Baltimore, or, The Steadfast Tin Soldier and the Vampire

Baltimore, or, The Steadfast Tin Soldier and the Vampire is a 2007 illustrated novel written by Mike Mignola and Christopher Golden, and illustrated by Mignola. It follows the quest of Lord Henry Baltimore, a British officer who inadvertently changes the course of World War I by wounding a vampire on the battlefield. It is the debut title of The Outerverse.

Publication history
Mike Mignola originally came up with the idea of Baltimore while watching "a really boring movie." Prompted by the way an early 1900s European village looked, Mignola had the vampires, the World War I setting, and the basic plot by the end of the film. It wasn't until later, that Mignola connected his one-legged soldier to the Hans Christen Anderson story The Steadfast Tin Soldier (his favorite Hans Christen Anderson story). , which gave him both his title and his ending. However, Mignola couldn't find time to step away from his series Hellboy long enough to draw the graphic novel he planned. Over the years, he often talk to author Christopher Golden about his vampire story. When he realized he would never have time to make it himself, he asked if Golden would write it as a novel from his notes. According to Golden, around 85% of the plot came from Mignola's notes. Golden added two short stories, but otherwise stayed faithful to Mignola's planned structure.

Since Mignola had originally planned to do the story as a graphic novel, he did not want o miss out on drawing "the fun bits", so he illustrated the prose novel. His intention with the illustrations was not to draw the scenes from the novel, but rather to create a mood. He considered them being more like a soundtrack for the novel. The characters Childress, Rose, and Aischros, were meant to represent the three phases of Baltimore's transformation (before, the bridge, and after, respectively).

Although at one point they had discussed doing another Baltimore novel, it was meant to be set after the events of the first. The five-year gap in the novel was something the pair had always hoped to explore in comic form someday.

Main

 * Lord Henry Baltimore (The Savior)
 * Captain Demetrius Aischros (The Sailor)
 * Thomas Childress, Junior (The Soldier)
 * Doctor Lemuel Rose (The Surgeon)