Gothic horror is a genre which lately seems to be dominated by Tim Burton movies. His quirky, twisted dark-fantasy fairy tales have become the tape by which everything else in this style is measured - plus, there’s the fact that no one seems to be making these movies anymore, aside from Burton. But to experience true gothic horror, one has to turn to literature. And with “Baltimore, or, The Steadfast Tin Soldier and the Vampire” - the latest work from “Hellboy” creator Mike Mignola and established novelist Christopher Golden - it’s nice to see that good gothic horror can still be found in the “New Releases” section of your local bookstore.
Told episodically, “Baltimore” chronicles events which affect Henry Baltimore, a young soldier whose life is exposed to unspeakable darkness on the battlefield. After being shot in the leg and left for dead, Baltimore sees strange creature flying in the sky, who then descend and begin to devour the remains of his fallen comrades. When one approaches him, he slashes its face with his combat knife, and this event ends up changing the world forever, as it becomes the reason for the great plague of Europe, and the catalyst event for the meeting of a few men in a small pub whose lives have also been touched by darkness.
Each man in the pub brings their own story of death and decay which helps to illuminate this world which Golden and Mignola have created. Similar to the overall concept which H. P. Lovecraft pushed in nearly all of his works, one of the main ideas in “Baltimore” is that of a world beyond our world, which exists simultaneously and symbiotically alongside our own. This is the world where vampires, werewolves, demons and ghouls reside, and occasionally our paths cross, resulting in folklore and old wives tales. Granted, it’s a very different approach to the topic from that of Lovecraft, but the general idea is the same. And it’s not all that unexpected, really, since Lovecraft has obviously been a huge influence on both Mignola’s artwork and storytelling as evidenced in his “Hellboy” comics (and even the movie).
The stories told by the men in the pub are all quite chilling, and effectively creepy. It would be very wrong to spoil any of the surprises in store within the book by going into great detail about each of the tales, but suffice to say they involve some frightening creatures and situations. Demonic marionettes and giant lake monsters are among some of the horrors to be found within the pages of “Baltimore”.
But while the monsters are great, it’s the overall atmosphere of the story which is so captivating. Anyone who has seen the gothic horror films of Italian director Mario Bava will find something instantly recognizable. Descriptions of locales and characters are reminiscent of the striking imagery of such Bava classics as Black Sunday, while also having their own atmospheric qualities more suiting Mignola’s style. And while Mignola’s drawings are small and often quite simple - perhaps showing the shingles of a house, or a stylized crucifix - they really add to the feeling one gets from the book. I know that one complaint people often have with books with illustrations is that they take away the reader’s ability to imagine characters and objects the way they want to imagine them - but this is not the case here. The drawings are not greatly detailed, and even the drawings of monsters are done by showing the monster deep in shadows, so that not much of it is revealed. It’s simply enough to tease your imagination, and make the images seem even more grotesque in your mind.
One of the most impressive things (for me at least) is that Mignola and Golden managed to take the concept of vampires and make it fresh, original, and most importantly frightening again. It’s been too long since vampires scared me last - the romanticizing of these creatures never really made sense to me. It was interesting the first couple of times I read or saw vampires portrayed as sexual beings with incredible powers of seduction, but that that image became their billboard puzzled me. They’ve always been monsters to me, and with “Baltimore”, we have a return to the monstrous interpretation of the undead.
While there are startling moments and it contains an atmosphere of the macabre which could be cut with a knife, it wouldn’t be right to say that the book is all-out “terrifying”. It’s a tale of the supernatural with a definite, steady build in suspense, and a certain dramatic tragedy which makes it feel a lot more potent than it would have as a simple monster story. It really is a success on all fronts and I hope more readers decide to pick this one up.
