Hellboy and Madefire are taking over here at Pipedream Comics today! As well as our fantastic first look at this great new team up, and our in-depth review of the first issue, we’ve caught up with Madefire CEO and co-founder Ben Wolstenholme to find out more about how the exciting team up between the motion book publisher and Dark Horse Comics came about, and what it means for the future of Madefire!

So how did the relationship between Dark Horse and Madefire come about? Was it a company to company deal or was it Mike Mignola himself looking to turn Hellboy into a motion book?

BW: The first conversation took place at San Diego Comic-Con 2012 when Dave Gibbons introduced us to Dark Horse founder and president Mike Richardson. From there, conversations continued over the course of the next year and at San Diego Comic-Con 2013 we spoke with Mike Mignola, who’s booth was next to ours, and demo’d the Madefire experience. It was really at that point our conversations focused specifically on Hellboy as Mike was really positive in his reaction to our platform.

We’ve seen Dark Horse attempt motion books before with some of their early app releases, so what does the Madefire engine bring to the character that those early efforts couldn’t manage?

BW: We really enjoyed the Hellboy motion comics but they’re a passive, watching experience. What Madefire’s focus is, and what we’re passionate about, is creating a benchmark reading experience. We work hard at augmenting that experience with limited motion and sound and to that end, avoid voice-over/acting or over-animating. This means the reader is in control at all points.

What titles are being ported across? Is it a reprint of an old series or is it new material? Are you getting to ‘cherry pick’ the most appropriate titles to convert or do Dark Horse/Mike Mignola set the agenda?

BW: We’re starting with Hellboy in Hell, the current on-going series that Mike is writing and illustrating. From there, we’ll have a discussion with Mike and Dark Horse about where in the catalog to focus next which is exciting due to the wealth of terrific stories.

Will they be paid for like the IDW titles? And will we be seeing more Dark Horse titles available in 2014?

BW: Yes, they will be paid titles (£1.49/$1.99) and an expansion of the relationship would be pretty thrilling!

Will we be seeing a regular series of Hellboy titles released and any plans to have new material specifically created for Madefire?

BW: We’re seeing publishers take a couple of approaches – re-mastering print and/or creating original assets – Hellboy in Hell is re-mastered as a Motion Book – we’ll see where Dark Horse takes this…