, and the creators of the recent Tales of Hey, guys, the Vampires one-shot, Becky Cloonan and Vasilis Lolos. I just wanted to say that I’m a new convert to the ese four writer/artists have honestly done more to inspire Hellboy universe, and that I’m absolutely eating it up. me in recent years than just about anyone in comics. As I’ve always been more of a fantasy-novel fan than a soon as I read Pixu in ashcan form, I started plotting how comic fan, but Mignola’s excellent use of mythology to make it a part of Dark Horse’s lineup. and rich characters draws me right in, in the way I’ve And one more little recommendation this month— come to expect from the best fantasy novels. As a check out MySpace Dark Horse Presents (myspace. newcomer coming to comics in my twenties, I have to com/darkhorsepresents), where we’ve posted a whole lot of admit that some of the more old-school, Silver Age– great material from Mignola, Arcudi, Davis, Stenbeck, homage stu in other comics has a tendency to feel a Moon, Bá, etc.—we’ve also presented some great material little like a Scooby-Doo episode to me. Not so here. connected to Buy Season Eight, and this month we’ve got ese are gritty, realistic, and, most of all, believable. As a three-pager by Joss Whedon and Jo Chen. Don’t miss it. a female reader, I also appreciate the fact that Liz and Next month, things get real mystical here in Kate are practical characters that can stand on their Witchnder. Also next month . . . e Wild Hunt own without degenerating into either swordbabes or resumes! Talk about slow burn . . . secrets of Hellboy’s damsels in distress. Kudos and keep up the great work! origins are revealed. Check it out— Ontarah P.S. Can’t you guys cut Abe some slack when it comes to his poor left arm? Broken in Wake the Devil. Injured again in e Black Flame. Stabbed through the left shoulder in Garden of Souls. Heck, that spear in Plague of Frogs was even closer to his left than his right side. It’s a wonder he can still even use that thing.

 NEXT WEEK  B.P.R.D.: 1947 #1 On Sale July 8

® DARKHORSE.COM

WFSA #1