This Dracula tale isn't your classic Halloween story | Comic Box

This Halloween we have a fresh look at the classic monster story, specifically "Dracula" with Mike Mignola and Warwick Johnson-Caldwell's "Mr. Higgins Comes Home."

Before this column even sees the light of day in a physical newspaper, Halloween will have come and gone. Luckily, through the magic of the internet this piece will be available the day of the glorious holiday itself.

Even though I am not a fan of some of the classic slasher horror films and I don't really enjoy gore particularly, I do love Halloween. In my experience loving Halloween goes hand in hand with being a fan of fantasy and science fiction and superheroes, just like an appreciation for classic monster movies and the original horror stories goes are linked with those same genres. The stories of "Frankenstein," "Dracula" and others like them are linked to fantasy and science-fiction and the fans of one type of story often bleed over into the other.

This Halloween we have a fresh look at the classic monster story, specifically "Dracula" with Mike Mignola and Warwick Johnson-Caldwell's "Mr. Higgins Comes Home." The story of "Mr. Higgins Comes Home" takes place during the annual festival of the undead at Castle Golga. Determined to crash the festivities are a pair of vampire hunters who have recruited the unfortunate Mr. Higgins to aid them in killing the evil vampire lord that dwells there.

Once upon a time Mr. Higgins had come upon Castle Golga in a time of need, and along with his wife Mary, spent the night under the roof of the seemingly hospitable host. Before the night was out though Mary had been turned into a vampire herself and Mr. Higgins had been treated to a night of terrors and torture before being released and discovering that he had become a werewolf. Unable to end his torment, Mr. Higgins has spent his days isolated in a sanitarium, wishing for only one thing. Death.

The story from this point follows the path of these three intrepid vampire hunters as Mignola and Johnson-Caldwell set about crafting a send up of the classic vampire tale. Throughout the story the two weave a comedy of errors, from the upper crust manners of the vampires to the failings of the two hunters, all the way to the perpetual inability of Mr. Higgins to end his "cursed" existence the story is one of absolute absurdity.

The whole thing is tied together nicely with Johnson-Caldwell's art, which is distinctly European in its approach and hearkens to classic comical horror stories in the vein of the original "Addams Family." This isn't your classic Halloween story by any stretch of the imagination, instead it is a comical look at the darkness that lurks in all men's hearts and the facade of class and manners that we use to cover it up. 

WILLIAM KULESA can be reached at jjournalcomicbox@gmail.com.