A random conversation about sad werewolves led Hellboy creator Mike Mignola to his latest comic book.
Mignola says he came up with the idea for “Mr. Higgins Comes Home,” a new Dark Horse Comics tale about an elderly and mournful werewolf and the vampires who put him in his depressing state, after he shared a panel with Warwick Johnson-Cadwell, an artist whose work he had admired for some time, at a comic book convention in England.
The moderator mentioned that “sad werewolves were something Warrick would draw occasionally,” Mignola told The Washington Post. “I said to Warwick, we should work together on something one of these days, because I loved his work.”
After leaving England and returning home to Southern California, Mignola noticed illustrations of vampire hunters Johnson-Cadwell had posted to his social media accounts. Sad werewolves. Vampire hunters. Just like that, Mignola had the idea to combine them.
“I think I probably came up with the story almost instantly,” Mignola said. “There was no effort in making up this story. It just popped out right away.”
Mr. Higgins, the titular protagonist, is a werewolf with no interest in howling into the night. He just wants to die — something he can’t do without a silver bullet and a gun. He mourns the loss of his wife, Mary, who was taken away from him by the same vampires who tortured him and turned him into a monster.
Professor J.J. Meinhardt and Mr. Knox are vampire hunters who have the silver bullet Mr. Higgins needs. They want Mr. Higgins to lead them to the vampires who caused him so much pain before they give him the bullet, forcing Mr. Higgins to confront his fears.
It’s the type of dark tale with heart Mignola himself would have loved to illustrate, if only Hellboy gave him the opportunity. Hellboy comics and another movie on the way take up most of Mignola’s time.
“Yeah, that would have been fun five years ago when I had a little bit more energy to do this stuff,” Mignola, 57, said with a laugh. “The whole Hellboy machine has gotten so much bigger than it ever was, so even now when I’m not directly involved, there’s a lot of little stuff that you constantly have to keep involved with.”
So Mignola settled for writing the tale with the consolation being that it would be illustrated by Johnson-Cadwell. Mignola illustrated the cover.
Scripting “Mr. Higgins” took Mignola back to his youth watching late actor Lon Chaney Jr. perform in “The Wolf Man.”
“That’s old universal monster movie 101,” Mignola said. “The sad wolf man who just wants to die.”
Mignola’s storytelling and art have always leaned toward the darkness, inspired by his love of horror.
“Watching old monster movies, for whatever reason, at a young age, that stuff clicked for me and that was what I wanted to draw, that’s what I wanted to read,” Mignola said. “Eventually, when I started writing, obviously that’s the stuff I wanted to write. That’s my comfort zone. It never occurs to me to write about anything else because these are the toys I like to play with.”
One thing Mignola will never try to do is outdo himself. He knows Hellboy will always be what he’s most known for and doesn’t let its shadow distract him any time he decides he wants to create something newlike “Mr. Higgins.”
“I’ve spent close to 25 years doing Hellboy. There’s no way I will ever do anything to compete with what I did there. The way I look at it, really, I have nothing to prove,” Mignola said.
