Mike Mignola and his frequent collaborator Ben Stenbeck are launching a new shared universe for Dark Horse Comics.
Dark Horse Comics has announced that Mignola, who is best known for creating Hellboy, is writing and illustrating a new anthology book full of folklore stories titled Bowling With Corpses and Other Strange Tales From Lands Unknown.
Bowling With Corpses and Other Strange Tales From Lands Unknown will be published by Curious Objects, Mignola’s imprint at Dark Horse, and will introduce readers to a new universe that will be further explored in forthcoming stories and projects.
The book is colored by Dave Stewart and lettered by Clem Robins.
What is Bowling With Corpses and Other Strange Tales From Lands Unknown about?
“In Bowling With Corpses and Other Strange Tales From Lands Unknown, the stories are fantastical, odd and charming — from a search for the beating heart of a long-dead sorcerer, to a pirate girl who makes a deal with the devil, to the titular boy who wins a grim prize in a game with undead interlopers,” the description reads.
“It all started with an Italian Folktale about a boy who goes bowling with corpses,” Mignola said. “I fell in love with the story as soon as I discovered it but I wanted to play fast and loose when adapting it, so I created a whole new world. Not TOO different than our world a few centuries ago, but with a lot more gods and monsters. Once I created that world new characters and stories just started pouring out of it. There is a whole lot to play with here and I expect to be at it for a very long time.”
Stenbeck will be illustrating and writing another not-yet-announced project set in Lands Unknown. “For a few years now Mike has been emailing me designs and pages and ideas and maps and lists of place names for this world, and his enthusiasm for this project is indomitable and infectious,” he said. “So often my reaction to these emails is ‘that’s great Mike! But I still have two books to draw before I can even move on to this work!’ and then I find myself taking three days off to write a new story. Luckily Mike likes my stories. My first project is set far off in a distant corner of this world. That way I can’t bump into anything Mike is doing and make a mess. Spoiler…it will have monsters in it.”
Bowling With Corpses and Other Strange Tales From Lands Unknown releases in bookstores on December 3, 2024, and in comic shops the following day, December 4, 2024.
