Halloween may be officially over, but it will always be Spooky Season in our hearts. That’s why we’re so jazzed that another installment in the Hellboy universe launched just this week from Dark Horse Comics. In Hellboy and the B.P.R.D.: The Ghost Ships of Labrador #1—from the creative team of writers Rob Williams and Hellboy creator Mike Mignola, artist Laurence Campell, colorist Lee Loughridge, and letterer Clem Robins—the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense is checking into a town swarming with ghosts, to great consternation to the locals, naturally. When a B.P.R.D. agent vanishes, however, Hellboy and company have a personal stake in the mission.
I spoke with Rob Williams recently about the idea behind Hellboy and the B.P.R.D.: The Ghost Ships of Labrador, balancing multiple tones present in Hellboy-centered stories, collaborating with Mike Mignola and other Hellboy creators, and what writing for this universe gives him creatively.
The first issue of Hellboy and the B.P.R.D.: The Ghost Ships of Labrador, as I suggest in the interview, is eerie in the best way possible. It’s still a Hellboy/B.P.R.D., so there’s the humor and lightness that you want, but the creative team doesn’t shy away from embracing the unknown that come with ghost stories. It’s a two-parter and I’ll definitely be picking up the last installment to see how the hauntingly fun tale concludes.
Hellboy and the B.P.R.D: The Ghost Ships of Labrador #1 cover A
FreakSugar: What can you tell us about the conceit of Hellboy and the B.P.R.D.: The Ghost Ships of Labrador?
Rob Williams: I read somewhere about how occasionally off the coast of Labrador, Newfoundland people would see “ghost ships”. Ancient Basque whalers who came over the Atlantic in search of blood-soaked profit. I figured that was a good set up for a Hellboy story. So, a small town in Labrador gets engulfed by mist, hauntings go through the roof and ghost galleons weigh anchor. The ghosts have claimed this town as their own. The BPRD sends in an exorcist but when she doesn’t return, Hellboy and Abe Sapien are sent in. All is not as it seems…
FS: This is one of the most unnerving chapters of Hellboy I’ve ever read. How did you approach this particular tale? Was there a particular tone the team wanted to hit with this comic? I know that they are very different stories, but I get The Lighthouse vibes when reading this one, especially when it comes to atmosphere.
RW: It’s kind of a balancing act of tone. Hellboy stories should have a supernatural element to them, obviously. Laurence Campbell is brilliant at creating that eerie, ghostly mood in his comics. We want to freak people out if we can, but there’s an element of fun about the whole thing too, at times. The trick is getting that balance right.
Hellboy and the B.P.R.D: The Ghost Ships of Labrador #1 cover B
FS: What has the collaboration been like with the creative team? The whole group is stacked with folks who have lived in the Hellboy world for years, not just Mike Mignola.
RW: Yeah, Laurence drew BPRD for a good long period and Clem Robins is the regular Hellboy world letterer. Lee Loughridge has worked with Laurence and I on a couple of things now – Old Haunts, the creator-owned series we did for AWA a few years back and even a Punisher Max we did way back. And Mike is… well, Mike. It’s his world. His voices in these characters. They are all extremely good at what they do. You feel you have to bring your A game.
Laurence and I collaborated with Mike on a Hellboy world series called The Sword of Hyperborea a few years back and that turned out extremely well. We followed the sword through different owners and characters in the Hellboy universe. It was huge fun to get to play in that pool, after reading Hellboy and BPRD comics for so long.
FS: Following up on that, has the collaboration process changed or shifted since your maiden
voyage of working with him?
RW: Not really. All roads go through Mike and Katii O’Brien, the Hellboy editor. I like to think I’ve read Hellboy and Abe long enough that I have a pretty good grasp on the tone and the voices and what works in this world (and what wouldn’t). But Katii and MIke would no doubt shut down anything that strayed too far. I think on issue one, Mike came back with a note from an early draft of mine that Hellboy wouldn’t sit down and have a beer with certain ghosts. It’s his character. You’d do well to listen to such notes.
FS: This isn’t your first time playing in the world of Hellboy. What does writing for these characters give you that other writing doesn’t?
RW: I think, with this story, it’s that sense of fanboy excitement. I’ve been very fortunate in my career to have written most of the big characters for DC and Marvel. I’ve been doing this a while now. It’s tough to get the fanboy in me to go ‘wheeeee’ these days. But writing Hellboy and Abe achieved that. That’s great, to have that visceral kick going into a script. It brings energy. But you also have to not be overly intimidated by the work that’s gone before on these characters. because if you did, you’d never write a word for fear of “oh God, does it match up to… ‘ etc etc. There’s a happy balance to be found in such projects… somewhere.
FS: Are there any other projects down the pike you’d like to discuss?
RW: I’ve been writing a fair bit of Judge Dredd of late. Myself and the amazing RM Guera (Scalped) have a Dredd GN out in February: Rend and Tear With Tooth & Claw. That contains two long-form Judge Dredd stories we did in the last couple of years. He’s a real master of an artist. And then in June next year another Judge Dredd GN is released by myself and Henry Flint And To The Sea Return which is a nautical horror that I suspect Hellboy fans would enjoy a lot. You can pre-order both now.
FS: If you had a final pitch for The Ghost Ships of Labrador, what would it be?
RW: There’s ghost ships and ghosts and a big surprise cliffhanger and an exorcist in a wheelchair and a BPRD dog called Elba. What more do you want?
Hellboy and the B.P.R.D.: The Ghost Ships of Labrador #1 is on sale now from Dark Horse Comics.
From the official issue description:
A town overrun by ghosts would be enough of a problem, but Hellboy has an even bigger problem on his hands when a fellow B.P.R.D. agent disappears amongst the paranormal chaos.
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Rob Williams and Laurence Campbell return to the Hellboy universe!
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First of a two-part standalone Hellboy story.