Baltimore is the latest horror/fantasy saga from Hellboy/B.P.R.D.s Mike Mignola. It is the story of Lord Henry Baltimore, a soldier who runs afoul of a vampire during the first World War.
The vampire, Haigus, swears vengeance on Baltimore for wounding him and takes his wrath out on Baltimore’s family. Naturally, Baltimore swears counter-vengeance and begins his battle against the forces of evil, which quickly becomes more complicated than he expected. It seems that vampires were only the tip of the iceberg and the bloody battles of WWI have begun to draw all the supernatural forces of the world out of hiding. Behind it all is the mysterious Lovecraftian elder god-type being known only as the Red King, who is attempting to return to Earth to make it home to monsters again. Baltimore doesn’t much care and is only really interested in Haigus, but he finds it impossible to remain uninvolved when his path is constantly being blocked by the surging tides of newly risen undead so-and-sos.
While its setting is very similar to the Hellboy universe in several ways (in particular, the Sir Edward Grey, Witchfinder era), it takes place in a world of its own, so it’s a bit easier to get into than the now-semi-complex Hellboy universe. It’s also still in progress and under an erratic, but easy to jump into, release schedule of each arc being broken up into separate mini series. The art, mostly by Ben Steinbeck, is also pretty damn impressive. Unlike most other comics these days, it’s actually a lot better looking on the inside than it is on the covers. There’s not much else to say about it, except that it’s definitely a worthwhile read for horror fans.
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