Today is Mike Mignola’s 55th birthday, and that’s the perfect excuse to look back at a comic and illustration career that spans back to the 1980s.

There’s a reason Mignola’s art has not only captivated comic readers for years, but also attracted the attention of Hollywood, where his designs and aesthetics have been applied to both animation and live action. Mignola’s style is deceptively simple, but there is a beautiful elegance in that simplicity, even when manifests in the ugliness of some demon or nightmare creature. There is a mastery in every line and scratch he puts on a skull or statue or monster.

Obviously, Mignola is best known for his creation Hellboy, but we’ve largely tried to steer clear of Big Red and find an assortment of images that you’re perhaps less familiar with. Covers, pinups, and illustrations in both finished and unfinished form; some in striking contrast to Mignola’s famous shadow-heavy style. The gallery includes images from his earliest days at Marvel, right up to work from this year, charting his artistic evolution through the characters and stories that he's revisited over the years.

As you’ll see, even after 30 years, Mignola's distinctive style is still growing and evolving in new directions and in exciting ways, and we can’t wait to see where it goes next.

 

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