Our Encounters With Evil
Art by: Warwick J. Cadwell
Written by: Mike Mignola
Dark Horse Comics
2019
Mr. Higgins was just the beginning! Follow Professor J.T. Meinhardt and Mr. Knox as they continue their pursuit of ne’er-do-well creatures of the night! Backed by the dauntless vampire hunter Ms. Mary Van Sloan, the heroes of Mr. Higgins Comes Home pursue vampires, werewolves, and other horrors that even they are hard-put to name or explain. The only thing that’s for certain is that the strange truths these adventurers uncover are seldom what they seem!
Our Encounters With Evil is a small collection of stories, where vampires and werewolves are present, and are never for a second frightening or scary in the least. Our intrepid hunters skate from encounter to encounter, having lofty ideas about their arcane knowledge and training, and then having very little to do with anything that happens. I know people will say this worked just fine for Indiana Jones, but this story lacks the wit, charm, and exciting locations of that film, so it just doesn’t work at all. If asked, I could recall details of each story herein, but I FEEL nothing for them. They happened, and I couldn’t care less.
Perhaps even more confusing is the art. The back of the book claims it is “stylized”, but if wonky eyes, random anatomy, hardly any highlights or shading, and the barest minimum of detail is a style, it’s not one I enjoy. This is the kind of art Cartoon Network would use to crank out a cheap kid show, and I expect more from Dark Horse.
I’m sure someone will love Encounters, but I just can not imagine who. It’s not intense enough for horror fans, there’s not much world building to satisfy those who are into that, and the main characters are “present” at best. It just doesn’t hold your interest at all, and I don’t think I would have even finished it, if it hadn’t been my job.
I’m becoming more and more convinced that comics have become just like Hollywood – attach a big name to a project, and it’s simply supposed to be successful, so you don’t need to find an interesting premise or a talented artist. Even as a reviewer, I’m left wondering what I “don’t get” about this comic, instead of asking how on earth it got green lit.
More Like a One Liner Than a Story
It's hard to recommend this one, with art so "stylistic" it's hard to tell what's going on half the time, and heroes who don't need to be there for the stories' resolutions. It's not boring, but at the end, it feels more like a bad joke than a tale of evil.
Brian Reed
Brian has been reading comics since January, 1987, when the death of Optimus Prime rocked his young world. Once a regular presenter on The Nerdstravaganza Podcast, Brian now writes for Florida Geek Scene.
