I’m coming into Lady Baltimore as a fan of Mike Mignola, but without having read the first Baltimore series. That happens, I can’t read everything. That being said. Mignola and co-writer Chris Golden, have accomplished a huge feat. If you are starting here, with this first issue, you will be fine. I promise.
Lady Baltimore starts out with a bang, literally. Sofia is fighting to find a friend, and fighting means killing a lot of creepy crawlies brought forth by the witch, Yelena. At Sofia’s side is another witch, seemingly a good one, named Imogen. Together they are able to capture Yelena and free Sofia’s friend, along with his group, The Orphic Society. I don’t want to give away to much here, cause, ya know; spoilers. But there is talk of Sofia’s late husband Lord Baltimore (I’m guessing of the previous series) and there is yet even more witches and their creepy crawlies.
Lady Baltimore is full of what you expect from a Mignola universe and if you like previous Mignola/Golden collabs, you are sure to like this one as well. There is great art, a spooky atmosphere and gore, of course. It pulls you in easily, and will leave you wanting to dig deeper into these characters. And as an aside, I perhaps have Marvel on the brain, because there is a part where the Witch Yelena calls Sofia “Widow,” and I couldn’t help but think of the Black Widow story-line involving Yelena. It’s probably not meant to make readers think of that, but I’ll admit my mind went there easily.
Lady Baltimore was released March 24th by Dark Horse Comics and should be available everywhere now!
