Many of you know comic book creator Mike Mignola as the man behind Hellboy, as well as its spin-off books like B.P.R.D., Abe Sapien, Lobster Johnson, and more from the supernatural world known as the “Mignolaverse.” But Mike Mignola has also created several standalone graphic novels. You may be familiar with Baltimore, which displayed Mignola’s love for classic vampire stories. Now, Mignola’s latest graphic novel returns him to that same gothic vampire world, with a great new spin: Mr. Higgins Comes Home.
Mignola and Warwick Johnson-Cadwell, the acclaimed artist of Helena Crash, are creating an original graphic novel about vampire hunters, the undead, and the importance of avoiding the crime scene of your wife’s death. Mr. Higgins Comes Home is an unexpected and unusual standalone story, featuring all new characters in a send-up of classic vampire stories. Dark Horse Comics will release Mr. Higgins Comes Home as a hardcover graphic novel in October, just in time for Halloween, featuring a cover by Mignola colored by Eisner Award-winning colorist Dave Stewart.
In a statement, Mignola said, “This one started when a mutual friend pointed out Warwick Johnson-Cadwell’s affection for sad werewolves. Then Warwick and I exchanged a few words about vampires and that was it. Mr. Higgins Comes Home is my very obvious nod to any number of old Hammer Studios Dracula films and my all-time favorite vampire film, Roman Polanski’s The Fearless Vampire Killers.”
In Mr. Higgins Comes Home, preparations begin at Castle Golga for the annual festival of the undead, as a pair of fearless vampire killers question a man hidden away in a monastery on the Baltic Sea. The mysterious Mr. Higgins wants nothing more than to avoid the scene of his wife’s death, and the truth about what happened to him in that castle. However, these heroic men, sworn to rid the world of the vampire scourge, inspire Higgins to venture out and to end the only suffering he really cares about–his own.
“Working on a project with Mike Mignola is an amazing thing to be able to do,” said Warwick Johnson-Cadwell. “His art and storytelling is a massive influence and inspiration for me and chatting with him about werewolves, vampires and the like was very exciting. When Mr. Higgins Comes Home turned up in my email I was in awe. It’s a rollicking vampire romp right in the Hammer vein and it’s a pleasure to be slapping that crimson goop they used for blood all over it.” Sounds like this is classic vampire fiction–a lot more Bram Stoker than Stephenie Meyer. I doubt there will be any sparkling undead in this one.
You can check out the first three pages of Mr. Higgins Comes Home down below in our gallery, where we see some old school Nosferatu style vamp go toe-to-toe with a Van Helsing-like vampire hunter straight out of an old Hammer Horror film from the 1960s. Mr. Higgins Comes Home will go on sale in comic book stores on October 25, and will arrive in bookstores appropriately enough on October 31.
Are you looking forward to an all new supernatural universe from the mind of Mignola? Be sure to let us know down below in the comments.
Images: Dark Horse Comics
