Hellboy Into the Silent Sea

Mike Mignola's fascination with ghosts and monsters began at an early age; reading Dracula at age twelve introduced him to Victorian literature and folklore, from which he has never recovered. Starting in 1982 as a bad inker for Marvel Comics, he swiftly evolved into a not-so-bad artist. By the late 1980s, he had begun to develop his own unique graphic style, with mainstream projects like Cosmic Odyssey and Batman: Gotham by Gaslight. In 1994, he published the first Hellboy series through Dark Horse, and several spin-off titles (B.P.R.D., Lobster Johnson, Abe Sapien, and Sir Edward Grey: Witchfinder), prose books, animated films, and two live-action films starring Ron Perlman. Along the way he worked on Francis Ford Coppola's film Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992), was a production designer for Disney's Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001), and was the visual consultant to director Guillermo del Toro on Blade II (2002), Hellboy (2004), and Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008), and the Hellboy: Rise of the Blood Queen. Gary Gianni began as an illustrator for Chicago newspapers and as a reporter/sketch artist for television. He has illustrated books by authors ranging from Melville and Verne to Michael Chabon and Ray Bradbury. Gianni spent several years illustrating the stories of Conan, Solomon Kane and Bran Mak Morn in a series of books by R.E. Howard. In comics, he worked on Batman, The Shadow, Hellboy and his own creation, Monstermen. For almost a decade, he produced the syndicated newspaper comic strip Prince Valiant. Gianni also created drawings and paintings for George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire epic novels. Gary Gianni began as an illustrator for Chicago newspapers and as a reporter/sketch artist for television. He has illustrated books by authors ranging from Melville and Verne to Michael Chabon and Ray Bradbury. Gianni spent several years illustrating the stories of Conan, Solomon Kane and Bran Mak Morn in a series of books by R.E. Howard. In comics, he worked on Batman, The Shadow, Hellboy and his own creation, Monstermen. For almost a decade, he produced the syndicated newspaper comic strip Prince Valiant. Gianni also created drawings and paintings for George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire epic novels.

“Gary is a genius. And not just a regular kind of genius, but a very specific type of genius—the kind you think of when you want someone to draw and co-write a ghost and monster story that takes place on a ship and you want it to look like it was done in 1902. Come to think of it he’s the only guy you think of when you want something like that. He’s THAT kind of genius.”—Mike Mignola“After many years of talking about Moby Dick, the book and the film, Victorian ghost stories, comics, folklore and history in general, Mike Mignola, Hellboy and I embarked on graphic novel adventure entitled Into the Silent Sea. The story begins with Hellboy marooned in the Sargasso Sea and ends in that misty inexplicable realm where classic tales of horror usually wind up. I count myself among the many fans who wish Mignola will write and draw more Hellboy stories exclusively someday, but in the meantime, I hope our combined effort will thrill you a little and chill you a little…”—Gary Gianni