Hellboy’s next saga, Koshchei in Hell, revealed by creator Mike Mignola

Mike Mignola may have finished the story of Hellboy, but he’s not done with the big red guy’s world. Mignola goes to hell again this month, thanks to Ben Stenbeck as his frequent collaborator. Koshchei in Hell #1, continuing the story of one of his “favorite” characters in the mythos.

This is Mignola’s second Koshchei-centric series with Dark Horse Comics, after Koshchei is the deathlessWe explored the transformation of a fallen warrior into a deathless slave to the Baba Yagá, his soul kept inside an egg. This egg was inside a duck in a rabbit in a goat and a goat inside a tree on an island beyond the reach of the earth.

Returning to the character was “a real joy,” Mignola tells Polygon via email. “I’d done so much with Koshchei in Koshchei is the deathlessHe could do almost anything, and he was capable of becoming anything. His story had no ending that I could reach. At the same time I’d put Hell through a whole lot of changes and left some bits unresolved, things hanging — So basically I just had to mash these two things together and see where things would go. As I recall, it really was just a matter of asking what would happen if THIS GUY went THERE and met this OTHER GUY — where would that lead? And it all ended up leading to some surprising places.”

“My dream projects are all about not drawing the real world,” Stenbeck says. “Cars, office blocks etc.” Fortunately, Koshchei in HellOpens in… “Hell is set up to avoid all of that boring stuff. It’s been a real pleasure getting to work with Mike in his Hell and having the opportunity to revisit places and characters he’s already drawn to create some new ones.”

Check out the six-page preview. Koshchei in Hell #1 will be available on digital and physical shelves starting Nov. 30,