Baltimore Volume 1: The Plague Ships [Hardcover]

LORD HENRY BALTIMORE is one of the most fascinating characters in recent horror fiction. I was captivated by his first appearance, in Baltimore,: Or, The Steadfast Tin Soldier and the Vampire (2007) and was delighted to see that creators Mike Mignola and Christopher Golden have brought the troubled, battered hero back for more arcane adventures.

This is intelligent, subtle and exciting storytelling at its very best. Highly recommended. And...give us more!

I am a fan of the Hellboy movies, Mike Mignola wrote the comic books. I'm also a fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Christopher Golden has written a few novels based in that universe I've read and enjoyed. So for these two storytellers to collaborate on a historical action/horror comic, set in Europe after the Great War, littered with vampires and zombies no less, I figured I ought to check it out.

Lord Henry Baltimore is a soldier with more scars than any man should have to bear. Not only is he battle-worn from his time in World War 1, but he watched his fellow soldiers ambushed on the battlefield or devoured by giant bats, had his leg amputated and replaced by a mechanical peg leg, lost his family, and found himself in a personal war and on the manhunt for a vampire who may be responsible for all of it.

Mignola and Golden have tapped into a swashbuckling adventure steeped in European history and myth, with plenty of horror and suspense on each page. Stenbeck's illustrations offer a slightly different style from what I'm used to seeing in more conventional comic books, namely the superhero genre. There is a storybook quality to many of the pages that offer a sense of antiquity, which seems well suited to the time period of the story. The dialogue comes off a bit grandiose at times, but I didn't find it too much of a deterrent.

My main criticism would have to be the lack of empathy I felt towards Baltimore's companion in this ordeal with the Plague Ships. Vanessa Kalderas, the daughter of a witch, who escapes a ravaged village for a chance at a better life is rather compelling in the beginning of the novel. But as the story progressed, she seemed to become less an actual character than a sounding board to Baltimore's reminiscences. Had it gone on much longer than it had, I'd have become annoyed with the book as a whole, but a great set piece towards the end of the book involving zombies, a strange fungus, and a seaside graveyard of battleships, felt quite rewarding.

There was even a hint of steampunk, with an airship in the first act, and some cool looking submariners in the third act.

It's some pretty good stuff, and despite some trouble for me to really rally behind Lord Baltimore at certain points in the book, I think this could be a good place to go for comic book fans looking for something that doesn't involve a caped crusader of some kind.

Writer Mike Mignola moves away from the Hellboy universe he created to introduce readers to a new hero, Lord Henry Baltimore. Joined by cowriter and novelist Christopher Golden and artist Ben Stenbeck, Mignola presents a great addition to the canon of Victorian-inspired action/horror fiction.

Set during the years of the influenza plague following the end of World War I, the story follows vampires who have begun preying on the sick. Hunting those vampires is Lord Baltimore, an injured veteran of the war who first learned of the existence of vampires on the blood-soaked battlefields of Germany. Nearly killed there, he scarred one named Haigus and lost his leg to a gangrenous bullet wound. His confrontation with Haigus ignites a personal war between the two, and armed with a bevy of blades and guns, Baltimore stalks the quarantined streets of an old French village in search of retribution.

As a writer, Mignola is constantly inspired by gothic horror, and his work successfully captures the earlier romantic era of horror fiction. Baltimore: The Plague Ships marries its gothic sensibilities to a post-war setting that works really well and provides some innovative settings in which the story can unfold.

While Mignola and Golden aren't exactly reinventing the vampire genre, the trusty old warhorse of horror fiction if ever there were one, they at least populate it with interesting ideas and intriguing concepts. Setting their tale amidst a plague is a particular bit of genius that allows them to explore the vampiric infestation, as is their haunting submarine graveyard that sets up the book's finale.

Lord Baltimore himself is an intriguing character and readers will likely be rooting for him quickly. His fall from grace and his struggles against Haigus pack a strong emotional wallop, which makes the revenge-driven narrative easily relatable. From a design standpoint, like Hellboy's giant stone fist, Baltimore is made instantly iconic by his wood-and-leather jointed peg leg, studded by a series of nails. It's a great twist and speaks of the trials and agony he has suffered during and after the war.

Stenbeck's art is serviceable, but too often lacks clarity and detail. It's a nitty-gritty affair, which serves the book's atmosphere well, but unfortunately lends it an inconsistent appearance. The characters surrounding Baltimore, and of course Baltimore himself, are usually afforded a few close-up portraits that are nicely detailed, but when they are subsequently drawn, they quickly lose facial details and are often relegated to just being blob-like bipedal shapes. These moments of rushed and muddied artwork are a shame because Stenbeck proves to be quite a capable draftsman, as the supplemental sketchbook and pinups indicate. Taken as a whole, the artwork isn't bad and, in fact, has some truly amazing and wicked moments, but it suffers from a lack of attention to detail. Dave Stewart's coloring saves it from being a total loss, and gives the book a subdued, dark atmosphere that serves the writing's tone suitably.

The Plague Ships moves along at a rapid clip and presents some great, original ideas to a well-worn segment of the horror genre. Stenbeck is able to translate Mignola's and Golden's script adequately, and creates several powerful, pin-up worthy images. One in particular, of the undead submarine crew reanimating, some clad in armored dive suits, is stunning and awesome.

In the end, Baltimore is a strange but imminently enjoyable ongoing horror comic that's inspired by equal parts Dracula and Moby Dick. It introduces a terrific new vampire-hunting hero and establishes a strong plague-filled playground for the book's creators to run wild with.

-- Michael Hicks