From the mind of a couple of comic greats comes the story of Lord Henry Baltimore a vampire slayer that isn’t strictly labeled as such in this comic series. But that would be far to easy for writers with the talents that these particular authors posses.
Set in the direct aftermath of World War I, with flashbacks within the Great War itself we follow the adventures of a lost soul, a man who had everything before the war and who lost it all by war’s end. While Lord Baltimore is a slayer of the undead he bears no such title as Vampire Slayer as your typical titular hero of such far in pop culture. He is no Buffy, nor Blade, nor even Abraham Lincoln, no this man is a soldier on a suicide mission and he is well aware of it. Fitting since his first incounter with vampires was during a suicide combate mission into No Man’s Land during the bloody trench fighting of WWI.
There are a lot of neat things going on here in this series and the authors weave a layered tale that seems to me to draw inspiration from gothic classics of the past. The easiest influence to spot is Moby Dick. Baltimore like many who have run afoul of vampires and then seek to destroy them has lost those he loves most to the monsters. And so, he hunts them down, and the one in particular who wronged him, with a singleminded fury that would do Ahab proud. To complete the image Baltimore also lost leg and stumps about on a peg and one of his favored weapons for dispatching the bloodsuckers is a harpoon. In fact he carries an arsenal on his person that would do Blade proud. Unlike the ill-fated captain however he is burdened by a great guilt, that drives him as equally as his thirst for vengeance. Because of this the man has a compassion and heroism that the other figure lacks while carrying a fatalism with him.
In this series I also saw elements of Frankenstein, whereas in a manner of speaking Baltimore creates his own monster. His loved ones suffer for this as did Victor’s and as with the good doctor, this is what drives him in relentless pursuit of his quarry. In Mary Shelly’s novel each party swears vengeance upon the other while in the tale of Baltimore both declare war on their antagonist. Its an interesting start to things as the vampire is marked by its prey and takes grave offense to this despite the fact that both were merely following their nature, the vampire’s to hunt and the human’s to seek survival. Once again like Ahab, it was the vampire who sought vengeance against the human for his injury.
There are other themes explored within the series as plague is a major factor in the ending of the war and that the vampires and the plague are often interchangeable narratively in the context of the story. Somthing that I personally thought was a nice touch. Through in some witchcraft and the inquisition for good measure and you have quite a rollicking story full of action, adventure, pathos and fate.
ART
The art team does and amazing job at presenting work that is clearly in the vein of Mignola but without outright cloning his style. The influence is clear and I don’t know Stenbeck’s work outside of this series. So I cannot say if this is a matter of art direction, personal style or if he is a protege of Mignola’s but I can definitely see that this art fits into the world’s Mike is know for creating. The colors are also reminiscent of the work seen in Hellboy and compliment both the art and mood of the story perfectly. There’s really nothing bad to be said about any of it.
FINAL THOUGHTS
It’s a war story, gothic horror and Shakespearean tragedy in one beautiful package.
SCORE: 5/5
REVIEW: BALTIMORE omnibus vol 1
Writer: Mike Mignola, Christopher Golden
Art:Â Ben Stenbeck
Colors:Â Dave Stewart
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