Baltimore: The Curse Bells by Mike MignolaMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Dark Horse Comics and Dark Horse Books are the publishers which ended my long-standing aversion (avoidance) of graphic novels recently when I perused Dark Horse Books’ superb “Freaks of the Heartland,” a story I absolutely cannot forget. The gorgeous art; the story line; the dialogue; and the characterizations are immensely appealing. I find “Baltimore: The Curse Bells” intriguing too, although its appeals is just slightly less than that of “Freaks of the Heartland.” There are a couple of reasons for this which are specific to me:
1. The text font used in Curse Bells is smaller, and that is difficult on my poor eyesight. However, I imagine 99% of readers will find it just right.
2. It’s a vampire-type story, which unfortunately is not my forte.
On the other hand, this story has some real advantages:
1. It’s historical: set in Eastern Europe in the early 19th century, its storyline actually PREDATES Bram Stoker’s “Dracula,” (although it is set more than a century after the original Vlad the Impaler).
2. The characterizations are very well done-and the art carries forth the aura of those characters marvelously.
3. The storyline is intriguing, neatly twisted, and carries a lot of emotional overtone with it, so that the reader speeds from panel to panel without dropping the thread of suspension of disbelief. In other words, you really want to know what’s happening next.
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