Baltimore Omnibus Volume 1

Great fun read. Made me feel like I was a kid again reading 80s stuff but far better art. Could not help to see the similarities with today’s society behavior… ex: judge duvic is hell bent on finding H.Baltimore because he is “ full of demons and possessed “ and yet he doesn’t get the fact that HB is out to kill the vampires and demon possessed! It’s almost as if he has LOST THE ABILITY TO REASON WITH ANYTHING THAT IS NOT HIS NARRATIVE OR AGENDA!!! Sound familiar?? Good read though again. I’ll be getting the conclusion in book 2 most def… !

In the aftermath of the publication of their illustrated novel ‘Baltimore, or, The Steadfast Tin Soldier and the Vampire’ in 2007, Mike Mignola and Christopher Golden judged that the character of Lord Baltimore had sufficient promise to be the subject of a comic book series from Dark Horse.‘Baltimore: The Plague Ships’ commenced in August of 2010, and was successful enough to become an ongoing series that lasted through the Summer of 2017 before going into hiatus.This Omnibus edition collects all of the initial Baltimore comics, from ‘The Plague Ships’ through ‘Chapel of Bones’ (February 2014). It also features a lengthy Sketchbook section with annotations.[While it certainly helps to have read ‘Baltimore, or, The Steadfast Tin Soldier and the Vampire’ prior to starting in on the comics, I wouldn’t say it’s absolutely necessary.]In my opinion, the first four years of ‘Baltimore’ were its best. While the initial story arc, ‘The Plague Ships’, suffered a bit from having to introduce the character and setting to the comic reading audience, with the second installation, ‘The Curse Bells’, the series really came into its own as a genuine Horror comic with a uniquely dark and disturbing atmosphere not present in other titles of the ‘Mignolaverse’.Baltimore himself is one of the more well-drawn antiheroes in contemporary comics, depicted as a borderline (or maybe over the border completely) psychotic consumed with a desire for vengeance upon a one-eyed Vampire Lord. Within the pages of this Omnibus, you’ll find a convent of vampire nuns; a brutal Inquisitor who pursues Baltimore with as much intensity as Baltimore pursues the one-eyed Vampire Lord; World War One tanks haunted by demons; a mad scientist who has been doing unpleasant things to marine life; and a pack of vampires who travel from one doomed town to another aboard The Infernal Train.What makes the comics collected in this omnibus edition of ‘Baltimore’ stand out is the artwork of New Zealand artist Ben Stenbeck (his departure from the title in 2014 remains cause for regret………the replacement artist simply was not as good).While Stenbeck adheres to the ‘Lynd Ward – Lithography’ visual style that is expected of ‘Mignolaverse’ entries, he imparts his own interpretation and the result is that the renderings of the characters are distinctive and easily noted. Just as importantly, Stenbeck takes care with his backgrounds of European villages, cities, evergreen forests, mountain trails, and seaweed-strewn beaches. These backgrounds are perfect in their ability to communicate a Europe transformed by war and plague into a kind of Gothic Entropy. I certainly will note that this unique atmosphere is made possible by Dave Stewart’s impressive skills as a colorist, whose palette of Earth Tones is something I’ve never before seen. And Clem Robins’s lettering also deserves kudos for always lending just the right emphasis to the story beats, without being obtrusive.Summing up, with ‘Baltimore Omnibus: Volume 1’ you get nearly 600 pages of arguably the best horror comics of the 2010’s, for an affordable price. My advice is to grab a copy soon………..you will always want to have this volume on your bookshelf.

Lord Baltimore encounter creatures on a World War 1 battlefield, scaring one of the monsters in self defense ; the creature vows revenge upon Lord Baltimore . Baltimore hunts the creature that ruined his life . Great read for fans horror , has a bit of a hammer horror vibe to it .

Great graphic novel. Well-written story and talented artwork.

This omnibus graphic novel is just fantastic. I didn’t even realize it was a hardcover until I received it, because of the excellent price. 510 plus pages of post ww1 gothic horror, with the unique flavor that only Mignola can deliver. The eponymous character draws you in and keeps you hooked, and his steeled dedication to his cause in light of everything that happens is actually inspiring. I can not wait to devour the second omnibus, and then read the whole series all over again. People who say that comics are dead need to pick up something like this!

Mignola, Golden, Steinbeck, and Stewart are a dream team on this title. Definitely worth picking up if you enjoy any of their work. But also if you just love monsters.Note, that this is not the first entry of the series despite being Omnibus Vol. 1. If you really want to dive into this world properly seek out a copy of the novel “Baltimore, or, The Steadfast Tin Soldier and the Vampire” which is NOT included as part of this collection. I’d assume that would be because it is prose, and has some narrative overlap, though it is not required reading to enjoy the comic on its own merit. Regardless both are great reads!I’m excited for Omnibus Vol. 2 and beyond!

Do ya like vampires? Do ya like war? Are you a fan of comics that don’t involve tights and capes? Well why did you scroll down to the reviews then? Because this comic is for you. Great art style, greater story. I bought the second one before I even finished the first because I liked the first so much I knew it would be worth buying!

This saga of brief stories is a grim and lonely journey for the hero, but very much succeeds in tone and artistry not just in every issue, but on every page.

Baltimore is the tale of Lord Henry Baltimore on his hunt for his nemesis across a Europe that just saw the first world war end abruptly due to a wave of disease and subsequent vampirism!The story from the offset is entertaining and well written, its aided by great stylish artwork and some really solid colouring and inking. I must admit the book took me a couple of issues to win me over but once it had I found it really difficult to put down. Each story is better than the last - the final one in particular being amazing. The stories themselves range in length with the shortest being half an issue but most being multiple issues.Whilst this is the first of two omnibuses the story doesn't feel incomplete, the ending is climactic and quite satisfactory.Strong recommend if you enjoy Hellboy, BPRD, most things vampire related or just dark fantasy in general.

This has surprised me very good inded already couple hundred pages in chasing a vampite across the country for killing his family he battles various monsters along the way, sturdy book with a dust cover nicely drawn cant wait buy volume 2

Perfect , up there with Mignola's other classic Hellboy.

as with all mignola is awesome

The omnibus comes in hardcover with a dust jacket on it. The binding is good. It means you can open any page in the book completely and it doesn’t even tear from stretching the binding.Amazon delivered this in just a simple plastic cover like they always do. So there was slight damage on the corners of the book.The story is quite simple and very clichéd. Some things are just laid down wuite simply and don’t provide any depth to the antagonist’s motives. On this volume 1, the story seems linear and sometimes there are no explanations given.The artwork is good. It definitely looks like a Zack Snyder movie material. The artwork is very different from the post 2000s DC artwork that we generally see.