Calum Petrie reviews Lady Baltimore: The Witch Queens #1…
When I see the name Mike Mignola on a comic I am very much excited, but also anxious and worried. The mix of emotions is usually because I discovered the joys of his stories later in life, which in turn makes me worried that I need a back catalogue of reading to catch me up. Lady Baltimore falls into these parameters – we are jumping into a new story arc of an established universe, which means there is a lot of backstory prior to me ever reading an issue.
The series is a continuation of Baltimore, which ran from 2011 – 2017; the story of Lord Henry Baltimore who survived World War I only to be confronted by plague, vampires and all manners of supernatural obstacles. Lady Baltimore opens in Bruges in 1938, where Lady Baltimore herself is laying waste to a series of supernatural creatures. Mike Mignola and Christopher Golden certainly come out the gates swinging with a wonderfully crafted story and interesting cliff-hanger to end issue #1.
The story within the issue has our lead at the end of a pursuit where a witch appears to have kidnapped someone dear to the Lady (Sofia). Her back up appears in the form of a female magic user who introduces herself as Imogen, and while an encounter with the witch appears to be going well, we find out Imogen’s skill in magic is different to the witch’s.
As the first issue in a new series/arc we are usually introduced to a lot of new characters in a short space of time, and this is no different with Lady Baltimore. The characters all look very distinct and different on the page, and names are thrown at us thick and fast so re-reading a couple of pages was necessary. By the end of the issue I felt I had a distinct feeling I know the characters introduced, but a deep dive and a reading of Baltimore might be in order to get a grasp on all the faction names.
Lady Baltimore is a dark and beautiful comic that mixes technology of the era with the mysterious air of magic in a very complimentary fashion. The world is not hard to imagine at all, as there is no end to the point of references we have in film, books and pop culture the era in which the story is set. The artwork from Bridget Connell is extremely intricate in a lot of panels delivering a wonderful attention to detail, while never pulling focus away from the main focus.
Rating – 8/10
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