Mr. Higgins Comes Home: Mike Mignola and Warwick Johnson-Cadwell Craft a Tasty Halloween Treat
RKSDooM
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Story by Mike Mignola
Art by Warwick Johnson-Cadwell
Letters by Clem Robins
Edited by Scott Allie
When I first heard that Warwick Johnson-Cadwell, the artist on books like Tank Girl and Helena Crash, was going to be working with Mike Mignola on a horror comic, I wasn’t sure what to think. Even though I had read interviews with Johnson-Cadwell where he cited Mignola as an influence, it was hard for me to imagine his insanely energetic, devil-may-cry style of art paired up with Mignola’s Gothic sensibilities.
Fortunately that rarest of collaborations appears to have occurred here, with Mignola’s moody and unpredictable writing and Johnson-Cadwell’s more-restrained-but-still-madcap artwork bringing out the best in one another.
Mike Mignola has written a fun, spooky story that’s full of both traditional horror beats and his own trademark irreverent twists upon them, and one which allows Warwick Johnson-Cadwell’s artwork to slow down a bit and really express itself while still offering opportunities for it to explode into action when necessary. For his part, Johnson-Cadwell’s artwork produces designs and wonderfully expressive body language that brilliantly breathes life and personality into every character, even bit players.
(There are some mild spoilers for the book from this point on – BE VARNED!)
But what I love most about Mr. Higgins Comes Home is how everything – from the character designs to the building architecture to the initial story beats – screams old school Hammer Horror, and then basically gooses that tone entirely by the end. I imagine some readers (particularly those new to Mr. Mignola’s work) might be a bit put off by this, but there are already plenty of traditional vampire stories out there in the world to enjoy; there are comparatively few vampire stories that manage to be both a little bit silly and still maintain their emotional weight. Often a story that comes this close to being a parody ends up doing so at the cost of relatable human emotion, but Mr. Higgins Comes Home neatly avoids that trap by having the title character remain such a tragic character throughout.
The end result is a story that manages to do a lot of different things and do them all well. Over the course of its pages it’s funny, scary (in that “vintage spooky Halloween record” kind of way), tragic and absurd.
In short, it’s a perfect comic book to curl up with on Halloween, or any other day that you’re feeling up for that peculiarly All Hallow’s Eve blend of scares and laughs… and just a tiny hint of tragedy.
ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS:
- The opening illustrations on the red pages are gorgeous and really help to set the mood.
- Warwick Johnson-Cadwell’s art style took me a long time to warm up to when I first saw it in Solid State Tank Girl, but I’ve really started to love it. For a style that seems so… abstract at first glance, there’s still a real clarity to everything he does. Once you realize that it becomes a lot easier to enjoy the electric energy in his work.
- (SPOILERS) There is a great, pitch black streak of humor that permeates the entire story. Like when the professor recites his vampire hunting history and determination to end Count Golga… only to be immediately captured due to his own “stiff upper lip” refusal to be impolite. (/SPOILERS)
- I love the disbelieving look that Mr. Knox shoots the Professor while they are being taken by carriage to the Count’s castle. It communicates his disbelief and horror at the unfolding situation perfectly.
- (SPOILERS) I like to think that Satan in this story is just super, super bored with the vampires and their half-hearted attempts to rouse him. And I love how, in the first panel that he appears, the Satan’s goat form has an expression that seems so obviously to be one of “…Seriously?” (/SPOILERS)
- I really love the design of Golga’s castle, so marvelously reminiscent of a classic monster castle without being a direct lift from any of them.
- The coloring in the book, also by Johnson-Cadwell is phenomenal, and works magnificently with the artwork to create a somber, storybook, tone.
- Warwick Johnson-Cadwell has said that the 1941 film The Wolf Man was an influence on this book and that Larry Talbot DNA really shines through in Mr. Higgins sad, tortured persona.
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Comic
Categorized:Reviews
