By Mark Tweedale
Next summer, Dark Horse Comics will publish a new hardcover collection for Mike Mignola’s Hellboy Universe, The Serpent in the Garden: Ed Grey and the Last Battle for England. The book will collect the three-issue miniseries of the same name written by Mignola and drawn by long-time collaborator Ben Stenbeck with colors by Dave Stewart and letters by Clem Robins.
The Serpent in the Garden picks up after the events of Sir Edward Grey: Acheron and Koshchei in Hell, but also has connections to The Wild Hunt trilogy, B.P.R.D.: The Devil You Know, Hellboy in Hell, and of course, Sir Edward Grey: Witchfinder. Alice Monaghan, Queen of Avalon, calls upon Sir Edward to stand in defense of the last remaining realm of the old Earth against King Arthur’s half-sister, Morgan Le Fay.
“This one ties up a lot of dangling threads and says goodbye (I think, but you never can be sure) to a few of my favorite characters,” said Mignola. “I’ll miss them but, really, I think they have suffered enough.”
He’s not wrong there. Hecate once warned Sir Edward that he “would suffer as few men have ever suffered,” and that has indeed proven to be the case—Sir Edward has suffered immensely since his first introduction in 1997’s Hellboy: Wake the Devil. However, don’t expect The Serpent in the Garden to be a completely somber story.
“This one is fun,” promised Stenbeck. “Mike gave me a lot of space to go a bit nuts, and I think this story is a beautiful farewell to some important figures from the world of Hellboy.”
To mark the occasion, the upcoming collection will include a new epilogue by Mike Mignola. This is far from the first time Mignola has added an epilogue to a story for its collection, but it is certainly the longest epilogue at seventeen pages. I assure you, this is going to be something special. The book will also feature a cover gallery and never-before-seen sketchbook material.
The Serpent in the Garden: Ed Grey and the Last Battle for England will be in bookstores July 8, 2025 and in comic shops July 9. For those of you picking up the story in singles, the first issue will be out on November 27.
