Mr. Higgins Comes Home

A pair of vampire hunters seeking a guide through the crypt of the nefarious Count Golga find their man in Mr. Higgins, an asylum patient whose encounter with the count years earlier left him tortured, broken, and perhaps even cursed. A promise to free Mr. Higgins once the vampire lord is eliminated coaxes him back to the scene of his previous torment, where much to our band of heroes surprise they find themselves invited guests to an annual vampire celebration. Mignola (Hellboy; B.P.R.D.), comics' greatest practitioner of horror and supernatural tales, pens something between homage and lighthearted satire of classic Hammer vampire films. This story is perfectly suited to Johnson-Cadwell's (Solid State Tank Girl) creepily angular illustration style, which manages to be at once slightly cartoonish and darkly atmospheric. Readers might feel as though the tale here is a bit slight as they approach its conclusion, but the ending has bite.