Baltimore, or The
Steadfast Tin Soldier and the Vampire
By Mike Mignola and Christopher Golden
4 ½ Covers out of 5
Mike Mignola is best known for his creation Hellboy. Christopher Golden is a prolific author, many
of whose books involve the supernatural.
Their collaboration on Baltimore
is natural. The setting is Europe during
the Great War, but the war has been put on hold due to a strange plague. Lord Baltimore has called a gathering of three
friends, all of whom know the truth: the plague is caused by vampires. How they know this is the core of the story
as they each tell tales of their adventures with Lord Baltimore as well as
other encounters with supernatural horrors.
The goal of a horror story is the emotional effect of being
scared. The authors ably achieve this
through their tales which range from folktales to cosmic terror, including
werecreatures, puppets and piece of leather floating on the water. This is not achieved through gore or violence
(not that there isn’t any violence) but rather through the macabre, taking what
should be familiar and transforming it to the grotesque.
Despite using the tried and true trope of a gathering where
each member tells a story, there is a throughline involving Lord Baltimore: how
he may have caused the plague and his hunt for the vampire he wounded. It is a tragedy, and while all the tropes are
there, they never seem tired. And yes,
the title does make sense by the end, in a shocking way.
Baltimore is a
great addition to the Gothic canon.
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