CI: Hellboy himself seems pretty unique, especially compared to everything else that’s out there. Where did you draw inspiration from him?

MM: Hellboy is literally everything I’ve ever wanted to draw. Little by little, that’s becoming clear and is taking more shape. I just wanted to dot he kind of stories that no one else was doing, and the kind of things that I was kind of thinking about. I wanted to do a big monster/action kind of thing, but I also wanted to use all these folk tales, fairy tales and mythology things that I’ve always liked [and] wanted to do things with. It was really like taking everything I like and putting it into one bowl. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn’t, but it’s been a lot of fun. I’m in a weird spot with Hellboy, because I’m getting ready after this year, to put Hellboy on the shelf for a little while, because I’ve got another thing I’m going to be doing.

I’ve got Hellboy to a point after the “Wake the Devil” mini series, I started trying out some big cosmic stuff, or started to hint at some big cosmic stuff, and I really didn’t know how I wanted to follow that up. I’m just starting to have an idea, it’s such a radical, giant thing at this point. I want to do something else, and then come back to Hellboy with a fresh perspective on it.

CI: Can you drop any hints as to what this upcoming other project might be?

MM: It’s along the same lines as Hellboy [and] will probably be at DC, we’re just starting negotiations fro this thing. It won’t be a big red guy fighting monsters: it will be a guy fighting monster stuff. It’s very similar to the Hellboy stuff [in that] it will deal with weird Victorian history. It’s really more of a detective story, it has a lot of the archetype characters from old pulp fiction which I really like.

CI: That leads into one question I had about your Victorian settings: you seem to have a real knack for drawing them. How heavily have you researched that? Is it just something you do on the side as a hobby and bring into your work?

MM: I’ve always loved the look of that stuff, I love the whole time period as far as fashions and room interiors. So much of that Victorian ghost literature, which I love, it’s steeped in that kind of atmosphere...it lends itself to that kind of story so well. Think about Jules Verne and HG Welles and Sherlock Holmes, the things that time period just brings up. Half your work is done if you set it in that time period, you know what to expect as soon as you see people wearing those clothes and things. I guess it’s fun to play with.

Research-wise: I have a lot of books, and I love working form reference. I have a real good time digging around and finding that type of furniture and that kind of room interiors, those kind of clothes, and things like that.

CI: Looking back at your Hulk work from the ‘80’s, your art style has changed pretty dramatically. Was there on big catalyst for what your art has evolved into now?

MM: One thing about The Hulk, it’s kind of hard to say what I was doing there, I was just doing really rough layouts, and somebody else was inking my stuff. I’ve actually had people blame the inker for ruining my stuff. People have no idea how horrible I was then. Thank God the guy who inked it took pity on me and made me look better than I actually was then. I think this whole style thing was over a long number of years, it’s me starting to figure out what the hell I’m doing. It’s not one of these things where you wake up one day and say “I’m tired of drawing like this, now I’m gonna draw like this!” It’s just day in, day out doing this stuff. Little by little you start to say “Gee, I like the way this is looking.” Finding out, by accident in my case, just what worked and what I felt the most comfortable with. My stuff is still changing, hopefully it will continue to change.