Our Encounters With Evil

…are going alright, I suppose.  The previous volume in this series, “Mr. Higgins Comes Home,” found writer Mike Mignola in a comedic mood as he teamed with artist Warwick Johnson-Caldwell for a vampire story with more jocularity than jugulars.  For this follow-up story, Caldwell flies solo as Very British vampire hunters J.T. Meinhardt and Mr. Knox continue their ongoing battle against the forces of darkness.  This time they even have female company in the manner of the fearless Mary Van Sloan, who joins them on more than one occasion.  Said occasions involve a horse chase to stop a vampire from returning home, a journey into the darkest forest to find a village of cutthroats at the foot of a vampire’s castle, the tale of two vampires who hated each other to bits, and the hard work a vampire hunter hunter puts into his job.

It was my hope last time that Mignola and Caldwell’s next collaboration would draw more than a few bemused chuckles from me.  Well, this time around Caldwell is flying solo as writer and artist, and the results aren’t quite as amusing.  There are some funny sequences, as in the two vampires who hated each other to bits, but comedy doesn’t appear to be the main focus here.  Instead, Caldwell is more focused on telling oddball stories that go in unexpected directions.  None of them are knockouts, yet they still have their own charm.  Much of which is present in the delightfully exaggerated art from the artist.  It may not be for everyone, but it’s definitely up my alley.  It’s just too bad that most of the stories feel like they’re being carried by the art rather than being enriched by it.  Maybe the next volume will finally see this creator deliver stories that are as good as his art.