Review – Baltimore: The Witch Of Harju #2 (Of 3) (Dark Horse)

Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Writer(s): Mike Mignola, Christopher Golden
Artist(s): Peter Bergting
Release Date: 27th August 2014

You see ‘Baltimore’ and you think Edgar Allen Poe and with this series, Poe is worth bearing in mind. The Baltimore series started with The Plague Ships which introduced us to Lord Henry Baltimore, a soldier back from World War 1 to find the world engulfed by vampires, warlocks and all manner of supernatural beings. The comic has launched various series that deal with different cases and this particular one comes over a bit Sleepy Hollow. Baltimore has come to a village in Estonia to find the Red King and there’s all manner of Poe-ish / Irving-ish goings on.

A hideous creature is terrorizing the villagers and a Pet Cemetary type cat. When the creature is killed, the With of Harju curses the villagers for killing her ‘children’ with a lovely bit of dialogue: “You will die and darkness will blossom within you” before turning into a black bird (told you to bear Poe in mind – there’s even a ‘forevermore’).

And so the hunt for the Witch begins. There are oodles of familiar tropes here, some may annoy, some are fresh. But this comic is filled with the finest pickings from good horror comics: the dead rising, hideous creatures that go “krak”, ravens, churches, graveyards…the list is endless and the art work is clean and bright. I loved the creature burning on page 10. The look of the comic reminds me of the nights under the blankets reading horror comics as a kid. Too often horror comics are dark and grainy but c’mon, we love a bit of crimson blood and orange fire against the grimness.

Rating: 4/5

PREVIEW ARTWORK.

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