Wynonna Earp is back and up to her ear muffs in Yetis, Bigfoot, mad science, vampires and Russians. IDW has just released Wynonna Earp: The Yeti Wars in glorious full-color hardcover.

Written by creator (and friend of the blog) Beau Smith and illustrated by Enrique Villagran, this original graphic novel marks a return to comics of one of the best characters to emerge from the independent comics scene in the 1990s.

Wynonna - a descendant of the famed gunfighter Wyatt Earp, though probably better with a gun - is a U.S. Covert Marshal. She specializes solving paranormal crimes - and fightin' and shootin' paranormal criminals. Think female Tommy Lee Jones working for the X-Files.

Beau wastes no time getting right to the story. Wynonna is tracking mad scientist Dr. Robidoux who’s busy splicing human and animal DNA Dr. Moreau-style and winds up in the middle of a paranormal range war between The Consortium of Immortals (”the top of the Freak Food Chain”) and The Vampire Nation.

Beau has called WE:TYW “a light-hearted stake through the heart of depressing, boring comics,” and it is, but it’s much more than that. It’s fun, it’s thrilling in an edge-of-the-seat way and there are twists and turns by a writer fully in command of his story.

His dialogue snaps, crackles and pops and even the secondary characters have interesting personalities. One of them, Smitty (who looks a little like the author) "works out" via bar fight.

Villagran is a terrific artist and frequent Beau-collaborator. An excellent storyteller, he expertly handles everything that Beau throws at him script-wise. And he draws a mean Yeti.

Wynonna Earp: The Yeti Wars is a delight from end-to-end. This is one character that I’d like to see more of, and reading this makes me want to go back and re-read the back issues lurking in my collection.

And if any TV people are reading this, I will restate my strong belief that Wynonna could translate easily into a TV series at some place like FX or USA, or even Syfy. It fits into the same category of shows like Justified and Burn Notice with the added appeal of monsters.

Now, go give yourself a nice Christmas and pick up a copy of Wynonna Earp: The Yeti Wars.

And here's an interview with Beau that'll give you more reasons to get it.

[Artwork: Cover to Wynonna Earp: The Yeti Wars, © Beau Smith]