Christmastime is here and as many of us are baking fragrant fruitcakes and standing in long post office lines, those of a geekier nature are anxiously awaiting what has now become a cherished yuletide tradition... the annual Hellboy Winter Special from Dark Horse Comics.

For 2018, Mike Mignola and an all-star roster of writers and artists are offering up a big red guy of a different nature with a 32-page one-shot debuting Dec.12 that's sure to satisfy the Mignolaverse faithful. SYFY WIRE has an intimate peek into the paranormal anthology's script and process art for Hellboy fans of all persuasions.

Credit: Dark Horse Comics

The Hellboy Winter Special 2018 showcases the rarified talents of some of Mignola's most revered collaborators including Fabio Moon, Gabriel Ba, Tonci Zonjic, Ben Stenbeck, and the inimitable colorist Dave Stewart.

"There is a long tradition of telling ghost stories at Christmas," Mignola tells SYFY WIRE. "I love ghost stories more than just about anything and I love that Christmas time of year so I wanted to do my bit to carry on that tradition."

Credit: Dark Horse Comics

Its three yuletide stories feature a snow-fresh Mignola and Stenbeck pairing as a New Year's Eve seance goes horribly wrong when Hellboy makes an appearance at a family's English manor, Moon and Ba exploring the lore of B.P.R.D.: Vampire with a thrilling new tie-in story, and Zonjic returning to write and draw the Depression-era vigilante, Lobster Johnson.

"I came into the comic industry with the goal of drawing something Mike Mignola wrote, once," Stenbeck revealed to SYFY WIRE. "I've lost track of how many things we've done now but I'm grateful for all of them. There's a clarity to Mike's storytelling that comes through even in his scripts."

Credit: Dark Horse Comics

Check out a handful of pages from Ben Stenbeck's original process art and the first five pages of Mignola's script for their supernatural story, 'Happy New Year, Ava Galluci,' plus a peek inside Ba and Moon's folktale yarn, 'Lost Ones,' all in the full gallery below, then tell us if this isn't the best early Christmas gift you'll get all season!