Mike Mignola's Year of Monsters Kicks Off in January

It's almost 2012, which to Dark Horse means is the Year of Monsters. It helps when you've got Mike Mignola on your side to get the moniker to stick.

The program kicks off in January with a highly anticipated Lobster Johnson miniseries, The Burning Hand. Following up on the critically acclaimed 2007 series The Iron Prometheus, this new story pits the 1930s vigilante against one of the more terrible villains of the twentieth century.

“Mike Mignola got into the comics business with the simple goal of drawing monsters for a living,” said Dark Horse managing editor Scott Allie. “Mike celebrates 2012 by pitting his greatest characters against his favorite monsters on these special covers, unrelated to the stories inside.”

Lobster Johnson: The Burning Hand #1 arrives in stores on January 11, 2012. The entire schedule is below.

January—Lobster Johnson: The Burning Hand #1

February—B.P.R.D Hell on Earth: The Long Death #1

March—B.P.R.D. Hell on Earth: The Pickens County Horror #1

April—Lobster Johnson: The Burning Hand #4

May—B.P.R.D. Hell on Earth: The Transformation of J. H. O’Donnell

June—Baltimore: Dr. Leskovar’s Remedy #1

Mr. Mignola, if you could get some of your monsters to help us get past December 21, 2012, that'd be great. Unless Hellboy is the apocalypse we should be expecting and you've just been right all along, in which case I salute you.

Full press release after the jump.

DARK HORSE UNLEASHES MIKE MIGNOLA’S YEAR OF MONSTERS!

PUBLISHING SCHEDULE REVEALED FOR YEARLONG VARIANT-COVER PROGRAM, LAUNCHING IN JANUARY

NOVEMBER 23, MILWAUKIE, OR—Following up on an announcement made at this year’s New York Comic Con, Dark Horse unveils the schedule for Mike Mignola’s 2012 Year of Monsters program.

The program kicks off in January with a highly anticipated Lobster Johnson miniseries, The Burning Hand. Following up on the critically acclaimed 2007 series The Iron Prometheus, this new story pits the 1930s vigilante against one of the more terrible villains of the twentieth century.

These special variant covers will be available to any retailer who orders five or more copies of the standard cover. These are sure to be sought-after items with a broad appeal to fans of Mike Mignola’s work, as well as monster fetishists of all types!

“Mike Mignola got into the comics business with the simple goal of drawing monsters for a living,” said Dark Horse managing editor Scott Allie. “Mike celebrates 2012 by pitting his greatest characters against his favorite monsters on these special covers, unrelated to the stories inside.”

The schedule for the first half of the year can be found below. Lobster Johnson: The Burning Hand #1 arrives in stores on January 11, 2012.

January—Lobster Johnson: The Burning Hand #1

February—B.P.R.D Hell on Earth: The Long Death #1

March—B.P.R.D. Hell on Earth: The Pickens County Horror #1

April—Lobster Johnson: The Burning Hand #4

May—B.P.R.D. Hell on Earth: The Transformation of J. H. O’Donnell

June—Baltimore: Dr. Leskovar’s Remedy #1