The Outhouse - The Greatest Comic Book Forum

by **Jubilee** » Sat Aug 07, 2010 8:54 am

Is this a new ongoing?

by **Victorian Squid** » Sat Aug 07, 2010 8:56 am

I would think it has to be a mini.

But on the title page it says "Issue 1 of a series".

by **Jubilee** » Sat Aug 07, 2010 8:58 am

It says 1 of 5 on the front, but I thought I'd heard it was a ongoing.

by ****** » Sat Aug 07, 2010 9:15 am

Dark Horse does almost everything as mini-series now even if they are ongoing. They reboot the numbering on the cover, but on the inside cover they have the ongoing issue number. (i.e. The first issue of Hellboy: The Storm says #1 of 3 on the cover, but on the inside it says Hellboy #47.)

by **Eli Katz** » Sat Aug 07, 2010 10:53 am

Victorian Squid wrote:Good morning dead review group thread.

It's all Hab's fault. He accused us of engaging in petty, fanboy bitchfests, and now we're all too afraid to make posts.

by ****** » Sat Aug 07, 2010 10:58 am

Punchy's not here for people to argue with this week.

by **Eli Katz** » Sat Aug 07, 2010 11:09 am

John Snow wrote:Punchy's not here for people to argue with this week.

Lee hasn't been posting much, either. And this week's issue doesn't feature an Avenger's mansion.

by **oogy** » Sat Aug 07, 2010 11:16 am

I have this sitting in my box at the LCS and I can't decide whether or not to get it. It sounds like a cool idea, but I haven't read the novel and don't want to comie into the middle of a story.

I've read the reviews posted so far, but they haven't helped me make up my mind yet. Would you guys say buy it or pass on it?

by **Zero** » Sat Aug 07, 2010 11:26 am

There'd have been more debate if I'd picked Crossed.

But I didn't.

Baltimore: The Plague Ships #1

The story here starts in the middle of Henry Baltimore's quest, and though I haven't read the original story, I wasn't too lost here. English noble chasing evil Vampire across the Continent happens into typical Mignola style European village. Fangs and crones ensue.

The story is fairly typical Mignola, and while I'm a big fan of Hellboy I would have preffred this to be a little different. The protagonist is certainly louder but with little more to go on than vague prophecy and pulpy violence the Hellboy feel wouldn't shake itself. Not a bad thing by any means, but a thing nonetheless.

The art was brilliant. Less detailed and angular than Mignola's work, Ben Steinbeck uses shadows well and tells a clean story with plenty of atmosphere. No complaints to be had really, it's far from generic and there are far worse people to ape than Mike Mignola.

Not quite the dizzy highs of Hellboy or BPRD, but still a nice little book that made me want to check out the novel it came from before making my mind up on the next four issues.

8

by **Eli Katz** » Sat Aug 07, 2010 11:48 am

oogyboy wrote:I have this sitting in my box at the LCS and I can't decide whether or not to get it. It sounds like a cool idea, but I haven't read the novel and don't want to comie into the middle of a story.

I've read the reviews posted so far, but they haven't helped me make up my mind yet. Would you guys say buy it or pass on it?

The first issue is not a great read. Perhaps it will read better once all five issues have come out. But as an opening issue, it doesn't do a great job of introducing characters or making you care about them.

by **Starlord** » Sat Aug 07, 2010 11:50 am

do we know what next week is yet?

by **Eli Katz** » Sat Aug 07, 2010 11:59 am

starlord wrote:do we know what next week is yet?

I don't think so.

by ****** » Sat Aug 07, 2010 12:05 pm

Baltimore: The Plague Ships #1

I'm a big fan of the Mignola-verse comics. Over the past 2 years I think I've read pretty much everything but the novels. As a result, I'm as clueless as everyone else when it comes to Lord Baltimore. If he was mentioned in Hellboy or B.P.R.D. I don't remember it.

This issue feels more like a second issue than a first. You're dropped into the action and it's a nice comic on it's own, but it lacks the context to make the reader understand or care about the whos or whys regarding the events. While this issue hasn't put me off reading the eventual trade, this comic does seem to have the expectation that the reader has already read the novel.

I didn't love Ben Stenbeck's art on the recent Witchfinder series, but he's made a big jump with Baltimore. His storytelling has improved and the book has a nice flow in both the action and talking head sequences. Dave Stewart's colors are brilliant as always and are a huge part of defining the look of all the Mignola books.

Story: 6
Art: 9
Overall: 7.5

by ****** » Sat Aug 07, 2010 12:09 pm

oogyboy wrote:I have this sitting in my box at the LCS and I can't decide whether or not to get it. It sounds like a cool idea, but I haven't read the novel and don't want to comie into the middle of a story.

I've read the reviews posted so far, but they haven't helped me make up my mind yet. Would you guys say buy it or pass on it?

If you dig the other Mignola books, I would say buy it.