Mike Mignola is one of the most iconoclastic artists and storytellers that the comics art form has ever produced. His work combines horror, folk lore, weird fiction, and everything in-between holistically. Uri Tupka and The Gods is the latest graphic novel from the master storyteller, and part of the connected universe first seen in the anthology Bowling with Corpses. The Beat chatted with this legendary creator to learn more about his latest work.
D. Morris: What I love most about your work is how you connect the traditions of folklore to the weird fiction (Lovecraft, Robert E. Howard, and Clark Ashton Smith) of the early 20th century. That felt very present in Uri Tupka and The Gods. How conscious of this are you when you’re writing?
Mike Mignola: I’m really not conscious of any specific writer when I’m writing—All those influences are pretty well absorbed by now. More often what pops into my head while writing are actor voices, or the way someone has delivered a bit of dialogue—the pacing of something like that. I have a lot of bits and pieces of films rattling around in my head and I’m sure that’s what informs the way my characters talk. Most of my actual WRITING I do is dialogue.
Art by Mike Mignola
DM: The structure of Uri Tupka, of it being these individual stories that form into a complete story, is so brilliant. Did you start with one story and create the rest of the book from there or were there a couple of stories you had in your head you found ways to connect here?
MM: It really always was just one story. I had a beginning and an end and a few bits I knew I wanted to do somewhere in the middle—So much of my plotting happens as I sit down to thumbnail out the story. I don’t ever write out a plot for myself—I sort of just shove the character out the door in the direction he needs to go and see what happens.
DM: You don’t give the readers of the book a complete view but the belief system and gods feels thought out. How thought out is the mythology of this world? Or is it something that comes as you’re writing and you fix in revisions?
MM: I’ve put a lot of thought into the mythology of this place. I have pages and pages of notes. The challenge for me is to hold some of it back so I don’t overwhelm the reader with it. I’d rather sprinkle in the stories unless a giant explanation is called for.
One of Mignola’s beautifully crooked landscapes from Uri Tupka and the Gods
DM: As an admirer of your art, I have to ask what was your favorite thing to draw in this book?
MM: Lately my favorite thing has been landscapes. I love trees these days. And the buildings. I’ve filled so many sketchbooks with various locations and it’s so much fun moving those places onto the comic pages—Especially since everything has an organic feel in this world. My brick walls and staircases are just as bent and crooked as my trees.
DM: Since Uri Tupka and The Devils is coming, what can readers look forward to reading?
MM: Well URI TUPKA AND THE DEVILS is pretty dark—as you might guess from the title. It is very inspired by the opening chapters of DRACULA, the stuff that takes place in the castle. It’s sort of that mixed with the legend of BLUEBEARD. There’s also a nice bit with a bird that turns into a fish. Beyond that… I have plotted four or five books that involve YEB THE SPOON, the kid from BOWLING WITH CORPSES. I love that guy. I am having just way too much fun. I hope I get to keep doing this for a very long time.
Uri Tupka and The Gods is available for pre-order and will release on March 31st.
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