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Baltimore,: Or, The Steadfast Tin Soldier and the Vampire | 
| Authors: Mike Mignola, Christopher Golden
Publisher: Spectra
Category: Book
List Price: $25.00
Buy Used: $10.15
You Save: $14.85 (59%)
Rating:  28 reviews
Sales Rank: 40354
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 304
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.7
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 7.4 x 1.1
ISBN: 0553804715
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780553804713
ASIN: 0553804715
Publication Date: August 28, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: ex-library copy - usual markings/clean pages
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
From celebrated comic artist Mike Mignola and award-winning novelist Christopher Golden comes a work of gothic storytelling like no other. Reminiscent of the illustrated tales of old, here is a lyrical, atmospheric novel of the paranormal—and a chilling allegory for the nature of war.
“Why do dead men rise up to torment the living?” Captain Henry Baltimore asks the malevolent winged creature. The vampire shakes its head. “It was you called us. All of you, with your war. The roar of your cannons shook us from our quiet graves…. You killers. You berserkers…. You will never be rid of us now.”
When Lord Henry Baltimore awakens the wrath of a vampire on the hellish battlefields of World War I, the world is forever changed. For a virulent plague has been unleashed—a plague that even death cannot end.
Now the lone soldier in an eternal struggle against darkness, Baltimore summons three old friends to a lonely inn—men whose travels and fantastical experiences incline them to fully believe in the evil that is devouring the soul of mankind.
As the men await their old friend, they share their tales of terror and misadventure, and contemplate what part they will play in Baltimore’s timeless battle. Before the night is through, they will learn what is required to banish the plague—and the creature who named Baltimore his nemesis—once and for all.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 23 more reviews...
Gothic Horror November 26, 2008
Zack Davisson (Seattle, WA, USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Three men gather at a dingy inn on a grim night, awaiting the arrival of a third. To pass the time and to make sense of their presence, they take turns telling their tales and their relationship to the mysterious Lord Baltimore.
Taking Hans Christian Andersen's The Steadfast Tin Soldier as both a framing device and as a literary allusion, "Baltimore" is a gothic horror in the classic style. It is full of dank atmosphere and lugubrious woes, with supernatural beasts beating at the edge of reality and only a few brave stalwarts to stand against them. Purposely old-fashioned in style, it re-creates the old style of illustrated novelettes of the pulp era. I don't know who did most of the writing chores, but Mignola's style comes through clearly especially in the treatment of vampires and some of the imagery.
Much like Scott's Rob Roy, the title character does not even show up until near the end of the story. It is not actually Baltimore's tale, but more of a collection of linked short stories, each a tale of one of his companions; how they met Baltimore and how they came to understand the darker side of the world. This might disappoint some readers, but I was fully involved in the stories and loved the "gathering around the fire" feel of the book.
Strangely enough, if there is a weak point to "Baltimore", it is Mignola's illustrations. There are simply not enough of them, and they are all small and stark pictures that peak out like little windows in the text. The cover is the only fully colored illustration, which isn't bad in and of itself, but it would have been nice to seem some more fully rendered work.
BALTIMORE by Mike Mignola and Christopher Golden July 18, 2008
Gandhi the Vile (Tulsa, OK)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Baltimore, or, The Steadfast Tin Soldier and the Vampire is an illustrated gothic horror novel by Christopher Golden and Hellboy creator Mike Mignola. This is the tale of Captain Baltimore, who encounters a vampire in World War I, and of his three friends, who meet and share their own experiences of gothic horror while they wait for him.
Thusly this volume is, more or less, a bunch of smaller tales that are connected. Many of them draw heavily on folklore, which is vintage Mignola. And most of them are entertaining, although some are fairly predictable. None, however, is more predictable as the novel's climax and ending, which also manages to be rather anticlimactic. On top of this, the characters are not particularly well developed.
While the story is lackluster at times, the authors have done an excellent job with the tone. The writing, while overwrought at times, captures the gothic horror atmosphere for nearly the entire novel.
Mignola does the illustrations here. They are stark, black and white pieces, often extreme close-ups of objects, that do much more to help set the mood of the novel in a general way than specifically depict any particular scene. So even if the art is somewhat underwhelming, it still works.
A work of gothic horror like this cannot help but address religion. In Baltimore, faith is weak, and Christianity seems particularly neutered. The authors have thrown religion by the wayside in favor of hack-and-slash encounters with the supernatural.
Baltimore, then, is a decent but unspectacular gothic horror novel. It should appeal to fans of that genre, as well as fans of the authors, but probably not beyond that.
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