Fans of Hellboy will get even (audibly) closer with this Hellboy and the B.P.R.D: The Goddess of Manhattan audiobook, released in time for Hellboy‘s 30th anniversary. Written by Christopher Golden and Thomas E. Sniegoski, the duo teamed up with GraphicAudio to release an original audio-first Hellboy story. The Goddess of Manhattan connects with two other works, Hellboy: A Plague of Wasps and Lobster Johnson: The Proteus Club. The audiobook was released on Sept. 10, 2024.
Goddess of Manhattan follows Hellboy, Liz Sherman, and Abe Sapien as they fight against the Goddess of Manhattan who has been stalking and murdering the bizarre humans who have been living in the Manhattan underground for over 60 years. With a talented voice cast and immersive audio effects, fans will find themselves thrown right into the chaos of Manhattan.
Golden, one-half of the creative duo, spoke about the experience of working on an audiobook like Hellboy. Read more from Golden in this interview with The Beat:
THE BEAT: How did this audio story come about?
GOLDEN: There had been several companies interested over the course of a couple of years in doing original Hellboy audio adventures. I’d worked with GraphicAudio before, and connected with them to discuss this. Scott McCormick is the real engine behind getting this done. He’s the director on these as well as the voice of Hellboy, but he’s also the creative force behind a ton of GraphicAudio’s output—writing, adapting, directing. He’s a huge fan of this universe, and that helped in a major way. When I first spoke to Anji Cornette at GraphicAudio, I knew we’d end up working together, and then talking to Scott, we immediately latched onto this idea of a loosely-connected trilogy of stories set in the Mignolaverse.
THE BEAT: How is working with a script and full cast different from other media you have written for?
GOLDEN: I’ve done this in various forms more than once over the years. But this process felt quite different. Tom Sniegoski and I wrote Goddess of Manhattan together, but aside from that, it felt very much that Scott McCormick and I were off in a corner, doing our creative thing, to the point where it feels a bit strange that other people are experiencing the finished product. Aside from Scott, I didn’t work with the cast on these, but they all did a fantastic job!
THE BEAT: What is it about the Hellboy universe that is so appealing?
GOLDEN: We could spend hundreds of pages answering this one. With Hellboy specifically, the character is such an ordinary guy. I talk to creative people who are fortunate enough to be paid to create, and I remind them all the time that although what we do is special, WE are not special because of what we do. Hellboy’s like that. He’s big and red and, sure, technically from hell, but really he’s just a guy, and that’s all he wants to be. I think that is the core of what makes this universe so appealing. That, and also the imagination that Mignola, and everyone who has contributed to the Mignolaverse, has built into this world. The magic and mayhem and evil are all great, but for me it’s the relationships and humanity and bittersweetness that make it so great.
THE BEAT: What can you tell us about this particular story?
GOLDEN: Back in the 1930s, reporter Cynthia Tynan got involved in an adventure with Lobster Johnson. Now she’s an elderly woman, and monsters begin to appear beneath, and then on, the streets of Manhattan. Cindy realizes they’re connected to that old adventure with the Lobster, and when she finds that the city has called the BPRD to investigate, and Hellboy is on the scene, she knows he might be the only person on earth who can help.
THE BEAT: Any teasers for fans of the characters in Hellboy’s world?
GOLDEN: I’ll say that we debuted a brand new character in the second audio adventure, and we get a glimpse of his fate in this one. I’m also thrilled that we finally got to incorporate Liz Sherman and Abe Sapien into our audio adventures. And, of course, it’s so cool to focus on the elderly Cynthia Tynan. We’re expanding what fans know about these characters and their stories and timelines, every time we do one of these. I hope there are more to come!
