EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: HELLBOY Creator Mike Mignola Hints at Comic's Conclusion & Which Film Adaptation Ignored His Ideas

Scoop: During last weekend's Calgary Comic Expo, the Darkhorse Comics writer revealed some intriguing details on the months to come regarding drastic changes in the Hellboy universe; Plus Mignola talks about which film adaptation he likes more, working on The Hobbit and his opinion of DC's reboot.

Mike Mignola is the creator, artist and writer of the critically acclaimed Hellboy. The Darkhorse Comic series has spawned two critically acclaimed films, directed by Oscar nominated filmmaker Guillermo Del Toro (Pan's Labyrinth). In regards to the comic series and where he sees Hellboy in the future, Mignola teases some big changes when asked if the character will be around years from now.

"There's definitively a conclusion. It's hard to say much without giving anything away what's happening in the next few months. There's definitely an ending to Hellboy. But – there's this huge chunk of time to explore and definitely do stories about Hellboy's past."

"Hellboy's definitely going in a particular direction, I mean, he's lost an eye and there are lots of big changes for him right around the corner. He's never going to go back to being the guy he was," said Mignola.

Mignola also commented on the upcoming reboot of the DC Comic universe and made no bones about disliking the creative choice."I'm not a big fan of the idea. To me it looks like a nuclear bomb being dropped on all these characters. I understand why they're doing it because tripping over 75 years of continuity is confusing, but why change everything in one month?"

"I was a Marvel comics guy, I never understood or cared about DC comics and I started working at Marvel because of that. I loved Fantastic Four, Thor, Captain America, Red Skull – Jack Kirby all of that stuff. I went to work with DC when Marvel pissed me off. But I never had any idea who any of those characters were," said Mignola.

The comic book icon also acted as a partner to Del Toro, overseeing the creative process on both movie adaptations of his beloved series. "I had input on both films, but he (Del Toro) probably listened to me more on the first one. There's a lot of me in the first film, at least in the designs," said Mignola.

"All the time I spent working on Hellboy II was work that made no or very little impact on the film and it's certainly work that nobody's ever seen. So especially as I get older, when I spend time drawing and making things up, I like to see them published and my ideas out there," said Mignola.

The writer went on to reveal that despite his disagreements with director/friend Guillermo Del Toro, that they both agreed actor Ron Perlman was the first and only choice to portray Hellboy on the big screen. They had come to that conclusion six years before the first movie went into production.

Mignola also mentioned that because of the difficulty convincing a studio to throw 80 million at a movie called Hellboy and starring the guy from Beauty and the Beast, the hurdles were large. That was one of the reasons why Perlman was cast in a large supporting role in Blade II, to give him more screentime and convince studios he could play the role of Hellboy later on.

"The only notes I ever heard Guillermo give Ron were 'Stop Acting, you're already this guy,'" said Mignola.

Del Toro and Mignola have worked together on other films aside from the Hellboy franchise such as Blade II as well as the upcoming Hobbit, before Del Toro left the project after mass amounts of production delays and budget issues. "I did work with Guillermo on The Hobbit for about 10 years," joked Mignola, "I probably spent more time flying back and forth to New Zealand."

With many changes in the Hellboy comic series on the horizon, the writer reaffirms that he has every intention of simply being a "comic book guy" for now and doesn't plan to stray back to film design any time soon. Mignola also revealed that Del Toro is unlikely to ever return to the film franchise.