Zombies being fed to vampires? Lord Baltimore is too goddamn cool.
Essentially “Highlander” meets “Blade” and “Sherlock Holmes,” Mike Mignola and Chris Golden’s vampire hunter story continues to slide and dice the competition. With its eerie story and charismatic and brooding protagonist, the first issue of “The Infernal Train” is a white hot tale that will have you beg for more.
On the trail of the vampire Haigus, Baltimore must first confront a priest who wishes to end his life. Not scared of death, Baltimore is in no need to inform the priest which side he’s fighting for. If the man wants a fight, that’s exactly what he’ll get. Focused on his goal but horribly tormented by his past, Baltimore’s life has become a mission. Void of feeling, Baltimore is a killing machine. For that, the priest feels the vampire hunter must die.
Although their battle doesn’t take place in issue one, the main plot involving a train with vampires and a town infested with zombies is more than intriguing enough to keep your attention. Mignola and Golden’s plot pacing is perfect for a three-issue story and there’s plenty of development in act one to convince you the rest of the story will satisfy.
It also helps the series tremendously that Ben Stenbeck’s art is downright dark. Baltimore’s personality is part noir antihero and English emo and Stenbeck captures this perfectly with an equally blackened and moody palette. You can feel the terror in victims’ faces as they die. you can see the madness in the villains. you can feel Baltimore’s more times than not silent rage. While Golden and Mignola’s writing sets the scene, it’s Stenbeck’s art that truly brings it home.
Between the multi-angle plot, killer art and solid pacing, the first issue of “Baltimore: The Infernal Train” hits a stop or two you definitely don’t want to miss.
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports.
Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders.
His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023.
Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief.
Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale.
Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.
Zombies being fed to vampires? Lord Baltimore is too goddamn cool.
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