The Amazing Screw-On Head is my single favorite piece of work by Mike Mignola. If I have a modern art grail, it's the complete Screw-On Head story, which Mignola told me he plans on keeping for himself. Per my usual S.D. routine, I stopped at Mike's booth at the beginning of Preview Night and spotted this piece in his portfolio, which was filled with various BPRD covers, Hellboy panel pages, and this. But I didn't pull the trigger on it. Instead I wandered off to see what other goodies were around. A couple hours later, I came to my senses and hightailed it back thinking I'd missed out on my one and only chance to score a Screw-On Head. Luck was with me, though, and this became my favorite acquisition of the con. And to my delite, I've since discovered that it's the front and inside back cover image to the Making Of booklet that comes with the DVD of the 22-minute animated movie version of Screw-On Head from Lions Gate. How cool is that?!

Have I mentioned Screw-On Head is my single favorite piece of work by Mike Mignola? Or that no one should have just one Screw-On Head, so I snapped this up when I spotted it on Anthony Snyder's web site. Yep. Screw-On Head is cool. He works for the President!

Picked this up at Mike Mignola's table on Preview Night, Comic-Con 2005. While Mike was adding up the damage, he explained this was a piece commissioned by a rare book dealer for the cover of some publication. Perhaps a program for a gathering of rare book dealers, I don't recall. Anybody have a copy of the published version? I'd love to know what it's from. Technically, this is my first and so far only cover acquisition.

While my goal at Wondercon 2006 was to escape with my wallet intact and more important unopened, I really didn't expect to meet that goal. On the first day of the show, while talking to Steve Morger, I learned this page was lurking in Kelvin Mao's portfolio and was for sale. I had my eye on two other potential acquisitions, but after seeing this page in the flesh on day two of Wondercon, it didn't take much for me to pull the trigger on it. I mean, what's not to love about a hero panel of the main character, plus a trio of Dracettes writhing in, um, whatever? Choice Mignola from a cool movie adaptation done for Topps comics. Thanks Steve and Kelvin!

Some folks describe Mignola's style as a combination of Kirby and Toth. In this example, you can see why. Mignola exagerates the human form and poses people in very Kirby-esque ways, and applies Toth's penchant to define images as simply as possible. I love how simple silhouettes and strategic placement of light convey power and action.

Picked up this beauty at Wondercon, 2007, courtesy of Albert Moy. I love the partial silhouettes, the guy running in the first panel, the open chest cavity in the third panel, and the monster in the big panel. Albert told me Mignola had instructed Nowlan to enhance his pencils by adding his style to the inks. Nowlan refused, saying Mignola's pencils were perfect, so there was nothing to enhance.