Family is difficult, even among demons. It’s even more of a quagmire when you have to watch your back in your insatiable quest for power over the denizens of Dis and all the rest of the plains of Hell. That’s the idea behind The Crown: A Tale of Hell, a two-part miniseries from Dark Horse Comics. Following the demon brothers of creator Mike Mignola’s heroic Hellboy, The Crown—from the minds of brothers Mike and Todd Mignola, artist Warwick Johnson-Cadwell, and letterer Clem Robins—follows a day in the life of Hellboy’s step-family well before Hellboy was even a thought. Readers get to see Hellboy’s kin launch their machinations and misdeeds to fill the throne of Hell and remove all infernal enemies in their way. “A day in the life” tales are always a raucous time, especially in the hands of talented creators behind The Crown.

I spoke with Todd Mignola recently about the idea behind Dark Horse Comics’ The Crown: A Tale of Hell, family dynamics among demons, Shakespearean jockeying for power, and working with his brother on this story and others. Give the interview a read before issue #2 goes on sale later this month!

 

The Crown: A Tale of Hell #2 cover

 

FreakSugar: Before we get into the miniseries itself, how did the idea of focusing on Hellboy’s brothers occur to you?

Todd Mignola: I knew that Mike had, as a sort of joke, loosely based the brothers — Lusk and Gamon — on childhood versions of our brother Scott and I, one conniving and the other brutal, and so their existence in the Hellboy universe felt, you know, sort of personal. We never get to know much about them in their brief appearance in Hellboy in Hell, and I saw potential in them to explore some fun and fraught family dynamics.

FS: For folks considering picking up the comic, what is the conceit of The Crown: A Tale of Hell?

TM: So… the story’s set in Hell, 1566, where we get to see a “day in the life” of Hellboy’s step-family, years before Hellboy’s ever in the picture. And what a day it turns out to be! Lusk, Gamon and Gamori’s demon mom, Sedara, is briefly freed after a hundred years in a fiery pit, only to discover that her husband, Azzael, is plotting to seize the throne of Hell and seat one of his two sons. Which one, though? Alliances form and shift, betrayal following betrayal, all leading to… Well, you’ll have to wait for issue two to see where this thing’s ultimately heading.

 

The Crown: A Tale of Hell #1 cover

 

FS: What’s the process like working with your brother Mike? What is the back-and-forth like?

TM: Initially, he and I got on the phone and just started batting ideas around. When would the story take place, and what would the story arc be? After we’d talk, I’d try to get everything we came up with down on paper. From there, we broke the thing out into scenes, and then pages, and then went back and forth with writing the dialogue. We didn’t always agree on details, but I was happy to defer to Mike at those times, since he’s the seasoned pro and I’m a relative newbie. I learned a hell of a lot by taking his advice.

FS: Following up on that, what’s it like with Warwick Johnson-Johnson, who’s no stranger to working with Mike?

TM: Mike and I had both worked with Warwick, actually. While he and Mike had done the wonderful Our Encounters with Evil together, I’d been developing a creator-owned series with Warwick as artist. We were still in the midst of trying to find a publisher for our book when both WJC and I shifted to this project. Mike and I never even discussed another artist for The Crown since Warwick was seemingly perfect. The man’s brilliant, and an absolute joy to work with.

 

The Crown: A Tale of Hell #2 Bruno Seelig variant cover

 

FS: Are there any lore or legends from our world that inspire this particular tale? Do you have any favorite Hell-centered stories or films?

TM: No Hell-centered stories come to mind, and as for lore or legends… Mike and I share a deep love of screwy old folk- and fairy-tales, so we definitely wanted a bit of that in there. Then, too, we’re both fans of “epic sweep”—overlarge castles with conniving goings-on going on inside. Yes, the story’s set in Hell, but the drama isn’t supernatural so much as inter-familial.

FS: What’s been your favorite part of working in this playground again?

TM: I’ve really loved helping give some deep backstory to Mike’s longstanding world — and the opportunity to maybe fill in a few holes that Mike and his readers didn’t even know were there.

FS: If you had a final pitch for the comic, what would it be?

TM: It might be a bit of a tease, but I really think Hellboy fans are going to want to pick this one up. It may seem like just a bit of an “aside” that doesn’t touch the larger universe, but… There are surprises in store. Surprises not to be missed. Just sayin’.

The Crown: A Tale of Hell #2 goes on sale Wednesday, April 22, 2026, from Dark Horse Comics.

From the official issue description:

The demon brothers’ fight for control of Pandemonium gets even messier when their sister joins in with her own ideas for the future of Hell.

Mike Mignola is joined by his brother Todd Mignola (“Hellboy: The Exorcist of Vorsk”) and artist Warwick Johnson-Cadwell (Our Encounters with Evil) in this new Hellboy prequel series.

  • Longtime Mignola collaborator Warwick Johnson-Cadwell joins the Hellboy universe!
  • Brothers Mike and Todd Mignola pen this story about Hellboy’s brothers!
  • Two-issue series.

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