Fans of Mike Mignola will love the new title Leonide the Vampyr: Miracle At The Crow’s Head from Dark Horse.
We’re in a small coastal village, “a dreary place, battered by wind and waves”. The residents live tiresome and predictable lives and wish that they could have a few hours when they feel young again. Or just die, instead. It’s a place where ships wreck themselves on the rocks, and everyone on the ships die and submerge into the sea. But this time, a coffin floats to shore. And inside is Leonide!
Oh, this story is glorious. Creepy, murky, and mysterious, but in a classic way. It reads like an old movie script, the intonations, the moods of the characters, the gloomy black and white setting, the rot, the salt.
Illustrator Rachele Aragno gives us the visuals, the way into the hypnotic pace, the renderings of the eccentric old characters. Aragno (murky colour by Dave Stewart, lettering by Clem Robins) allows crooked lines to tell the crooked tale inside the crooked little house. A folk tale, immersed in the supernatural, full of dread and twists and things that go bump and delight us.
The first issue sets the foggy, misty tone to what I really hope will be a long and stormy arc to Leonide The Vampyr!
Dark Horse, Leonide The Vampyr: Miracle At The Crow’s Head #1, $3.99 for 22 pages of content
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