Monday, November 8, 2010

Hyperborean Weapon

Dale Bigford was kind enough to send over some snapshots of a truly remarkable prop- a recreation of the Hyperborean weapon from Mike Mignola's "Witchfinder". This isn't a resin casting. No, it's real wood, leather, sinew, and brass (there being a notable dearth of authentic Hyperborean metal in our world).

I'll let Mr. Bigford take it from here. Just click through on any of the images for a high resolution version.

No one is keeping the H.P. Lovecraft torch lit these days like Mike Mignola. One of his characters is a 19th century occult investigator named Sir Edward Grey. He has a very bizzare/sad future but Mignola hasn't explained that yet.

His first stand alone graphic novel is "WITCHFINDER: In the Service of Angels" In it a creature from Hyperborea origin returns from the dead and goes on a killing spree. Figuring heavily in the story is a Hyperborean sword/club. Mignola explained it as "a broken Hyperborean sword that some caveman turned into a great weapon". Being from the culture that created and oppressed the creature it is the one thing it fears.

It's basically a broken blade secured in a split wooden shaft and tied with hide and sinew strips. I made the blade out of bronze (in the book the blade is distincly yellow) and aged the wood and sinew accordingly. The theory is that even though the blade is thousands of years old the metallurgy is so advanced its sheen does not dim.














5 comments:

Shane Mangus said...

This is a great piece. I am a huge Mignola fan, and it is always nice to see props inspired by his work.

Justin M... said...

Very nice. You should send one to Mike Mignola. In the back of the WITCHFINDER trade he comments how he would love to own one.

Jo said...

Dude! I always thought love for Mignola and Lovecraft went hand in hand. And that is one, mighty fine weapon you got there.

CoastConFan said...

The blade reminds me of a number of fantastically shaped iron weapons out of Africa listed in A Glossary of Construction, Decoration, and Use of Arms and Armor in All Countries and in All Times by G. Stone (generally referred to as Stones in the business).

I'm sure Robert E. Howard's Soloman Kane parried a few of those in his day.

Jarons20 said...

I have that series and love the weapon featured. Really great build for a physrep of a Mignola design