Dark Horse Comics will be bringing back the flavor of the classic Hammer Dracula flicks in October when the company publishes Mr. Higgins Comes Home – a graphic novel from Hellboy’s Mike Mignola and Helena Crash artist Warwick Johnson-Cadwell.
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.
Mr. Higgins comes home will be in Comics stores on October 25th and bookstores on October 31st.
An Original Graphic Novel from the Creator of “Hellboy” and the artist of “Helena Crash” about Vampire Hunters, the Annual Festival of the Undead and Avoiding The Crime Scene of Your Wife’s Death
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
MILWAUKIE, Ore. –Mike Mignola, the legendary creator of Hellboy, 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, in time for Halloween, featuring a cover by Mignola colored by Eisner Award-winning colorist Dave Stewart.
“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,” said Mike Mignola. “Mr. Higgins Comes Home is my very obvious nod to any number of old Hammer 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.”
This outlandish tale, set outside the Mignolaverse, will go on sale in comic book stores on October 25, and in bookstores on October 31.
About Mike Mignola:
Mike Mignola’s fascination with ghosts and monsters began at an early age; reading Dracula at age twelve introduced him to Victorian literature and folklore, from which he has never recovered. Starting in 1982 as a bad inker for Marvel Comics, he swiftly evolved into a not-so-bad artist. By the late 1980s, he had begun to develop his own unique graphic style, with mainstream projects like Cosmic Odyssey and Batman: Gotham by Gaslight. In 1994, he published the first Hellboy series through Dark Horse. As of this writing there are twelve Hellboy graphic novels (with more on the way), several spinoff titles (B.P.R.D., Lobster Johnson, Abe Sapien, and Sir Edward Grey: Witchfinder), prose books, animated films, and two live-action films starring Ron Perlman. Along the way he worked on Francis Ford Coppola’s film Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992), was a production designer for Disney’s Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001), and was the visual consultant to director Guillermo del Toro on Blade II (2002), Hellboy (2004), and Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008). Mignola’s books have earned numerous awards and are published in a great many countries. He lives somewhere in Southern California with his wife, daughter, and cat.
About Warwick Johnson-Cadwell:
Warwick Johnson- Cadwell has been drawing as long as he can remember, enthusiastically digesting comics and transposing James Bond, spaghetti westerns and Hammer Horror movies onto paper. This drawing persisted, taking him through an Illustration degree and on to work in Publishing with work for The Guardian and The Times newspapers. Animation Design for several projects in commercial or features studios including Aardman Animation’s Pirates! His comic work has featured in Nelson (2011) Lovecraft Anthology 2 (2012) Sold State Tank Girl (2013) and many “Small Press” titles including Dangeritis (2014) with Robert Ball. He also skippers boats on the South coast of England. His most recent project is Helena Crash, with Fabian Rangel Jr.