One of the advantages of the wonderful business we cover is the chance to meet with incredible creators multiple times. Sometimes it can take a few years to reconnect, but you can always be sure that during that time, they are doing something remarkable. In 2023, we talked with artist Jesse Lonergan about his first collaboration with Mike Mignola on the Dark Horse Comics title Miss Truesdale and the Fall of Hyperborea.
Interestingly, another collaboration with Mr. Mignola brings us back to Jesse’s doorstep. This time, it’s for a four-issue miniseries from Dark Horse titled Miss Truesdale and the Rise of Man. We talked about our last visit and how his collaboration with Mike has grown since that first chance, along with this thrilling new chapter. Now, let’s welcome back Jesse Lonergan to GVN Talking Comics!
Revisiting Miss Truesdale
GVN: Thank you for revisiting us, Jesse. Our last visit (quite appropriately) was your collaboration with Mike Mignola on Dark Horse Comics ‘Miss Truesdale and The Fall of Hyperborea.’ Well, fast-forward over two years, and we are once again exploring another Miss Truesdale adventure with ‘Miss Truesdale and the Rise of Man.’ A fascinating contrast between the Victorian secretary and the Hyperborean gladiator, Anum Yassa, presents an intriguing artistic challenge. How did you approach that storyline visually?
JESSE: This time around we’re mostly following the merged Truesdale/Yassa character as she explores the primordial beginnings of human culture in the Hellboy Universe, and she meets these different nascent cultures, and without ruining the story too much, she battles this malevolent force. I tried to give each culture a distinct look not just in the design of the characters but also in the composition of the pages, so that each issue has a distinct feel.
Keeping a Consistent Look
GVN: I referenced your earlier project, ‘Miss Truesdale and The Fall of Hyperborea.’ Did you have any specific visual elements in mind that you wanted to carry over from “The Fall of Hyperborea” into “Rise of Man,” or did you view them as entirely separate works?
JESSE: I want to make sure it fits into the look that’s been established in the world of Hellboy, so I try to keep it grounded in that sense, but personally, I’m not really that interested in repeating myself so I’m looking for ways I can build and improve upon what I’ve done before. I think this series pushes my visual storytelling further.
The Evolution of Working with Mignola
GVN: You have now had the opportunity to work with Mike twice. Has the creative dynamic between you and Mignola changed on this project?
JESSE: I think this project is a little more collaborative than the first one. It was closer to the Marvel method. The scripts were looser and I had a lot of freedom to break down the story in whatever way I wanted to. Then I’d send the finished pages to Mike, and he’d write captions and dialogue based on those. I think we both have to be pretty confident in our creative process to work that way.
Staying True to Your Artistic Self
GVN: It has been mentioned with previous artistic collaborators that Mike likes to give his artists leeway for improvisation in panel composition or pacing. When it comes to working on an established Hellboy character, how do you balance your own artistic voice with the established tone of the Hellboy universe set forth by Mike?
JESSE: I think there’s a definite visual tone that’s been established by Mike, but at the same time, the artists he’s chosen to work with have been so varied. Each has their own artistic voice, and that’s a tone of the universe as well. Personally, I think I draw on a lot of influences, and Mike is definitely one of them, but I’m also pretty idiosyncratic and I can’t really help doing things the way I do them.
GVN: Regarding the origins of The Rise of Man, was this a topic you explored while working on Fall of Hyperborea? What initially attracted you to this project?
JESSE: When Mike first talked with me about doing Miss Truesdale, he suggested that if things went well on the first series there would be opportunities for more, so I think he had this story in mind from the beginning. I was still pretty new to the industry on Fall of Hyperborea; it was the first series I’d ever done, so there was the potential for it not to go well (missing deadlines or that sort of thing), but, fortunately, it went smoothly.
The Influences of Past Work
GVN: With this now being your second go-around with Miss Truesdale, has working on this character influenced your perspective on storytelling in comics at all, or have you just relied on your experience and what has worked on previous titles?
JESSE: I think every creative project, whether it’s a good or a bad experience, will influence what comes after it, and I think I’m the kind of creator who is always changing. I’m always going to experiment. With my solo stuff I’ll experiment more because I have that freedom to fail and take as long as I want to get something done. I’ll be a little more conservative when working with someone else because of deadlines and stuff like that.
Future Projects
GVN: Thanks again for your time, Jesse. Before I let you go, what future projects are you eager to dive into after this series?
JESSE: I always have a solo project that I’m working on, and the current one is called Panda Delivery Service, which is going up on my Patreon. I’ll also be doing a time-traveling crime story with Matt Kindt next year, which will be a lot of fun.
The 22-page Miss Truesdale and the Rise of Man #1 is due out on Dec. 10, 2025, from Dark Horse.
Senior Writer at GeekVibesNation – I am a 60 something child of the 70’s who admits to being a Star Trek/Star Wars/Comic Book junkie who once dove headfirst over a cliff (Ok, it was a small hill) to try to rescue his Fantastic Four comic from a watery grave. I am married to a lovely woman who is as crazy as I am and the proud parent of a 21-year-old young man with autism. My wife and son are my real heroes.
