Baltimore: Chapel of Bones #1 of 2 is a slow burn set-up but with plenty of dark deception and intrigue.

Official description from DARK HORSE:
After his long hunt, Baltimore finally confronts the vampire who destroyed his life in London for a final showdown!

Baltimore is a long running series of single or short issues and Chapel of Bones kicks off with a slow burn initiation of several of Baltimore’s challenges which leads to the beginning of a confrontation with the one solely responsible for ruining his life. Writer Mike Mignola and co-writer Christopher Golden start off the issue with a gathering of Baltimore’s rivals in a tavern which quickly becomes a gut wrenching waiting game.

Under the guise of a face to face with Baltimore quickly dissolves into a horror based entrapment meant to draw out Lord Baltimore for a final showdown. Mignola and Golden really uses the silence of waiting to build anticipation and tension between Baltimore’s foes ultimately leading into a trap. Mignola use his familiar devices of a historical European backdrop to build around and gives the reader a sense of class and cultural warfare which he is well known to create the heroes and the villains.

It’s literally a series of off camera horrors wrapped in moments of anticipation setting up an full on battle. Mignola and Golden does this with precision and deft as he explores vampires and early historical fear. After such deliberate dramatic scare tactics Mignola and Golden hit the reader with the horror of Hell and demons which throws the story in to overdrive.

One thing that really strikes me is how artist Ben Stenbeck matches Mignola’s own style of art while still maintaining his own unique touch. It’s no easy feat to handle art duties of such an accomplished writer and artist but Stenbeck seems to have the touch necessary to tell a Mignola story while still separating from the pack.

Baltimore: Chapel Of Bones seems to have started off on the right foot and created a stand off which we rarely see in a Mignola story but is positioned to be an epic showdown between good and evil. While mildly cliche it still serves as a great horror based story of vengeance and a book worth checking out for it’s great sense of suspense and drama.

3.5/5