2025-01-22

Here's a look at Mike Mignola’s new book set in a macabre, folklore-inspired universe

Mike Mignola, the creator of Hellboy, has been cooking up a whole new fantasy universe, and the first book set in it is out now. Bowling with Corpses and Other Strange Tales From Lands Unknown, is an anthology that reads like a collection of myths and folklore. The stories are macabre with a touch of whimsy (as in, occasional animal narrators), ranging from a boy’s bizarre adventure after he becomes the unexpected wielder of a powerful dead hand, to the creation of the world and gods in the eponymous Lands Unknown.

Mignola said when the project was announced last year that “it all started with an Italian folktale about a boy who goes bowling with corpses,” which he wanted to adapt, but also to “play fast and loose” in doing so. “So I created a whole ne [...]