After the opening salvo to Lands Unknown in the anthology Bowling with Corpses and Other Strange Tales, Mike Mignola returns to the new universe this week with a more singular tale in Uri Tupka and the Gods: Another Story from Lands Unknown. It’s a story about a man who recounts his attempt to find the world’s lost gods. The world assumed they had abandoned them, but Uri has faith he’ll find them. An old man, drawn in Mignola’s likeness, the story is told in chapters, each an adventure on a long journey that takes Uri to the furthest corner of the world. It’s a quest filled with danger, witches, and amazing creatures, helping to further flesh out this universe and establish its place in Mignola’s bibliography.
For a creator like Mike Mignola, who has already created a vast and beloved universe via Hellboy, Lands Unknown feels like a project that has given him a second wind. Or maybe it’s a fifth at this point in his storied career.
There’s something deeply creative at work here, and these graphic novels allow us to explore Mignola’s discovery of it, as if in real time. Page by page, this world becomes more realized, especially in Uri Tupka and the Gods, thanks to maps and locations visited. When a character names a place, the reader has no clue what it might be, but it somehow adds a pillar to a world that is still quite shaky and unknown. That effect makes this a read as if we’ve stumbled upon the history of a culture or nation you’ve only just heard about.
The not knowing is a bit of a detriment to the read, at least in the first chapter. When characters name-drop a place or a person, I ended up wondering if I missed something. Mignola doesn’t do any hand holding, diving right in and expecting you to keep up. That’s especially the case in moments where two men in robes visit Uri. Fairly quickly, we learn that Uri sent a letter to an emperor, assassins came for him, and the story spills from there. The reader doesn’t know who the emperor is, nor the names of those who signed said letter, making you feel a bit left out.
An incredible sequence.
Credit: Dark Horse
Once Uri starts telling the men how he escaped an assassination attempt, aside from a slight hiccup in the story-within-a-story, the reading experience becomes easier to follow. Uri may name drop unfamiliar places and include complete cutaways to maps, but for the rest of this book, he’s as in the dark as we are. As he encounters witches or other fantastical things, the world-building adds to your own imagination and understanding of how this world functions. Blame a modern reader’s need for answers quickly and early for frustrations, but once the more episodic chapters click into gear, this book is hard to put down.
Separated with chapter breaks, these breaks give you a bit of a teaser as to what will befall Uri. In chapter two, titled “The Bandits”, one can guess the main purpose of Uri’s next leg in his travels. It’s in chapter two that it becomes more apparent what Uri is after regarding gods, and the recurring orange-eyed cat becomes a pillar on which to lean as the story continues. Each chapter is quite different from the last, like chapter five’s “The Kingdom of Death,” which is a great journey through a jungle of death and danger, while chapter four’s “The Great Cathedral” is more about a place, and Uri befriending a mysterious man.
Even though the gods are absent, Uri still encounters incredible supernatural creatures throughout his journey. This is a world filled with all sorts of familiar creatures, and a lot of unfamiliar ones too. Mignola features all sorts of fantastical elements, be it witches, sea monsters, and humanoid elephants that walk on their hind legs. If you’ve loved Mignola’s work on the Hellboy universe, this will feel right at home, yet a bit wilder because it’s not connected to a world like our own. The grandeur of this world is incredibly well fleshed out by the end of the book, which helps spark your own imagination as you piece together histories and place creatures across its fast-paced landscapes.
Visually, Mignola hasn’t skipped a beat, with incredible visuals throughout. The chapter with the witches is particularly stunning, starting with a strange zombie-like traveler and his companion meeting Uri, then going to a tavern seemingly filled with normal folks. The dread you’ll feel as Uri sees normal folk looms large, and an ongoing atmosphere of darkness hangs over the entire book. That dread manifests as a revelation of bright reds and freakish witches floating about, as if Uri had entered Hell itself. Creature design and environments are truly awe-inspiring, with a pervasive gloom that makes this world feel slightly dangerous and always mysterious.
Uri Tupka and the Gods is a bold, immersive journey that rewards patience and curiosity. Mignola leans into mystery and discovery, trusting readers to find their footing in a world that feels ancient, strange, and alive. While the lack of guidance may frustrate at first, the book quickly finds its rhythm, delivering a series of unforgettable encounters that showcase Mignola’s continued evolution as a storyteller.
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