Data courtesy of the Grand Comics Database under Creative Commons license.

Issue Details

Issue #1
Published July 2004
Cover Price 17.95 USD
Pages 132
Editing Scott Allie
Notes #1 on spine only. Cover is redrawn by Mignola nearly exactly from his cover to BPRD: Hollow Earth (Dark Horse, 2002 series) #1. Inside covers are solid black.

Cover Details - "Front Cover"

Characters Abe Sapien; Roger the Homunculus; Johann Kraus
Genre Occult
Pencils Mike Mignola
Inks Mike Mignola
Colors Dave Stewart
Letters Lia Ribacchi; Lani Schreibstein (Design); typeset
Notes Spine reads #1. Cover is redrawn by Mignola nearly exactly from his cover to BPRD: Hollow Earth (Dark Horse, 2002 series) #1. Inside covers are solid black.
Reprinted from BPRD: Hollow Earth and Other Stories (Dark Horse, 2003 series) #[nn] [art, with new typography]

2 page credits "Title & Indicia Pages"

Letters Lia Ribacchi; Lani Schreibstein (Design); typeset

1 page B.P.R.D. illustration "Hollow Earth"

Characters Abe Sapien; Roger the Homunculus; Johann Kraus
Genre Occult
Pencils Mike Mignola
Inks Mike Mignola
Letters Lia Ribacchi
Reprinted from BPRD: Hollow Earth (Dark Horse, 2002 series) #2 [grayscaled]

1 page credits "Hollow Earth [Credits]"

Characters King of Fear
Pencils Mike Mignola (inset)
Inks Mike Mignola (inset)
Colors Dave Stewart (inset)
Letters Lia Ribacchi (Design); typeset
Reprinted from BPRD: Hollow Earth (Dark Horse, 2002 series) #3 [detail only]; from BPRD: Hollow Earth and Other Stories (Dark Horse, 2003 series) #[nn] [exact page]

66 page B.P.R.D. story "Hollow Earth"

Characters Liz Sherman; Kate Corrigan; Johann Kraus; Hellboy (flashback only); Tom Manning; Abe Sapien; Roger the Homunculus; Trevor Bruttenholm (flashback only); other B.P.R.D. operatives; the King of Fear (first appearance)
Synopsis New recruit Johann Kraus, a medium of pure ectoplasm, joins the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense just as Abe Sapien -- who in the wake of Hellboy's departure wonders if the B.P.R.D. is still home -- receives a vision of former agent Liz Sherman pleading for help. Abe, Johann, and Roger travel to her last known whereabouts, a remote arctic monastery, underneath which they fight ancient Hyperborean creatures controlled by the King of Fear to retrieve Liz's fiery essence and reunite it with her body. Hellboy's first meetings with Abe and Liz are revealed in flashback.
Genre Occult
Script Mike Mignola; Christopher Golden; Tom Sniegoski
Pencils Ryan Sook
Inks Ryan Sook; Curtis Arnold [as Curtis P. Arnold]
Colors Dave Stewart
Letters Clem Robins
Editing Scott Allie; Mike Carriglitto (assistant, original publication)
Reprinted from BPRD: Hollow Earth (Dark Horse, 2002 series) #1; from BPRD: Hollow Earth (Dark Horse, 2002 series) #2; from BPRD: Hollow Earth (Dark Horse, 2002 series) #3

1 page foreword, introduction, preface, afterword "Hollow Earth [Notes]"

Synopsis Allie describes how the BPRD: Hollow Earth miniseries came together.
Script Scott Allie
Letters Lia Ribacchi (Design); typeset
Reprinted from BPRD: Hollow Earth and Other Stories (Dark Horse, 2003 series) #[nn]

3 page B.P.R.D. story "Hollow Earth [Prologue]"

Characters Kate Corrigan; Johann Kraus (origin; first appearance)
Synopsis We learn how Johann became a disembodied ectoplasmic being.
Genre Occult
Script Mike Mignola; Christopher Golden; Tom Sniegoski
Pencils Ryan Sook
Inks Ryan Sook
Colors Dave Stewart
Letters Dan Jackson
Reprinted from Dark Horse Extra (Dark Horse, 1998 series) #42; Dark Horse Extra (Dark Horse, 1998 series) #43; Dark Horse Extra (Dark Horse, 1998 series) #44

1 page credits "Short Story Credits"

Letters Lia Ribacchi (Design); typeset
Reprinted from BPRD: Hollow Earth and Other Stories (Dark Horse, 2003 series) #[nn]

1 page foreword, introduction, preface, afterword "Short Story Notes"

Script Scott Allie
Letters Lia Ribacchi (Design); typeset
Reprinted from BPRD: Hollow Earth and Other Stories (Dark Horse, 2003 series) #[nn]

10 page Lobster Johnson story "The Killer in My Skull"

Characters Lobster Johnson [The Lobster] (first appearance)
Synopsis The Lobster and his aide investigate the deaths of scientists who worked for Zinco-Davis Laboratories.
Genre Occult; Period
Script Mike Mignola
Pencils Matt Smith
Inks Ryan Sook
Colors Dave Stewart
Letters Pat Brosseau
Reprinted from Hellboy: Box Full of Evil (Dark Horse, 1999 series) #1

8 page Abe Sapien story "Abe Sapien versus Science"

Characters Abe Sapien; Roger the Homunculus
Synopsis B.P.R.D. scientists have no luck reviving the inert Roger, so Abe gives it a try, recalling how the scientists were prepared to dissect him before he himself was revived years earlier.
Genre Occult; Period
Script Mike Mignola
Pencils Matt Smith
Inks Mike Mignola
Colors Dave Stewart
Letters Pat Brosseau
Notes The events of this story follow those in Hellboy: Almost Colossus (Dark Horse, 1997 series) and precede Hellboy: Conqueror Worm (Dark Horse, 2001 series).
Reprinted from Hellboy: Box Full of Evil (Dark Horse, 1999 series) #2

1 page Abe Sapien illustration "Drums of the Dead"

Characters Abe Sapien; Hellboy
Genre Occult; Period
Pencils Mike Mignola
Inks Mike Mignola
Letters Lia Ribacchi (Design); typeset
Reprinted from Abe Sapien: Drums of the Dead (Dark Horse, 1998 series) #[nn] [grayscaled]

1 page credits "Drums of the Dead [Credits & Notes]"

Script Scott Allie
Letters Lia Ribacchi (Design); typeset
Reprinted from BPRD: Hollow Earth and Other Stories (Dark Horse, 2003 series) #[nn]

22 page Abe Sapien story "Drums of the Dead"

Characters Abe Sapien; Tom Manning; Garrett Omatta (first appearance)
Synopsis Abe Sapien and psychic Garrett Omatta are sent by the B.P.R.D. to investigate shark attacks and apparent possession aboard a ship that travels an old slave-trade route.
Genre Occult; Period
Script Brian McDonald
Pencils Derek Thompson
Inks Derek Thompson
Colors James Sinclair
Letters Pat Brosseau
Reprinted from Abe Sapien: Drums of the Dead (Dark Horse, 1998 series) #1

9 page B.P.R.D. illustration "B.P.R.D. Sketchbook"

Characters King of Fear; Roger the Homunculus; Johann Kraus; Abe Sapien; Kate Corrigan; Liz Sherman
Synopsis Allie provides notes to production artwork from Mignola and Sook.
Script Scott Allie
Pencils Mike Mignola; Ryan Sook
Inks Mike Mignola; Ryan Sook
Colors none; Ryan Sook
Letters Lia Ribacchi (Design); typeset
Notes Mignola artwork is uncolored sketches in ink, while Sook artwork consists of pencils, inked sketches, and color studies.
Reprinted from BPRD: Hollow Earth and Other Stories (Dark Horse, 2003 series) #[nn]

1 page Hellboy promo (ad from the publisher) "Hellboy [Backlist]"

Characters Hellboy; Lobster Johnson; Roger the Homunculus
Pencils Mike Mignola
Inks Mike Mignola
Colors Dave Stewart
Letters Cary Grazzini ? (Design); typeset

1 page promo (ad from the publisher) "Back Cover"

Synopsis The back cover hypes the contents above a bar code with ISBN, the price, the Dark Horse Comics logo, and the B.P.R.D. insignia.
Script Scott Allie ?
Pencils Mike Mignola
Inks Mike Mignola
Colors Dave Stewart
Letters Lia Ribacchi; Lani Schreibstein (Design); typeset
Reprinted from BPRD: Hollow Earth and Other Stories (Dark Horse, 2003 series) #[nn] [with new typography]