1996 Wondercon Cvr.

I think I still have the program Hans.  It might be signed by Mignola though.  I'd have to get the marker signature removed first.  I'll still scan it for you though.

That would be great Marcus. Mike said it's ok to leave his signature on it. ;) 

Lol. Brilliant.

Spectacular! 

I think this is the first time I've heard of anyone UNcolor a piece.  Gutsy move, but brilliant at the same time.  Nothing against Oliff, but this really looks great in b&w.  Glad the art stood up to the process, but I'm sure no one was more relieved than you.  WonderCon did some great covers for their program books while they were still here in Oakland.  I remember Jim Warden making it a point of bidding on all of them when he was still coming out for the show.  At one point he had quite a few good ones.  You certainly got one of the top covers from that period.  Congrats buddy!

Thanks Eric! I'm told it was none other than Jim Warden who came away with this one in the 1996 auction.  

When are you going to get your Mignola cover, decolored? Try not to topple over in shock at the suggestion. Your one was done by Mike himself, gamely brushing away, tongue sticking out in concentration. It might be okay to make an exception.

Fantastic job. There is a nice image of the digital colour on page 68 of The Art of Hellboy

Well, I have to congratulate you for your courage and getting a quality restorer to work on this. Theres sometimes an arguement that colour adds but in the case of Mike Mignola, it detracts. They look better in black and white.

Whoa, gutsy call and great idea!  Looks incredible!

what a great pick up. such a great cover

woooow ¡¡¡¡¡¡ super Grail ¡¡¡

Congratulations Hans, really a spectacular piece!

That's amazing Hans! 

This is awesome!! Congrats:)

Wow! what a story! Even when I consider Mr. Oliff's work beautiful I always thought coloring this piece wasn't a great idea. It's great that you had a professional removing the pigment and now this restored piece it's a tremendous work of art. Congrats!

Mignola on Concrete and Bone as well - that is pretty amazing - thanks for restoring this to its B&W glory!

Wow this is amazing. While I do like Oliff's colors, he was not the right fit for this and you definitely made the right decision. Man that must have been a really nerveracking decision. Would love to see shome photos of the original now and how well it has held up.(hard to see fomr the scan you posted.) That said looks fantastic and is back to what Mike intended the art to be. Congrats it is a stunner.

I love seeing Mignola's take on all these characters. Glad the art made it through the process in the way you were hoping for. Huge congrats!

Obviously removing the color was the right way to go and thank GOD the b/w art survived that process!  I'd never heard of 'decoloring' a piece where the colors/dyes/etc. are directly applied over the b/w art and are still able to removed.  Fascinating story and thanks for sharing your insights.  This is a fun piece and although I'm not overly fond of art where other characters are paired with HB, having Mike illustrate those characters brings the whole together nicely.  Awesome artwork!  

Thanks! The whole process hinged on whether Mignola had used a durable ink. Luckily, Mike's favorite is Higgins Black Magic which has some serious staying power. Also fortunate was that Oliff didn't use certain dyes but rather removable markers. Restorer Robert Dennis pre-tested the inks and colored areas before starting work. 

Higgins Black Magic was all I ever used.  I never found an ink I liked better.  The black and white original is fabulous, which holds true for all of Mike's work, and ya'll might think I'm crazy, but I really love the digitally colored version.  I am NOT a digital coloring fan, but this piece really pops with those colors.

That s just amazing!!! 

P.S. - I am usually a fan of Steve's coloring, but in this case, it doesn't work for me.  In this case, it screams amateur fanzine.

Sorry, Steve...

Homeric!  Love it!