Mr. Higgins Comes Home by Mike Mignola, art by Warwick Johnson-Caldwell

Dark Horse, 2017

ISBN: 9781506704661

Available: print, ebook

Mr. Higgins Comes Home is an original graphic novel by Mike Mignola and Warwick Johnson-Caldwell. The household at Castle Golga are planning for the annual festival of Walpurigsnacht, as a pair of vampire killers question a man locked in a monastery on the Baltic Sea. The last thing Mr. Higgins wants to do is relive the last moments of the death of his beloved wife, and be reminded about the terrible thing that happened to him. The problem is that the vampire hunters are persistent, and will stop at nothing to destroy all vampires that plague the land. To do so, they feel they must have the help at the exhausted and frightened Mr. Higgins. When the trio do manage to get themselves into the castle, things don’t quite go as planned; Mr. Higgins reveals just why he didn’t want to go there in the first place, and why he insisted upon his own imprisonment.

This is yet another fantastic story by Mike Mignola, and is set unexpectedly outside the universe readers are used to seeing. There is no Hellboy, and no BPRD in this setting. The horror setting is also well paired with some great humor. Johnson-Caldwell’s artwork complements the story nicely in that he selected a very different colour palette for the typical Victorian setting. Colors are brighter, while somewhat muted, and the art style is simple, yet communicates the necessary details to the scenes. If you are a Mignola fan, you really should pick up a copy of this book. You will not be disappointed. Recommended.

Contains: some violence

Reviewed by Lizzy Walker