From celebrated comic artist Mike Mignola and award-winning novelist Christopher Golden come the next installments of the critically acclaimed Baltimore series.

In Baltimore: The Play, a mad playwright puts on a Grand Guignol featuring actors that are real vampires. The evil financier of the play makes a bizarre discovery when he finds out that the playwright is a fraud and the true author is the disembodied head of a famous American author kept in a glass case. Baltimore: The Play is on sale November 21, 2012.

Following The Play, Lord Baltimore finds himself in a double feature with Baltimore: The Widow and the Tank, on sale February 20, 2013. “The Widow” concerns a woman whose husband and war buddies have returned from the war as vampires and begun preying on their hometown. In “The Tank,” Baltimore learns of a wrecked tank in a field as he is passing through the war-ravaged countryside. People believe there is a vampire living inside that has been eating cattle and attacking locals. When Baltimore checks it out, it turns out to be true…to a point.

Lord Baltimore’s next adventure, Baltimore: The Inquisitor, features the origin story of one of his main antagonists—Judge Duvic. Look for The Inquisitor on sale June 19, 2013.

Praise for Christopher Golden and Mike Mignola:

“It still takes something special to impose a unifying vision, and Mike Mignola and Christopher Golden have got it.” —The Wall Street Journal

For more information, check out the exclusive interview with Christopher Golden on Newsarama.

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Dark Horse and IDW team up on this once-in-a-lifetime crossover between the critically acclaimed Criminal Macabre and 30 Days of Night. Steve Niles’s greatest characters come together in a final showdown, with a thrilling script by Steve Niles and artwork by Christopher Mitten.

Cal McDonald only wanted a beer, but what he got was a jaded federal agent and a story about vampires up in Barrow, Alaska. There’s a new vamp in LA, and he’s hell bent on escalating his attacks. When Mo’Lock’s sometimes ghoul-friend is murdered, Cal’s on the hunt . . . for Eben—the longtime protagonist/antagonist of 30 Days of Night.

Praise for Steve Niles:

“Not only is Niles’ dialogue and pacing the best it has ever been, but Mitten’s art is absolutely paradisiacal by being horrific, high-brow, or low-brow whenever the situation demands it. This is a collaboration seemingly blessed by the comic book gods.”—Comics Bulletin

“Fans of the horror genre really can’t go wrong with [30 Days of Night].”—About.com

For additional information check out the exclusive interview with Steve Niles on Comic Book Resources.

Criminal Macabre: Final Night—The 30 Days of Night Crossover #1 (of 4) is on sale December 12, 2012.

Meanwhile, from celebrated comic artist Mike Mignola and award-winning novelist Christopher Golden come the next installments of the critically acclaimed Baltimore series.

In Baltimore: The Play, a mad playwright puts on a Grand Guignol featuring actors that are real vampires. The evil financier of the play makes a bizarre discovery when he finds out that the playwright is a fraud and the true author is the disembodied head of a famous American author kept in a glass case. Baltimore: The Play is on sale November 21, 2012.

Following The Play, Lord Baltimore finds himself in a double feature with Baltimore: The Widow and the Tank, on sale February 20, 2013. “The Widow” concerns a woman whose husband and war buddies have returned from the war as vampires and begun preying on their hometown. In “The Tank,” Baltimore learns of a wrecked tank in a field as he is passing through the war-ravaged countryside. People believe there is a vampire living inside that has been eating cattle and attacking locals. When Baltimore checks it out, it turns out to be true…to a point.

Lord Baltimore’s next adventure, Baltimore: The Inquisitor, features the origin story of one of his main antagonists—Judge Duvic. Look for The Inquisitor on sale June 19, 2013!

Praise for Christopher Golden and Mike Mignola:

“It still takes something special to impose a unifying vision, and Mike Mignola and Christopher Golden have got it.” —The Wall Street Journal

For more information, check out the exclusive interview with Christopher Golden on Newsarama.

The article New From Dark Horse Comics; Crossover and More Baltimore appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

In conjunction with the release of Mike Mignola and Christopher Golden’s latest collaboration earlier this week, and Mignola’s appearance at this weekend’s World Horror Convention, Dark Horse is pleased to announce a limited-edition hardcover release of Joe Golem and the Drowning City.

After a séance gone horribly wrong, strange men wearing gas masks and rubber suits abduct the aging psychic Orlov the Conjuror, sending his young assistant Molly McHugh racing through the canals of a submerged Manhattan. As Molly flees her captors through a sunken city full of scavengers, her one hope comes in the form of two strange men: Simon Church, a Victorian-era detective kept alive by clockwork gears and magic, and his assistant, Joe, whose mysterious past is hinted at in dreams of stone and witches.

“Joe and his world are made up of all those things I love: crumbling ruins, strange Victorian devices, and unknowable supernatural forces,” said cocreator Mike Mignola. “These are the very same elements that went into the creation of Hellboy, but here hammered into different shape and relocated to New York City. Hellboy is Joe’s country cousin.”

The deluxe limited-edition collection features multiple illustrations by Hellboy artist Mike Mignola, as well as a signature plate signed by both Mignola and Golden, and is presented in a handsome slipcase. Additionally, only the Dark Horse edition will feature the previously unpublished story “Joe Golem and the Copper Girl.”

The deluxe hardcover edition of Joe Golem and the Drowning City will be released in an extremely limited edition of only 1,000 copies on September 26, and will retail for $99.99.

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“Baltimore: The Plague Ships,” the first comic in the Baltimore series by Mike Mignola and Christopher Golden, focuses on Lord Baltimore’s journey to find and kill the evil vampire, Haigus. Both volumes of the comic series are based on the book “Baltimore: The Steadfast Tin Soldier and the Vampire” by the same authors. Set during the events of the book, they offer a deeper look into the world of Baltimore.

With him on his journey is a young woman named Vanessa Kalderas that he met in the town of Yillefranche, France. Wishing to flee the plague, and the feelings of hopelessness that accompany it, Vanessa insists that Baltimore bring her with him when he leaves the city.

Her grandmother has a number of supernatural abilities, which she uses to help Baltimore fight off vampires that are attacking the city. But despite her willingness to help him, she believes wholeheartedly that Baltimore is a cursed man. As a result, when Vanessa expresses her desire to leave with Baltimore, her grandmother is very concerned about her welfare.

After leaving the city, Baltimore confronts a horde of fungus-covered plague victims that rise from the depths of the ocean. Baltimore is faced with seemingly insurmountable odds when given the task of dispatching a seemingly endless wave of enemies armed with only a crucifix, a sword and a pistol.

Unlike Mignola and Golden’s “The Curse Bells,” “The Plague Ships” goes into greater detail about Baltimore’s past, the origins of the plague, and just why he is so focused on tracking down Haigus and finally killing the vampire. Baltimore tells Vanessa of his first meeting with Haigus on the battlefield against the Hessians when he lost his leg and the plague began.

For those who have not read the book that both comics are based on, this inclusion of the back story is a pleasant addition. For those who know the original story, it is exciting to see the events from the book unfold visually. The artwork, done by Ben Stenbeck, is superb and it adds an important element to the telling of the story. When the vampires are in their bat form they are quite intimidating, and the drawings of the plague victims covered in a strange fungus are both grotesque and compelling.

The story moves along at a fast pace, drawing the reader in with intense action sequences between Baltimore and his foes. Baltimore’s origin story, as well as the inclusion of Vanessa’s character, serves to create a greater depth to the story and make it more than just a simple revenge plot. An added layer to the tension is the man from the Inquisition who begins to hunt Baltimore down for his violent actions.

Written by one of the same authors as the popular “Hellboy” series, “The Plague Ships” tells the story of one man’s struggle to find revenge, while also trying to absolve himself of his part in the creation of the plague. Often forced to balance his need for revenge with other’s insistence that he use his abilities to help those around him, Baltimore is a complex character within a riveting story. “The Plague Ships” is recommended for anyone who enjoys action comics coupled with three-dimensional characters.

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Dark Horse Comics has released the fourth installment of Baltimore’s ”The Curse Bells” this week, and with only one issue left, the story is coming to its climax. Lord Baltimore has made his way into the chapel filled with cursed vampire nuns and is poised to find his nemesis, Haigus.

Written by Mike Mignola and Christopher Golden with artwork by Ben Stenbeck, this mini-series focuses on the details of Lord Baltimore’s journey to find Haigus, the vampire that he first met on the battlefield in a fight against the Hessians.

“The Curse Bells” is a continuation of “The Plague Ship” mini-series and an interlude for the middle of the book, “Baltimore,: Or The Steadfast Tin Soldier and the Vampire,” which focuses on Lord Baltimore’s three friends and his meetings with them from the beginning of the plague.

As he inches closer to his goal of destroying the vampire that killed his family, Baltimore’s dedication in the epic quest demonstrates how far one will go in order to exact revenge. Baltimore is often shown as an anti-hero, only saving people as a by-product of his revenge, or after any other course of action would hinder or halt his goal.

This issue is no different. The crux of the story is based on Baltimore’s choice between continuing to hunt Haigus and stopping Madame Blavatsky from ringing the bells, damming all who hear the cursed ringing. “The Curse Bells” delves into the psyche of Baltimore. It shows that Baltimore, when given a choice between revenge and becoming a savior, would rather be damned and may already be.

The series was originally created with Mike Mignola, the creator of the Hellboy comics, and it shares many of the same artistic designs. In addition to Mignola’s influence on the artwork, Stenbeck is the primary artist for this mini-series, and he continues with the quality that has become associated with Hellboy. The dark colors contrast with splashes of blood-red add to the tension of the story.

Not only is the artwork high quality, the story and the writing are riveting as well. Christopher Golden co-wrote with Mike Mignola for both the novel and several comic series that have been produced so far. Mignola and Golden infuse the fourth installment with the poem The Bells from Edger Allan Poe, which gives an even darker tone to both the original poem and the story itself.

In addition to following Baltimore’s quest, the reader gets a look at the lives of those he affects, such as the teenager and child who lead him to the chapel that Haigus has entered. The weaving of these subplots with the main story adds to the depth of the characters, and allows the reader to see more of the universe that Baltimore is living in.

“The Curse Bells” still has more to go, and it looks like it is going to have just as satisfying of an ending as the original book and “The Plague Ship” mini-series. If you are a fan of Hellboy or the previous Baltimore material, you will enjoy “The Curse Bells.”

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