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Documenting Monsters: Talking Hellboy with Jim Demonakos and Kevin Konrad Hanna
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In this episode, Dave sits down with filmmakers Jim Demonakos and Kevin Konrad Hanna as they chat about their upcoming documentary film, "Mike Mignola: Drawing Monsters - The Secret Origins of Hellboy!" Ahead of the film's release on Apple TV and Prime Video on 9/17, get some insights about the making of and more in this exclusive chat arranged by our friends at the Nacelle Company!
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Intro and other voices by Joe Azzari
https://www.instagram.com/voicesbyjoe/
Theme Music is "Game Boy Horror" by the Zombie Dandies
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Transcript
Introduction and Podcast Overview
00:00:03
Speaker
Are you ready, kids? Get your parents' permission, check your mailbox, and grab your shopping cart. It's time for the Adventures in Collecting podcast. I'm Eric. And I'm Dave. Welcome to Adventures in Collecting, where we talk toy news, culture, and halls, along with our journeys as collectors.
Special Episode Announcement
00:00:27
Speaker
Hello, everybody, and welcome back to Adventures in Collecting. In this special episode, you are going to hear an exclusive, or see an exclusive, depending on where you're enjoying this episode, an exclusive interview that Dave had um with our friends at The Nacelle Company.
Documentary Insights: 'Mike Mignola, Drawing Monsters'
00:00:47
Speaker
They recently produced a documentary called Mike Mignola, Drawing Monsters, The Secret Origins of Hellboy. And Dave had the opportunity to sit down with the filmmakers of that documentary, um Jim DeMonicos and Kevin Conrad Hanna.
00:01:06
Speaker
i This documentary airs or premieres I should say September 17th on Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV and features never-before-seen interviews with the likes of Guillermo del Toro, Mike Mignola himself, as they discuss the origins of Hellboy and how he went from being on the sketchboard to a beloved I guess you could say a cult classic um icon from ah from across different mediums. Of course we've got the comics, the graphic novels, the film, um the films series, ah the the animated films. theres There's a lot of Hellboy out there and he's become um over the years a beloved character. so
00:01:55
Speaker
I'm going to shut up, I'm going to kick it over to Dave, and and you're going to hear directly from the filmmakers themselves. And once again, a reminder, definitely if you are a fan of Hellboy, if you are a fan of Mike Mignola's art, um you want to check out Drawing Monsters, the secret origins of Hellboy, once again on September 17th on Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV. Dave?
00:02:21
Speaker
Take it away.
Collecting Trends: Batman Items and Popcorn Buckets
00:02:22
Speaker
um So as we are a part podcast about collecting, um what are you guys currently collecting? So I see your T-shirt and I actually went last night to the screening of Batman with the Penguin sneak peek just so I could pick up the Bat Signal ah popcorn bucket. Nice.
00:02:49
Speaker
which ah literally is, there's nowhere to put popcorn in it. It's like, it's just a bat signal and it's very cool, but then they just give you the popcorn separately. There's actually no container whatsoever for you to put popcorn in the bat signal. um I don't know if that's exactly what you meant, but going out of your way for nerd stuff, I think it was relatable to all of us.
00:03:16
Speaker
absolutely counts yeah especially with some of those buckets they've been they've been putting out lately with the the wolverine one or the alien uh the xenomorph head like i actually don't know how they get popcorn in the in any of those yeah it's it's wild we're just gonna keep going and pretty soon it's just gonna be like a full body size xenomorph and they'll be like it's a popcorn bucket you know like i but but yeah In the theater for the pocket because and that's how they get you and you get an extra seat titled itll It'll talk it'll it'll be able to be poseable. It'll do everything except for proper
00:03:54
Speaker
but I mean, but the genius idea there is that instead of acid, it could drool butter onto your popcorn. Oh, there you go. That should have just been the that should have been a move. It's just, I'm not saying I'm a genius or anything, but this is what this is. you heard it here first. Yeah, we go free ideas. Take a note.
00:04:15
Speaker
And in three years when there's another aliens movie, I just need a butter dribble from from that mouth anyway.
Comic Book Talk: X Factor and Classic Comics
00:04:25
Speaker
How about you, Kev? What are you reading lately? I just grabbed the the first issue of X Factor from Mark Russell and Bob Quinn. And I loved it. It it's great was great. It was an excellent take on kind of the the the classic X Factor, which was like they were the Incognito, originally, sorry, I'm getting getting deep into X floor, but originally they were pretending to be mutant hunters. And later they were conscripted by the government. and Now this is like the new reality show version of the X factor. So okay it's like, it's like they know that the C team of the X-Men. And so it's a lot of fun. And of course, jumping on with the first issue, you know, you're always hoping it clicks, it takes off a little bit. um and But then also just as a genuine Mike Mignola fan, I am still like actively looking and hunting for all those like classics um legends of the dark knight and the the the stuff the the pre-help like stuff um to continue to pad out my maniola marvel and dc collection yeah i gotta look back in my uh in my uh long boxes to see if i have those legends of the dark knight because i know i was reading that at an age that was entirely too young to be reading it but um at the same time i know i have
00:05:40
Speaker
a good handful of those early early like waves of legends of the dark night also getting into into the documentary um what was the most interesting thing you learned about mike manuela's career uh...
Hellboy's Cultural Impact and Origins
00:05:55
Speaker
just how much cocaine was a part of it was like
00:06:02
Speaker
um i'm just kidding he has never to to our knowledge ever not ho um you know to to be honest i actually did not realize it's a funny thing because you know if you're a certain age Um, which is younger than us. I won't, I won't lump you in Dave. I don't know how old you are, but I'll just, uh, I'll only speak for Kevin and myself. Um, I'm 43. So 43. Okay. You're all hard. Like I turned 47 next month. Like Kevin is a spry 29. Um, and so if you're a certain age, Hellboy has always existed.
00:06:46
Speaker
Right, like if you think about anybody born after 1994 Hellboy has just always been around to them. It's no different than Superman or Batman or Spider-Man or anybody that that character has just existed and I think there's part, even though i my first Mignola comic was Fofford and knowing Mignola did stuff before Hellboy, really researching and talking to him was how much work he actually did before Hellboy came into this world. That was that was the thing that i I was like, oh yeah. like
00:07:27
Speaker
you know he did this and he did this you're like of course but then he did this and this and this and rocket raccoon and he did these three issues of the hulk and you're like oh wait he did way more than i thought in terms of his career and so that was for me one of the just eye opening both in research and also just talking to him about it because he's like i did this and you saw the doc so it's like oh yeah i was struggling doing this i was doing that And then but I went over to DC and I did this and that. You're like, oh, wow, like there's so much more. But then when that switch flipped and it became Hellboy to me, Mike Mignola is Hellboy. And that's what he's done. Not that he hasn't done anything else, but that is it. So that's my answer, Kevin.
00:08:13
Speaker
Oh, I mean, I think Rocket Raccoon was a good one. Guardians of the Galaxy would likely not have Rocket Raccoon in and it if it wasn't for Mike Maniola turning a character that had only been in the background of a couple issues into a regular Marvel character. That was really fun.
00:08:29
Speaker
the weird dominoes of like, you know, um he he he was part of the process that tripled Doja Cat's popularity, he like little weird things, because ah she dressed up as a character from Atlantis that he helped design. And then ah that kind of helped put her on the map as as an internet thing. But I think the the the more real answer is the fact that it took him a while um to find his voice and so we all know Mike is like one of the strongest voices in comic and it's like one of the first artists that people see and they recognize they go I know that that's my youla
00:09:06
Speaker
But it took him almost 20 years to get to that point, and a lot of it was trial and error, and a lot of it, in his words, was failure. like Things that he would try and didn't work, or things that he would get put on and it didn't work out. And I think the really awesome and and beautiful story was his long journey to find his place to be the very, very important and iconic artist that he is.
00:09:28
Speaker
Yeah, it's it's really interesting to see because, you know, as someone who's kind of grew up in that time where, yeah, Hellboy is a thing that I know, you know, I remember when Dark Horse was basically like new and it was like it was an indie.
00:09:44
Speaker
it was an indie publisher so I didn't know he did all this this mainstream stuff and I didn't know he helped design Atlantis like as a self admitted Disney fan like had no clue so learning all this extra stuff and how kind of much it's kind of changed the course of almost how we think about a lot of a lot of mainstream stuff his his style um it was really interesting to see it was it was really cool and then yeah like you're saying that just never never giving up it it almost like reminded me like it could kind of double up with the the sparks documentary that edgar right did of just two you know two forms of entertainment of just never give up because it it it'll it'll happen and you you know you just you just got to keep going um and that
00:10:38
Speaker
was I think like a running theme too from a lot of the people that were interviewed in the documentary. um They talked about how Hellboy resonated with them and why it resonated with them. There were a bunch of really great stories in there. um How does Hellboy and in turn Mike Beniole's journey resonate with you guys?
00:10:58
Speaker
um i i think it's the story of an outsider um and you know i i i think that it you know in the movies hellboy is definitely like portrayed as as as like this um uh the freak and outsider and less so in the comics but the comic itself is a comic book that's kind of off the side there's like there's the big pillars of marvel and dc and then off to the side is this pulpy horror comic that has a really uh small but Devout and passionate following and um, and so it's like the comic book for outsiders in a lot of ways and I think uh mike will is the first to say that he kind of grew up as as a kind of A nevish, uh person who would sit alone and draw and read
00:11:44
Speaker
and um And a lot of people see themselves in that. And a lot of people can relate to
Themes of Outsider and Influence
00:11:50
Speaker
that. And all of us are from some circle, some group, something where we feel like we don't always fit in. And we don't we're trying to find our place. And that's absolutely hellboy. He's just a normal guy trying to fit in. but he has this like hellish destiny to be the beast and on all these other things and he kinda tries to say no i'm just me you know and i think that a big part of that was also my kids like you know people will kind of bring a lot to him and be like oh you're you're the savior of comics and you're most graphic and iconic and and he has other things but i'm just a guide special ink on the page i think yeah there's definitely that like that humble factor that
00:12:29
Speaker
that kind of keeps it grounded too. um Jim, what about you? I think that that the thing that we did throughout our interviews and talking to all of these creative people is that there is essentially like without being too deep about it. It's like a ah meditation on creativity. The film lets you think about that if you pursue the thing that you love, there can be an audience for it.
00:13:13
Speaker
And it felt very empowering to watch this film from that lens to say that not only is this a film about Mike and his journey, but that you could see so many other people following along in his week that this can be your journey as well if you want it to be you can be a creative and you can take your destiny into your own hands and there's a lot of things that fall into it right you know i'm i'm definitely not saying that you will achieve the level of success that hellboy has because as you know for anything
00:13:59
Speaker
There's timing and luck and all these other factors But it really starts with you and you doing the work and you putting your creative voice out into the world Yeah, and I mean I think the thing that was That really brings that home is just so many people in different creative fields. There were people who were animation film um comics like it just wasn't everybody in like the comic book world and it was stuck in this this one box um his career and you know the creations and the art and all that has really resonated with people across the spectrum of of creativity which i think was another really powerful piece to the documentary yeah i feel as though
00:14:48
Speaker
you don't realize kind of going back to one of your first questions like you know what was surprising but uh you know i i kept it to just comics but it's also as we delve deep into how influential mike is across multiple fields of creativity he's not just a comic book influencer uh he is his his His art has touched people whose fingers are in and every creative field. um Like you said, animation, illustration, concept art, movies, and comics. And that was really, really interesting to see how deep his roots actually spread to to help people and in those other fields.
00:15:44
Speaker
Yeah. And I mean, the the influence is huge. And I thought one of the cool things was like he didn't want everybody to be him. It was like, do this your own way. um But with that said, he still has ah Mike Mignola still has one of the more distinct visual styles in in art and in comics. What do you think has made that stand the test of time the way it has?
00:16:08
Speaker
i I think that it's, he just did what he did. I think the fact that he just kept carving out something that was his vision. he I mean, he definitely has a lot of influences. He loves Frank Rosetta. you know the you know he He talks about how he used to watch those art house german or German expressionism ah films as a kid in San Francisco. um But that all kind of just got became part of the soup. And then he kept pushing to the things that he liked and was passionate about.
00:16:39
Speaker
and Instead of him chasing down like, you know, he could have tried to be like Neil Adams or like even Bernie, right? And there was a big influence on him, but he's like, I'm not Bernie rights. And I am, I am me. And the, all those different influences kind of come in one side and and all get blended, um, according to his passions. And so I think instead of him trying to like adjust for audiences or do what's popular or, um,
00:17:04
Speaker
ah draw for other people, I think he draws for himself. And I think that's what made it so distinct and so interesting. And he's like, he's very iconic, but I also think he's someone that if he's not for you, he's not for you. You know what I mean? If your preference is a different type of style, it's, it's, um there's no version of that where it's like, okay, here's the My Little Pony version of Mike Mignola. And here's the but super accessible, this version of Mike Mignola. It's like, this is what he does. And he does it very, very well.
00:17:35
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, it's, I mean, like, it's, ke um Brian and I were actually talking about it before you, you guys jumped on, um you know, he's one of those artists where everybody knows Mike Beniola, but I don't think they all realize they do. Yeah. Yeah. Like everybody will know it. It's like, I know it when I see it, but like, for sure, it's, it's just one of those styles that just jumps out at you.
00:18:01
Speaker
Well, and I think like, you know, I think people have like, Jim and I's age. He was back when artists would win. I mean, I guess I still do this, but where, where Mike was doing covers for like Marvel and DC. He was one of the first artists that you learned to recognize the style of because it's so distinct and so unique. It's, you'd see a cool cover and it was like, and 70%, 80% of the page is all black. And there's not a lot of crosshatching. It's just super, super graphic. You're like, that's, ah that's the mic. manualla page Yeah, for sure. Jim, what do you think? So ah really taking what Kevin said to to another level, too, it's what what is distinct about Mike is that he's a blend that no one had seen before and he
00:18:51
Speaker
In his, I think his writing is actually just as
Mike Mignola's Artistic Legacy
00:18:55
Speaker
important as his artwork because there's a sparseness even to his writing that looks a lot like his artwork where, you know, he's not doing hyper detail. Like he's not Art Adams, right? Art Adams is hyper detailed and Mignola is the opposite. They're both cartoonists and they're both people who convey exactly what they want on the page but they do it in such different manners. ah Mike is kind of like a reductionist and he's really a in a way a caricature artist because he gives you the
00:19:38
Speaker
the impressions of the body, the impressions of what he wants to convey in his artwork more so than anybody else in comics. And speaking from the writing point of view, he also There's no like pop culture references. He doesn't make it so that, uh, you know, all the kids are talking about Riz. And so I'm going to use that as a word inside, none of that. And so what's interesting about reading a Hellboy comic from no matter what part of it, it never feels tied to a certain time.
00:20:16
Speaker
except for its actual location in the story. So you can read it over and over without it actually feeling dated. And I think that's an incredible talent that is really under underappreciated for Mike is how his stuff transcends time, both illustratively and from his writing. And now a word from our sponsors.
Ad Break: Chubsy Wubsy Toys
00:20:51
Speaker
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00:21:08
Speaker
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Adapting Hellboy: Comics vs. Films
00:21:32
Speaker
And now, back to the show. yeah and it was it's also interesting as someone who kind of you know is a is a pretty big fan of the movie or the del toro movies we saw a lot from the arm of del toro in in the documentary and i think he was the one who said like he went from being like somebody in the comic who said like one word sentences to how do we make him have dialogue uh... but worse but were some of the major takeaways you you got from seeing how uh...
00:22:05
Speaker
you know, hellboy from the page to a cinematic experience kind of panned out. It's been really interesting. um I will say that they feel different and i I think that's sort of the crux of a lot of the conversations we ended up having with Mike and Guillermo inside of the documentary too. It's like at a certain point you have to realize that Feature films are completely different than comics. There is no one-to-one comparison. Hellboy had to talk more. You can't have a leading man that just says seven words and get people to really, really be on board with it. And so it was really interesting to see that it really was
00:22:56
Speaker
Guillermo's version of Hellboy that he put on the screen. It wasn't Mike's Hellboy. Mike made Mike was the source material, Mike was the ingredients and Guillermo made a much different omelet than Mike makes for comics and even, ah you know, the David Harbour version or this brand new version, which we haven't seen. All of those are still based off of the same ingredients, but they're all making completely different sausage.
00:23:30
Speaker
Yeah, for sure. um Kevin, what did you think of like kind of that whole cinematic era? I'm just thinking about Jim's Hellboy Sausage. going spic Spicy red. Spicy red. Perfect. but Yeah, I mean, I think it absolutely it's like, you know, when you read the comic, there's so much control. Every frame, you know, you can do vertical frames, the the layout of the page, it is its own art. It's absolutely its own distinct art form with all these different elements. But then something you introduce movement and timing and music.
00:24:07
Speaker
and in voice inflections, all these different things. It doesn't matter who does it and how faithful they try to be, there's there's so much interpretation that needs to happen. And um and you know Mike and Guillermo overlapped so well, so much. Guillermo said like they overlapped 90% of their taste, their influences, and then he's like, but that 10% that's different, it's very big. It's a very big 10%.
00:24:31
Speaker
And so, you know, when you watch the film, like I rewatched the the first film recently and I I was surprised how faithful it was, how much of the actual comic was in there, but it still feels like it's completely its own thing. So I feel like if you like the movie, you're probably going to like the comic a lot, too. um But it it becomes it's you know, it's one is like, you know, it's like Nirvana Unplugged versus the the album edition, right? Yeah, some version of that. Yeah.
00:25:02
Speaker
All right. So there was, it was the documentary itself is, you know, just shy nine or just over 90 minutes. Um, and it's a jam packed 90 minutes, but it is, you know, it's a breeze of 90 minutes for sure. Um, was there anything that it was like, this is a story that I want to include, but just like time constraint wise or flow wise, like it just didn't work. Yeah.
00:25:28
Speaker
yeah and oh Sure, I mean I I there is so so much and I think Jim and I ah talked about this recently Which was there is once we were done and we're like, this is the story. This is Mike's story and we put it in a nice cohesive thing More things kept happening, you know, Mike would Mike got a tattoo. He got a tattoo of of with with with Katie his daughter and of the symbols from their their story that they wrote together. And thought oh that would have been really cool. And so like a lot of it, like as as once we finished the documentary, I think there was more that we wanted to add in. um There was so many things that we just kind of sprinted through that we really loved and like they were really, really interesting. um you know the The Hellboy animations that had stones done, there was a lot of really, really cool elements that we just,
00:26:18
Speaker
go okay cool checkbox and keep running um and yeah and a lot of weird things there was the but i keep mentioning it just because it's so quirky and everyone should google it but the hellboy k-pop song where the lead singer is dressed up as hellboy and it like that was just it came out right after we wrapped and i was like that's so weird and interesting i wanted it at the end when we're doing the medley of hellboy worldwide with like the hellboy wrestler in japan and all the other different elements you know But I i e i i will i'll let Jim talk because he he has some some interesting things about it as well. So for me, I think it was a really
00:27:01
Speaker
Our first cut of the film was a lot longer, not surprisingly. Like the director's cut, yeah, I wouldn't even call it the director's cut because we didn't finish a lot of it. What we had was like, okay, almost 80 hours of film. Like we did a lot of interviews.
00:27:21
Speaker
And sometimes it's hard, you know, you can do a two hour interview and there's a two minute clip that survives. That's just the way it is when it comes to documentaries. So when we put our first cut together, it's very long. It's honestly pretty boring.
00:27:41
Speaker
And we had to start trimming and trimming and trimming to get it down to that 94 minutes that feels breezy and good. Like there's a lot of things that were left on the cutting room floor where we wanted to expand upon. Like, for example, I'll use this one, which is we had a whole section of how interesting all the other characters that Mike has created are, you know,
00:28:07
Speaker
We obviously focus on Hellboy, but Abe Sapien is an incredible character. Johann is an incredible character. Liz Sherman is an incredible character, et ceterat cetera, et cetera. Roger of the Homunculus. You have all these crazy good characters that have come out of this man's brain.
00:28:27
Speaker
and We had a whole section because as we were doing interviews, we would ask someone like Rebecca Sugar, like, hey Rebecca, who's your favorite Hellboy character that's not Hellboy?
00:28:39
Speaker
And she's like, I love Roger. Like, Oh, and why? Okay. And she would talk about what. And so we had a whole section that was all these pretty awesome people talking about their favorite Hellboy characters. But what happened is that every time you got to that section, which was, I would say no more than four ish minutes long, maybe five at most.
00:29:00
Speaker
you would it felt like the breaks were put on during the the the documentary as you're watching it because i mean we couldn't figure out why as you're watching it as a whole we're like uh kind of legs here it's got problems there e etc as we're cutting it through and we realize that it's a lot of people throwing a lot of new information and new characters at the audience with the payoff really being Mike created a lot of cool characters. yeah yeah So we can summarize that five minute section when we had someone mentioned, like there's an, and I think it was Katie O'Brien, the Hellboy editor, talked about a bunch of the characters. We showed the the pan art and that was it. Cause then all she had to do was say, he's created so many great characters, X, Y, Z, et cetera.
00:29:56
Speaker
And then you can move on so the audience didn't have to be like, okay, so now there's this guy, he's Abe Sapien. Okay, now, all right, now there's this person. And, like and so that's, I think my best example of a thing that was very, I thought was very good.
00:30:12
Speaker
but didn't really actually help the story of the documentary or the story of mike and so That's those are the kind of choices that we had to make and again like shaving shaving shaving and eventually We got to this 94 minutes where we felt like it was very breezy and you could watch it and feel like oh, okay, you're not You know, everything is introduced and everything is explained when there's things that we didn't think people like, for example, like what's an anchor?
00:30:43
Speaker
You know, a casual person might've heard the term, but they don't know. And so we made sure to have like Mike Carlin be like, Hey, can you explain what an inker is? And cause there's a big difference between Mike being the penciler and Mike being an inker. And so we wanted to make sure that people understood. It's like, Oh, I get it. That's the the different levels of what it is in making comics. And and full disclosure, like the, the chasing Amy, uh,
00:31:12
Speaker
Definition is like literally what the majority of people like One of the big takeaway lines from that movie. So it's what people know of as an anchor. So it's also a good Educational piece for people to see like oh no, this is what it is Yeah, and that was that was one of the reasons that that that chasing Amy clip actually fit in so well is to be like And we ah we know it as well talking to non comic reading friends That definition of anchor is what I would say most people who don't have any idea how a comic is made Think of it. And so we were like, here's what it isn't and now let's tell you what it is
00:31:54
Speaker
And definitely one of the things that we've got to look up and we'll try to put it in like a story or, you know, our, when we post ah that the episode's up is that, uh, the K-pop song and the the wrestling match for sure. Like that's, that'll definitely hit with, with the audience for sure. Um, was sorry i had one add a little del Jim and I were, we're such big fans that like me started, I think the easy thing for us to do is for us to do something that Jim and I will mention a lot is just Wikipedia, of the movie.
00:32:23
Speaker
where you just list everything the person worked on and talk about everything and talk about how great it was. And we were already massive Mike Manola fans, and we knew a lot of people were already going, a lot of people that were going to watch us were massive Mike Manola fans. And so what we kind of wanted to do is a film that anyone could watch and take Mike's story away from it, but kind of like the thing I thought of is I want the film that I could show someone and say, this thing is important to me. And by watching this film, you'll understand why it's important too. And that was kind of, you know, that was kind of the approach in my head was like, could I show this to someone who who has never heard of Mike, maybe not a comic book fan and walk away with an understanding of Mike's impact, not a just the world of comics, but the world of culture. Yeah.
00:33:12
Speaker
Yeah, just a major impact on pop culture. And I do think it's got that ability to like, to cross over and be something that you can watch even if you're not into comics. Absolutely.
Hellboy Collectibles: Unique Finds
00:33:24
Speaker
um So one of the things that we saw, and I think it was like kind of briefly in the end with the world's view, like when it was, you know, Hellboy worldwide. um Saw some of the toys and collectibles from the Hellboy universe. We are an action figure collecting podcast. So we've got to talk about it briefly. Some of that was shown in the documentary. What were some of your favorite pieces that you saw or that you encountered while putting this together? Oh, I have an answer for that. But Jim's going to talk. I want to say the right name for it. So for me, ah let's see.
00:34:01
Speaker
In terms of the coolest, uh, we saw some, uh, this goes into the movie stuff. We definitely saw a bunch of props, uh, which was great. We got to, um, go to Adam Savage's, uh, warehouse, uh, workshop and he had all kinds of, um,
00:34:21
Speaker
Hellboy props from a toy and collectible point of view um I think there's a the Eric so Hellboy is one of the coolest It's actually pretty hard to find but when you you do you should look it up It's kind of almost like a fully around Hellboy He made it so so different than every other interpretation of hell when that's what i love is like looking at something that's not normal not just like oh a good a good sculpt or a good interpretation this was like the vibe of hell boy in a completely different way i can also that same guy did a really good
00:35:02
Speaker
marv from uh sin city that you should look up as well so um like it's got a fully removable uh trench coat and wow um just this cool vinyl figure it's got like an actual um uh actual cross uh his like his cross that he's wearing is also removable um There's also a Japanese ah robot Hellboy that was just released earlier this year that I bought. um And that also has a removable trench coat, two different heads, and a couple of arms, or a couple of different of the right hand of dooms. And it's honestly one of the coolest things. I think you i think yeah you can still get it at like big big bad toy store.
00:35:54
Speaker
Okay, so yeah, so those are the ones that I would definitely like at I would go to people's houses and then be like How do I get one of those because that's awesome and then go look it up and try to try to find it Yeah, I mean everyone's collection is kind of how we all find new stuff and figure out. Yeah, oh nothing. This is so cool. Yeah ah Kevin, what was what was yours?
00:36:19
Speaker
Okay. Well, I'm going to go back in time. So I'll start with most recent, the one that just came out, but I actually took a bunch of pictures of, uh, at San Diego Comic Con this year, it was the Hellboy 30th anniversary doll final. And there's, um, there's a color version is a black and white version, and I'm still not sure which one I want more.
00:36:34
Speaker
Um, but it's really cool. It actually has like an attachable corpse, uh, from the hellboy story, the corpse. And, uh, they did a really good job making it feel like, uh, uh, Mike's shapes and and dimensions. So I think if you look at things dramatically, it would actually look like a microphone drawing.
00:36:49
Speaker
I'm really excited about that one. um Going back, the toy line that I really, really loved was the 2005 Mexico Hellboy toy line. And they're just weird and awesome and ugly and beautiful. They're not quite on model, but there's something really interesting about them. I love the Liz Sherman and the lobster Johnson especially. And then going all the way back when I was a very poor teenager, I remember saving up my money and buying the Randy Bowen Abe Sapien bust and I remember like that was such a big purchase for me at the time because it was like all my allowances and mowing lawns and all that stuff and that one was like super super super important for me but yeah we got to see so much cool stuff I mean and then you know you're like oh I have this collectible action figure and you go to someone's house and they're like, here's the master cast and the original sculpture. Oh, that's wild. It was pretty amazing. It was pretty amazing. We got to basically see all the coolest and best and original stuff. It was great. But yeah, I think probably Adam, Adam Savages takes, takes a cake as far as all his actual real props from the movie and then also replicas that he made. I think the most iconic would be that he made the glove, Resputin's glove that someone held way to earth.
00:38:02
Speaker
Um and he's done some videos about that that are they're pretty amazing Yeah, I thought the other cool thing too was like, oh Tara MacPherson's in this like, oh, I wonder if she does Oh, yeah, there it is. Like yeah. Oh my god. I forgot about that. Yeah. Yeah No, yeah that one and that was an important for one for us to fit in there because it was really it's it was a really cool toy Yeah, I like the way she kind of almost like reinvent stuff in a way like it's it was really cool to see that um, so um You know, this starter was a Kickstarter and, you know, ultimately Nacelle also hopped on board.
Documentary Production and Inspiration
00:38:38
Speaker
um Was this the first time working with Nacelle and what was it like partnering with them on the project? Yeah, this is our first time working with Nacelle. They were introduced to us through one of our EPs, Adam F Goldberg. So shout out to Adam, thank you very much. um So, and it's been great. ah We've never
00:39:00
Speaker
You know going the self Funding route is a lot of work and uh, it's also a lot of reward which is great but it came to the point where we've got we went about as far as we could by ourselves And then now with nacelle on board to get the film out to a wider audience That's the thing we're most excited about is that you know ever since it came out everybody who?
00:39:26
Speaker
Back then on kickstarter got to see it and then they'd tell friends we'd tell people like hey we made a film like oh and of course the first question is when can i see it where can i see it and we're always like uh soon we're working on it you know and it it's hard because after a while like people only have so much attention span too and it's like Oh, I did this thing. Cool. Can I see it? No, not yet. Okay. Well, remind me again. And then like, it just it sort of fades away and it hasn't been that long, but we're really excited for, you know, to kind of keep continuing this journey with Nacelle and be able to get it out so that it can finally, you know, on September 17th, we're pretty stoked that everyone's going to be able to finally watch it.
00:40:10
Speaker
All right. Um, last question that I have, and then we'll get to the, the important thing, which is plugging the movie. Um, if you could get one, um, people to take away one thing from watching drawing monsters, what would it be? I, I think for me, it was, um, I'm just echoing Mike's message from it, which was that it doesn't matter how weird or unique your idea is, give it a shot. Um, you know, uh, Mike,
00:40:37
Speaker
took a double character named Hellboy and turned it into the third biggest comic book franchise, but also just the most unique and artistic and cool thing out there because he kind of fought for his works and just kept trying. And I think this film, if it's anything, is a call to arms for you to create your own.
00:41:02
Speaker
I think my very, very ah
00:41:08
Speaker
very similarly again it's this that creativity is not one thing and that you can do exactly what you want and put it out into the world and have that be your calling card like that one time even if it doesn't become your career but at least one time you went out there and you did exactly what you wanted to do and put out exactly the thing that you wanted to see exist in the world i hope that's what people take away that you can do that too
00:41:48
Speaker
awesome yeah it's it's such an inspiring documentary like i'm i'm so excited for for people to be able to see it on but before we go at uh... jim ken how can we find you guys on social media and how can we see the movie So for me, I'm just Jim Domonakos on all social medias. Feel free to to give me a shout on Twitter blue sky Instagram, you name it. We also run the Mignola doc Twitter and Instagram as well. So people can follow that for the movie. It's Mignola documentary calm
00:42:28
Speaker
ah It's out September 17th on all streaming platforms, Apple, Amazon, Voodoo, YouTube, you name it, like, it's it's gonna be out there. So if you can find it in your heart to support us, we would super appreciate it by you supporting us. We can make more documentaries like this. Kevin? Yeah, absolutely yeah i'm and I'm, I'm, I'm, uh, strong children across social media. So just literally that, uh, maybe a little bit inspired by my formulas.
00:42:59
Speaker
very cool frogs. And I'll just echo what Jim said. It's like, yeah, I could check out the film. it The people who were able to see it, the very small group of people that were able to see it at film festivals and that supported the original film, it seemed to really connect with people. So i I hope you can check it out and connect with it as well.
Closing Remarks and Listener Engagement
00:43:19
Speaker
All right, Jim, Kevin, thank you very much. And thank you for coming on today. Thanks for having us, Dave. We really appreciate it. Thank you so much.
00:43:30
Speaker
Thank you, dear listener, for hanging out with us today. Subscribe, rate, and review us wherever you listen, and then tell your friends to do it. Thanks also to Joe Azari, the golden voice behind our intro. Our music is Game Boy Horror by the Zombie Dandies. Find more about them both on our show notes.
00:43:46
Speaker
Follow us on social media at AIC underscore podcast on Instagram and Twitter. Stop by and say hi. Show us your toy hauls and share your toy stories. Maybe we'll talk about it in a future episode.
00:44:02
Speaker
don't try this at home void where prohibited in some assembly required each sold separately not a flying toy consult a physician if your toy run exceeds more than four hours
00:44:10
Speaker
This has been a non-productive media presentation, executive producer Frank Kablaui. This program and many others like it on the non-productive network is distributed under a Creative Commons attribution non-commercial no derivatives license. Please share it, but ask before trying to change it or sell it. For more information, visit non-productive.com.