Arcane Secrets

In May of 1997, Wizard magazine ran a contest. Back then, I had a subscription to the mag, so I got every issue, and each issue usually had several contests, though I rarely entered them. This one, though, stuck with me.

The gimmick of the contest was simple enough: The grand prize was “a personalized collection of books (and stuff) which helped to inspire Mike [Mignola] in creating his Hellboy series.”

Needless to say I entered that one, though I didn’t win. Over the years since, that contest has taken on an almost mythic quality for me. It’s the kind of thing I would love to do one day, if I ever became well-known enough for a contest like that to hold much value for fans. And I always sort of wondered what books the winner actually got.

Thanks to a friend who tracked down an old auction, I probably now have the answer. It was never really about the books, though. It was the idea of the thing that stuck with me.

Fast forward to today. I have been fortunate enough to strike up a friendly acquaintance with many of my favorite creators over the years, including Mike. More recently still, he has been thinning out some of his expansive collection of books and generously offered to put together a “mixed bag of curiosities” for me.

I got the result in the mail today and it is much more than I had ever dared dream. Like with that contest that fired my imagination all those years ago, however, it’s less the books themselves – though they are wonderful – than the idea of them that makes them special.

That idea, though, makes them very special, indeed.