Fans of Dark Horse's Hellboy and the BPRD: 1953 comic got both good and bad news today, starting with the the bad: an announcement that writer John Arcudi plans on leaving the series.
Arcudi started on the Hellboy and the BPRD comic back in 2004, but his run ends with issue #147 next year with BPRD: Hell on Earth.
But don't fret, because there is also good news on the Hellboy front, too. Today, Dark Horse also announced that Hellboy creator Mike Mignola plans on teaming up with artist Ben Stenbeck (Frankenstein Underground) to relaunch a new Hellboy and the BPRD: 1953. This will feature two one-shot titles that take Hellboy to England for a ghost hunt, something Hellboy hasn't done before.
Mignola is something of a rock star, with his name behind comic books as varied as Abe Sapien, BPRD, Frankenstein Underground, Lobster Johnson and Witchfinder. His most famous creation, Hellboy, even had a dinosaur share its name earlier this year.
But that's not all: Dark Horse also announced that iZombie co-creator Chris Roberson will co-write a new story for next January's Hellboy Winter Special, featuring art by major artists (although the company has not announced names yet). After that, Roberson will become a new co-writer on the Hellboy and the BPRD series with Mignola, with artists Paolo Rivera and Joe Rivera creating art for the title.
"I'm always excited to work with Ben Stenbeck and it's great to finally see his take on Hellboy," said Mignola in a press statement. "And I'm excited about working with Chris Roberson - he's bringing a wonderful new energy and a lot of new ideas to Hellboy and the BPRD (and a couple other books we aren't ready to talk about yet)."
Mignola did express his sadness at seeing Arcudi leaving, but was thankful for the work he did.
"I've been an enormous fan of Hellboy since the very beginning and I've got the action figure and lunch box to prove it," said Chris Roberson. "BPRD has been and remains one of my all-time favorite series, so getting the opportunity to work with Mike Mignola in exploring Hellboy's early days as a BPRD agent is an incredible thrill."
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