After introducing readers to a wondrous new realm as expansive as Middle-earth and Narnia in his anthology Bowling with Corpses & Other Strange Tales from Lands Unknown, Mike Mignola returns to the universe he co-created with Ben Stenbeck in the new graphic novel Uri Tupka and The Gods: Another Story from Lands Unknown.
Following a former doctor of theology on an epic “quest to prove that ancient powerful gods shaped the world," Uri Tupka and The Gods is now available in hardcover from Dark Horse Comics, and Daily Dead had the great pleasure of catching up with Mike Mignola in a new Q&A feature to discuss further exploring the uncharted territories of Lands Unknown!
Below, you can read our full Q&A with Mike Mignola as well as preview pages from the new graphic novel. To learn more about Uri Tupka and The Gods, be sure to visit Dark Horse Comics' official website!
In case you missed it, be sure to read our Q&A with Ben Stenbeck about his new two-issue Lands Unknown comic book story The Skinless Man!
Thank you for taking the time to answer questions for us, Mike, and congratulations on Uri Tupka and The Gods: Another Story from Lands Unknown! When you and Ben Stenbeck co-created this universe that was introduced in Bowling with Corpses and Other Strange Tales from Lands Unknown, did you have any idea that you were embarking on the beginning of a vast journey into so many strange and marvelous stories?
Mike Mignola: When I came up with the plot for the first story (BOWLING WITH CORPSES) I didn’t know how big the whole thing would be—It was just a story—But then I started filling sketchbooks (five now) with drawings of the world, and then maps, and then notebooks full of history and mythology. It was just so much fun. I couldn’t stop. I still can’t.
You’ve said that working on Bowling with Corpses and Uri Tupka and The Gods is some of the most fun you’ve had drawing comics. What do you enjoy the most about exploring this strange world and discovering new stories in uncharted territories?
Mike Mignola: You answered it in your question—exploring this world and discovering the stories around every corner.
Uri Tupka and The Gods follows “former Doctor of Theology but now heretic” Uri Tupka “on a quest to prove that ancient powerful gods shaped the world.” Uri Tupka is a fascinating character to follow through the Lands Unknown (where he has many near-death experiences). What is it that you enjoy the most about writing and illustrating Uri as a central character?
Mike Mignola: For one thing he is easy as I can see his face in my mirror. Also, for me, he is a different sort of character than any I’ve done before—He doesn’t just wander and stumble into things—He is on a mission. And he is older, an older human man with no special powers, just a passionate intelligent man who wants to believe in something but needs to know that what he believes in is real.
On his travels in the Lands Unknown, Uri crosses paths with “pirates, bandits, witches and demons, giants and monsters” as well as “a talking cat and a queen of the vegetables.” What can you tell us about the unique characters and eerie encounters that await Uri and readers alike within the pages of Uri Tupka and The Gods?
Mike Mignola: It’s all part of building this new world—I want to see the different places but also some of the people and creatures that inhabit it. I want the reader to at least get a sense of how you travel around in this place and how dangerous it is when you walk into the woods or sail too close to the wrong shore.
This will be the first of two books featuring Uri Tupka in the Lands Unknown. Can you give our readers a tease of the adventures you have mapped out for Uri in the next graphic novel and what you and Ben Stenbeck might explore in future Lands Unknown stories?
Mike Mignola: The follow-up to AND THE GODS is, of course, AND THE DEVILS. A lot less traveling around is this one (though he does get to be both a fish and a bird for a while). Mostly he is trapped in a castle full of horrors. Beyond that one I’m going to focus on YEB THE SPOON for a while (the kid from BOWLING WITH CORPSES) and Ben is continuing the story he began in THE SKINLESS MAN. I’m excited to see where that one goes—I’m loving it so far and it makes me all the more excited to do my own stories.
Ultimately, what do you hope readers take away from Uri Tupka and The Gods: Another Story from Lands Unknown?
Mike Mignola: Ben’s stories are all Ben—He may draw on some of the mythology we created together and use some of the locations I came up with (I got ahead of him creating the world), but Ben’s stories are very much Ben’s. He and I love a lot of the same stuff but we bring very different sensibilities to our stories. And he does a much better job with the violence.
With Dark Horse Comics releasing Uri Tupka and The Gods: Another Story from Lands Unknown now available in bookstores and comic book shops, what other projects do you have coming up that you can tease for our readers?
Mike Mignola: For the last six months I’ve been doing nothing but paint for a gallery show in the Fall here in New York. I’m just now starting on my fourth Lands Unknown book and have several more plotted and waiting to go. I have no plans to do anything other than draw that world, to get lost in it and wander around and see what’s there.
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From the Press Release: Just months after releasing one of the most acclaimed graphic novels of 2025, legendary Hellboy creator Mike Mignola is expanding the Lands Unknown universe with a brand new graphic novel from Dark Horse Books. Fans first encountered the shared universe co-created by Mignola and his longtime collaborator Ben Stenbeck (Our Bones Dust) earlier this year in Mignola’s critically acclaimed anthology of folklore-inspired fantasy stories Bowling With Corpses and other Strange Tales from Lands Unknown, which sold out immediately and is already in its third printing with a fourth being prepared. Now, Dark Horse Comics is preparing to release Uri Tupka and The Gods, a new graphic novel written and drawn by Mike Mignola with colors by Dave Stewart, coming in March 2026.
Uri Tupka and The Gods: Another Story from Lands Unknown follows the titular wayward theologian across the Lands Unknown on a quest to prove that ancient powerful gods shaped the world. Uri’s journey puts him face to face with mythical creatures, thieves, dragons, and a tomb of unspeakable horror. But nothing can prepare the unlikely adventurer for what he learns about the universe or his role in it.
“This is the first of two books tracing the life of Uri Tupka, former Doctor of Theology but now heretic, on the run as he looks for the truth about the gods,” explains Mignola. “See Uri barely escape one disaster after another—pirates, bandits, witches and demons, giants and monsters. There is also a talking cat and a queen of the vegetables because, of course, why wouldn’t there be? This one covers a whole lot of ground, and we get to see more of the world that was introduced in Bowling with Corpses. As with Bowling, this is some of the most fun I’ve ever had drawing comics. The more I wander around in this world, the more I want to see, the more I want to explore. I’m already well into the follow up book to this one (Uri Tupka and the Devils) with plans to do many more stories about this world. I feel that so far I’m still just scratching at the surface of this thing.”
Uri Tupka and the Gods: Another Story from Lands Unknown is a 104-page hardcover that will be released in bookstores and comic shops on March [31st], 2026. Follow Dark Horse Comics on social media for more news, announcements, and updates.
Creators
Writer: Mike Mignola
Artist: Mike Mignola
Colorist: Dave Stewart
Letterer: Clem Robins
Cover artist: Mike Mignola
Genres: Fantasy · Horror · Occult & Supernatural
Publication date: March 31, 2026
Format: FC, 104 pages; HC; 6 5/8" x 10 3/16"
Price: $24.99
Age range: 14+
ISBN-10: 1506753329
ISBN-13: 9781506753324
Raised on a steady diet of R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps books and Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Derek has been fascinated with fear since he first saw ForeverWare being used on an episode of Eerie, Indiana.
When he’s not writing about horror as the Managing Editor of Daily Dead, Derek can be found daydreaming about the Santa Carla Boardwalk from The Lost Boys or reading Stephen King and Brian Keene novels.
Raised on a steady diet of R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps books and Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Derek has been fascinated with fear since he first saw ForeverWare being used on an episode of Eerie, Indiana.
When he’s not writing about horror as the Managing Editor of Daily Dead, Derek can be found daydreaming about the Santa Carla Boardwalk from The Lost Boys or reading Stephen King and Brian Keene novels.
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