Posted in: Comics, Dark Horse Comics | Tagged: dark horse, falconspeare, mike mignola, warwick johnson-caldwell

Mike Mignola, Warwick Johnson-Cadwell's Falconspeare Coming This Fall

Published Thu, 11 Mar 2021 15:09:06 -0600

Dark Horse Comics has announced plans to publish Falconspeare, a new original graphic novel featuring characters created by Mike Mignola and Warwick Johnson-Cadwell. Mignola's name is there mainly to sell the book, just like it's in the headline of this article to get you to click. But the comic itself is written and drawn by Johnson-Cadwell, with lettering by Clem Robins. Mignola does provide a cover for the graphic novel colored by Dave Stewart, and that's better than nothing.

From the press release:

This fall, Dark Horse Comics will publish FALCONSPEARE, an original graphic novel featuring Mike Mignola and Warwick Johnson-Cadwell's characters Professor J.T. Meinhardt, Mr. Knox, and Ms. Mary Van Sloan. This eerie Victorian-style mystery delivers horror, humor, and the kind of off-kilter, charming twists that fans of Mignola and Johnson-Cadwell's previous collaborations MR. HIGGINS COMES HOME and OUR ENCOUNTERS WITH EVIL: ADVENTURES OF PROFESSOR J.T. MEINHARDT AND HIS ASSISTANT MR. KNOX have come to expect. Monster hunters extraordinaire Professor Meinhardt, Mr. Knox, and Ms. Van Sloan have teamed up to slay spooks and investigate the uncanny before, but now they'll tackle a question that's haunted them for years: What happened to their friend and vampire slayer extraordinaire, James Falconspeare?

Readers of the graphic novel will find out, presumably.

"Evil lurks among dark shadows and in many forms. The vampire, the werewolf, monsters of all kinds," said Johnson-Cadwell. "We need a particular kind of hero to thwart these evils, and Professor J.T. Meinhardt, Mr. Knox, and Ms. Mary Van Sloan are just those heroes. A cryptic correspondence sets them on a mysterious path which will lead them to diabolic danger and grim reality where evil may lie. Diabolic evil is revealed in grim reality, and an ultimate sacrifice is demanded. Their encounters with evil continue."

Well, that sounds interesting. And we work in the comics journalism business, so we know a little something about diabolical evil. Meanwhile, Mike Mignola gives the book an enthusiastic endorsement.

"Mr. Higgins Comes Home was a silly little story that basically wrote itself, inspired by old movies both Warwick and I love," said Mignola. "I certainly didn't imagine it would lead to other things, but seeing Warwick take those couple of characters from the original and create a whole world around them has been a real joy. I hope he's having as much fun making these books as he appears to, because (now that I can just enjoy them as reader) I never want him to stop."

So keep milking it, Warwick! The press release notes that Falconspeare is set outside the Hellboy Universe and the Outerverse. Look for it in stores on September 29th, 2021 and in bookstores two weeks later.

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