Baltimore by Christopher Golden, Mike Mignola (2007, Hardcover)

Mike Mignola of "Hellboy" fame brings his love of Gothic literature to a new medium with "Baltimore." Billed as an illustrated novel, the book features more than 100 black-and-white etchings by Mignola, coupled with Christopher Golden's prose.

The story starts out promising: in post-World War I Europe, three different men are summoned to an inn to meet Lord Henry Baltimore. They learn more about Baltimore's fight again the Red Plague, which turns out to be vampirism and not influenza.

Golden's writing is a bit heavy handed, often dragging the reader down with too much detail and therefore slowing the pace. And while Mignola's full-page etchings are masterful, the quarter-page ones are less than spectacular and even become repetitive.

Though "Baltimore" will never achieve the status of, say, Bram Stoker's "Dracula," it's good for a single read. Audiences, though, may never want to return to Golden and Mignola's dark vision again.

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