Mike Mignola began his career in 1980 by illustrating spots in the Comic Reader. He began inking in August of 1983 for Marvel Comics including Daredevil and Power Man & Iron Fist. Mignola is particularly noted for his highly distinctive style, which was once called "German expressionism meets Jack Kirby" by Alan Moore, in an introduction to a Hellboy collection. While Mignola has heavily influenced a new generation of comics artists since he began working on Hellboy, he was something of an odd man out in the superhero comics industry in the beginning of his career. Mignola's imagery stood in stark contrast to the style of his contemporaries. Where others would draw muscular men and slim, well-endowed women, Mignola's characters were usually bulky and rough-looking, and more often than not defined by large shadowed areas rather than fine details. Hellboy was made into a feature film in 2004 by director Guillermo del Toro. Mignola was closely involved with the movie's production. Hellboy also has been made into two direct-to-video animated films, Sword of Storms and Blood and Iron in 2007.
Reviews from a previous edition of Baltimore, or The Steadfast Tin
Soldier & the Vampire: From Publishers Weekly
Mignola (HellBoy) and Golden (The Myth Hunters) create a haunting
allegory on the nature of war, fusing the poignancy of Hans
Christian Anderson's The Steadfast Tin Soldier, the supernatural
chills of Dracula and the horrors of WWI and the subsequent
influenza epidemic. Years after Capt. (and Lord) Henry Baltimore is
infected by a demonic vampire bat while wounded near the Ardennes
forest, he summons three friends to a mysterious meeting. Demetrius
Aischros is the merchant sea captain who had taken Baltimore home
to Trevelyan Isle, where they found Baltimore's family dead and his
wife resurrected as a vampire. Thomas Childress Jr. is a nobleman
and deserter who learns about the vampire infestation from
Baltimore, his childhood friend. Dr. Lemuel Rose is the surgeon who
treated Baltimore's war injuries. Together they help Baltimore face
a final showdown with the terrible Red King. Stark monochrome
illustrations from Mignola enhance this dramatic tale of war and
fear. (Sept.)
Copyright (c) Reed Business Information, a division of Reed
Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From Booklist
*Starred Review* Lord Henry Baltimore lies wounded in no-man's-land
on World War I's western front. As the carrion eaters come to
feast, the injured soldier sees an impossibility--the dead eating
the dead. But the ravening monstrosity comes to him, further
mangles his wounded leg, and claims Lord Henry as his enemy. Lord
Henry realizes that a virulent plague that only he now knows about
is hiding among the other plagues of the time. The vampire--for
that is what the battlefield monster is--destroys his family, but
Baltimore maintains steadfast pursuit of it. He summons three
friends also experienced with the supernatural to await him at an
old inn. They tell one another of their first meetings with Lord
Henry, thereby disclosing what the vampire has inflicted on the
peer since the incident on the western front. Lord Henry arrives
with what is necessary to finally banish the vampiric plague. Even
after a fight to near death, some damage cannot be healed. Prolific
dark fantasist Golden's popular style is impeccable, and horror
comics creator Mignola's copious illustrations confirm the tale's
dark atmosphere throughout, from no-man's-land to the old inn to
the houses and graveyards where the vampire is encountered. A new
classic of vampire literature. Murray, Frieda Review
"Final word: Mignola's stark black-and-white illustrations are an
excellent complement to Golden's words in that rarest of
supernatural novels: an original vampire tale."--Rocky Mountain
News "Baltimore is an old time rootin' tootin' sense of wonder
story dragged through a modern blender, then slow baked in hell. I
loved it. It was velvet bullet--speedy and rich in sensation. Go
boys, go."--Joe R. Lansdale "With Baltimore, Mike Mignola and
Christopher Golden lay siege to the reader's imagination with a
grim battalion of gothic images and a thunderous barrage of
narrative artillery. This is not a novel: it's a war machine.
Surrender immediately."--Joe Hill, author of Heart-Shapped Box "I
have admired Mike Mignola both as an artist and as a tremendous
story teller pretty much since his career began. In this
collaboration with Christopher Golden, it's fair to say he
surpasses himself. He and Golden have produced a witty classic of
supernatural fiction."--Michael Moorcock, bestselling author of The
Elric Saga "Co-authors Mike Mignola and Christopher Golden
brilliantly cross the evocative dread of early supernatural writers
Algernon Blackwood and Ambrose Bierce with the inventive,
in-your-face horror of contemporary counterparts Stephen King and
Bentley Little."-Omaha World Herald "A haunting allegory on the
nature of war.... Stark monochromatic illustrations from Mignola
enhance this dramatic tale of war and fear."--Publishers Weekly
"Outstanding.... Mike Mignola's outstanding black-and-white
illustrations turn the book into a beautiful object and add to its
overall storybook quality. He and Golden have outdone themselves
with Baltimore, a gorgeous, haunting tale that may well become a
classic."--Fangoria
Ask a Question About this Product More... |