Quotes from Mike Mignola

I've painted in the past, but I only average about one painting a year, and the last painting I did, I actually really liked.

I'm thinking about color all the time. Sometimes even as far back as the plotting sequence.

I hadn't seen 'Bride of Frankenstein' until high school or maybe even later than that. It's really one of the great movie experiences where you think you know what it's going to be, but it's so much weirder and so much better than anything you could've imagined. It's so full of these striking, powerful images.

I've always been much more comfortable with drawing fantasy stuff.

There's a ton of stuff in mythology and folklore that is loaded with wonderful creatures that I haven't drawn yet, but that's kind of my retirement plan. Theoretically, I won't be doing comics any longer, and I'll just be drawing and painting whatever the hell I want. Most of that will be monsters.

The idea of a Frankenstein-like creature is something I've done several times. It's such an icon of the horror scene.

When I started the 'Hellboy' series way back when, I wasn't really thinking consciously about the humor, but Hellboy does have my personality, and that's an important part of my personality.

My struggle over the years has constantly been, it only takes 10 minutes, or an average shower, to come up with a mini-series or two, but it takes a year to draw them. So for me, it's been just trying to find a way to get all these ideas and all these incidents on paper.

I've just always liked monsters, since I was a little kid. It was always the thing I found interesting. It's always what I wanted to draw; it's always what I wanted to read, and so, yeah, I don't know. It's a good question for a therapist, why I like monsters. But I tend to not question it. It's what pays the bills, so that's kind of nice.

My Hellboy is modeled on my father in some ways: a guy who's been in the Korean War, and he's traveled, and he's done a lot of stuff, and he's kind of got a been there, done that attitude. He's also been in the world. Del Toro's change was to have Hellboy bottled up in a room and mooning over the girl he can't have.

I do think there's a difference when you see a book where you can tell the creator's doing something they really love or are really passionate about as opposed to an artist or a writer who is just doing a particular job or trying to sell a product or trying to cash in on a popular trend.

When the first 'Hellboy' series came out, in the same batch of fan mail I got a letter from somebody from the Church of Satan, and I got a letter from a minister, and they both liked it. And I thought, 'What am I doing that I'm making both these guys happy?'

With a rasping cough, the vampire shakes its head. "It was you who called us. All of you, with your war. The roar of your cannons shook us from our quiet graves.

The more I see of the movie business, the less I understand about it. I have no idea what goes on with that stuff.

Don't mess with me, lady. I've been drinking with skeletons.

Lady, I was gonna cut you some slack, 'cause you're a major mythological figure...but now you've just gone nuts!

I did not say it was true, only that I believe it.

No rain but thunder, and the sound of giants.

But if there must be an end, let it be loud. Let it be bloody. Better to burn than to wither away in the dark.

With a rasping cough, the vampire shakes its head. "It was you who called us. All of you, with your war. The roar of your cannons shook us from our quiet graves...

Okay, I know I said I wasn't going to shake things up, but we're going to have to get some pants on this one.

I'd be the first to admit that I have no shortage of faults. But if I had to pick one, the one that's gotten me into the most trouble over the years... ...it would be that I sometimes get angry.

Well, yeah, you listen to a talking snake and there's gonna be trouble.

Since the beginning of the world, a prayer is a prayer and a curse is a curse-- no matter the people-- no matter the language-- Man has given a thousand different namesto his god, but look into the face of each one-- long enough-- hard enough-- You will find one truth.