Lady Baltimore: The Witch Queens #1 shipped in March, with the second issue arriving April 21. (Cover art by Abigail Larson, copyright Dark Horse)

 

By Andrew A. Smith

Tribune Content Agency

April 22, 2021 — Most folks are probably familiar with writer/artist Mike Mignola’s other universe — the one starring Hellboy and his friends. Fewer people are familiar with Mignola’s other, other universe, which just got bigger this month.

In 2007 Mignola and writing partner Christopher Golden created the illustrated novel Baltimore, or, The Steadfast Tin Soldier and the Vampire. This story was set in a world that diverged from our own in World War I, when the carnage and bloodletting awoke various evils, like vampires, but also something ancient and terrible called the Red King. The Red King’s influence created a literal plague of evil, a disease that killed many, but also transformed others into a veritable Whitman’s Sampler of horror.

Lord Baltimore of England arose against these evils, not entirely of his own volition. Manipulated and empowered by powers unknown, Baltimore became more than human, and a bit less. For example, his heart was a bit of removable tin with his wedding ring ironically imbedded in it. His stories have already been told, and Spoiler, he didn’t survive them.

The first page of Lady Baltimore: The Witch Queens #1 re-introduces us to Sofia, and to her creepy new mission. (Art by Bridgit Connell, copyright Dark Horse)

Meanwhile, others joined Baltimore’s crusade to end the Red King, including a young Estonian widow named Sofia Valk. She and Baltimore went underground for a couple of years as they planned their final assault on the Red King — and surprise, surprise, they appeared to have gotten married.

Or so we glean from the excellent Lady Baltimore: The Witch Queens #1, the launch of a new series by Mignola, Golden and artist Bridgit Connell. This series continues what is now being called “the Outerverse,” which includes Joe Golem stories and some upcoming books with the tantalizing names Cojacaru the Skinner, Imogen of the Wyrding Way and The Golem Walks Among Us!

Connell follows in the tradition of other artists working on various Mignola projects, combining a sleek, sophisticated style that can veer smoothly into horror and back out again. And the story … ?

Compelling, of course, as are most Golden/Mignola productions. It takes place during what in our history would be World War II, but in the Outerverse Earth is a period irrevocably changed by the supernatural horrors or the Great War. Sofia is back as the titular Lady Baltimore, with new allies of her own, and I’d love to tell you more …

Only Christopher Golden can tell you better. So I asked him a few leading questions to whet the appetite.

Captain Comics: Evidently Sofia and Lord Baltimore got married in the two years they were in hiding, 1923-25. Is that just going to be a given, or will we find out the particulars?

Christopher Golden: I’ve talked about it in a number of interviews and sort of referred to it in the pages of the series, but as to whether we’ll ever get a flashback that explores that period, I’m going to say it’s highly unlikely. Never say never, and it wouldn’t really surprise me if at some point we did a story about Baltimore and Sofia set during that period where it was really just the two of them, separated from the world and figuring out a plan to destroy the Red King. But at the moment, no plans to do that.

CC: Sofia was always the most clever, insightful and formidable of Baltimore’s allies. But she was just human. Is that still true? And now that Baltimore is dead, how can she continue his fight without his supernatural advantages?

The second page of Lady Baltimore: The Witch Queens #1 shows one way she differs from her predecessor: I don't think the stoic Lord Baltimore ever yelled like that when defenestrating. (Art by Bridgit Connell, copyright Dark Horse)

CG: It’s absolutely still true. What we’ll be learning as we go is that Baltimore is one of a line of individuals basically chosen by the cosmos to stand against the darkness, to keep balance in the world. Sofia is not that. Her fight is a choice. She’s risking her life every second by choice and with purpose. However, she recognizes something Baltimore really didn’t. He’d gathered up a team, a group of apostles you might say, who helped him in his fight. Sofia has also put together a team, a group of friends and allies who join her fight and will follow her into the dark at any time. Some of them have supernatural advantages of their own, but she has none. As for how she can continue his fight — with humanity and heart.

CC: One of the subtexts I read into the original Baltimore saga is that Sofia understood him best because she, too, was in danger of losing her humanity in the battle against evil. Sofia’s first marriage was loveless, and presumably so was her marriage to Lord Baltimore, who had a hunk of tin for a heart. Presumably she’s never been in love — even her fondness for another ally, Harish, seemed to be just friendship. Am I right or wrong about any of that? And if so, will her fraying humanity be an issue in this series?

CG: You’re right about all of that, but in fact in the time since Baltimore’s death her humanity has not only been growing, it’s her greatest strength. (That, and backbone.) As for love, she’s about to find out what it’s really about for the first time in her life. Her story makes sense — even to her — at last. I’d actually say that the reason Sofia understood Baltimore best is that she was able to see and connect with the humanity that remained inside him. She could see it there, even when nobody else could, not even Baltimore himself.

CC: “Baltimore” gave us a terrifying world with a unique horror hiding in each village and town. This series begins with many of the same elements, plus we’ve got Nazis. Is this going to be a larger-scale epic?The third page makes it official: Sofia doesn’t care much for Bruges. (Art by Bridgit Connell, copyright Dark Horse)

CG: The playing field of the current Outerverse stories — including the five-issue Lady Baltimore: The Witch Queens — is a massive-scale epic, yes. It brings lots of other characters and concepts onto the board. Should we continue — and of course we’re hoping to do just that — the epic will still be going on in the background, but I think the stories themselves will be less so. Big stakes, more intimate horrors.

CC: Hasn’t Adolf Hitler already appeared and been killed in the Outerverse, in “The Curse Bells”? How can you have World War II without Hitler? Maybe Reinhard Heydrich as Fuehrer?

CG:  Read on, sir, read on.

CC: I will. Also, I see the arrogant and cowardly Judge Rigo is back, so I can go on hating him. Good! And we meet Charlie Kidd, whose father was a blacksmith, soldier and Baltimore ally who was killed in “The Red Kingdom.” Will we see any more familiar faces from the Baltimore saga?

CG: You will, but maybe not faces you want to see.

CC: That’s not at all terrifying.

Gotta go. If you need me, I’ll be the guy hiding in the closet.

Find Captain Comics by email (capncomics@aol.com), on his website (captaincomics.ning.com), on Facebook (Andrew Alan Smith) or on Twitter (@CaptainComics).

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