FIRST LOOK: Baltimore: Dr. Leskovar's Remedy

Above: The cover for Baltimore: Dr. Leskovar's Remedy #1 by Ben Stenbeck. Copyright Dark Horse Comics/Mike Mignola 2012.

Dark Horse Comics have recently announced that Lord Henry Baltimore will be returning for a new 2 issue mini-series in May, with Baltimore: Dr. Leskovar's Remedy. This will be the third installment in the series of adventures for the monster hunter, following on from highly successful previous Baltimore volumes: The Plague Ships and The Curse Bells, written by Hellboy creator Mike Mignola and Christopher Golden with art by Ben Stenbeck.

I caught up with local artist Ben Stenbeck for a brief chat on what to expect from the series, and an exclusive preview of his interior artwork!

Above: An interior page from Baltimore: Dr. Leskovar's Remedy #1 by Ben Stenbeck. Copyright Dark Horse Comics/Mike Mignola 2012.

AK: Been your third arc on Baltimore, are you finding yourself in a comfortable drawing 'groove' with the character?

BS: Little bit. Its very slow for me. But yeah I think issue #1 has 1 or 2 panels of Baltimore that I'm happy with, that I think I've got the character working. Which I haven't really had with the past books, Its a bit like every time I draw him, I'm trying to figure out how to draw him. But I think I'm getting there.

AK: With the new arc only 2 issues long, will this be a more compressed action-oriented story than the suspense building pace of the previous arcs?

BS: Yes. Chris said something along the lines of it being 'Blissful Madness'.  Its a weird, fun story. I think The Curse Bells was the darkest thing we've done so far, it gets really nasty in some places and Dr Leskovars Remedy is like a bit of relief, its a lot of fun (when I say fun, I mean: Monsters and Gore. Well..Monster Gore which is the most fun type of gore).

AK: Each installment of the Baltimore series has contained its share of gruesomely great creatures for Lord Baltimore to cut his way through (and the Mignola cover image does promises some giant ape action!), any other hints of what kind of creepy images or creatures we can expect to see this time around? 

Above: Baltimore: Dr. Leskovar's Remedy #1, alternate cover by Mike Mignola featuring King Kong. Copyright Dark Horse Comics/Mike Mignola 2012.

BS: That King Kong cover is part of Mike's 'Year of Monsters'. This year he's doing 12 alternate covers that have nothing to do with the comic they are on the cover of. Its a chance for him to do some cool images of his favourite monsters along side his characters. That King Kong and Baltimore cover is my favourite so far, but sadly I don't get to draw King Kong. But yes, this series has monsters. Lots of monsters.

AK: I heard that you contributed some ideas and suggestions early on for this story. What were some of the things you wanted to explore and add to the series through your artwork?

BS: Well that's hard to answer with out spoiling the series. But a long time ago I mentioned to Mike that I wanted to do a certain type of character. And I had this idea for a setting, this environment that I wanted to draw. Its just a cool weird thing that i thought would look interesting. And there's something else but it kind of turned into the last half of the 2nd issue, so You'll have to wait.

AK: Is Baltimore your sole focus for the foreseeable future or do you have any other projects coming up?

BS: There is a 2 part story I was meant to be doing with a 'Hellboy-verse' character. But things get changed, I'm not sure whats happening with that now. I've got a series of my own that I'm planning to try and squeeze in in 2015. Something I've had bouncing around in my head for almost 20 years. But that's a long way off, so for now its all Baltimore. I just got the script this morning for the next oneshot. I haven't finished reading it yet, I got distracted by answering this email. Better get back to work. Sorry for all  the vague answers! 

All will be revealed when Baltimore: Dr. Leskovar's Remedy #1 hits shelves in May, so pre-order your copy now! For more info on Ben Stenbeck's artwork and comics, you can visit his website HERE.

-AK!

REVIEW: Baltimore: The Plague Ships

Above: A page from Baltimore: The Plague Ships by Ben Stenbeck. Copyright Mike Mignola/Dark Horse Comics.

Lord Baltimore is the latest victorian horror hero to emerge from the mind of comics master Mike Mignola and his collaborators Christopher Golden and New Zealand artist Ben Stenbeck.

The first installment in what will no doubt be an ongoing adventure, The Plague Ships introduces us to World War 1 veteran Lord Henry Baltimore, a soldier turned peg-legged vampire hunter cutting a bloody path across plague infested Europe in pursuit of a vampire leader known as Haigus.

After exterminating a nest of vampires on the coast of France, Baltimore finds temporary sanctuary with an elderly witch and her granddaughter Vanessa. They assist him in escaping the village locals, who are less than grateful for the presence of this suspicious looking stranger. The only catch is, Vanessa insists on accompanying Baltimore on his voyage to Livorno, so she can leave her death ridden village behind her.

During the voyage, Baltimore recounts to Venessa his harrowing encounter with vampire bats amongst the corpses of the dead on the battlefields of World War 1, which may have provided the catalyst for the original plague outbreak. Soon their trip takes a treacherous turn, as a vicious storm sinks their ship leaving them stranded on a deserted island, inhabited only by the wreckage of plague ships, victorian submarines and the corpses of the infected. Whether they'll stay dead long enough for Baltimore and his companion to survive the night is another matter entirely...

This is another solid entry into Mignola's growing library of victorian styled horror comics. The writing takes its cue from the likes of classic horror novelists like Bram Stoker, opting for slow-burn reveals and atmosphere rather than shock images, and is all the better for it.

Above: A page from Baltimore: The Plague Ships by Ben Stenbeck. Copyright Mike Mignola/Dark Horse Comics.

An equal amount of credit has to go to Stenbeck, who's carefully paced artwork expertly tells the story, keeping it atmospheric and grounded at all times. At first glance it would be easy to call Ben's artwork here a close approximation of Mignola's own, as they share a very similar stylistic approach (and it certainly doesn't hurt); but a careful study reveals Ben is bringing just as much of his own great touches to the series.

Stenbeck's artwork has a layer of vintage detail and texture that brings a lived in reality to the story and it's historical setting. It's subtile, but an essential element necessary to reinforces this story, one which I think would have been lost in the abstraction if Mignola had illustrated it himself. Ben's artwork doesn't contradict the visual language of Mignola's world, but expertly adds to it when called for, the sign of a true collaborator. The hardback also contains a bonus sketchbook of Ben's development drawings and sketches as well as brand new pin-ups!

Above: Baltimore: The Plague Ships cover by Mike Mignola. Copyright Mike Mignola/Dark Horse Comics.

This hardback collection has already landed on the prestigious New York Time Bestseller List, with a sequel mini-series Baltimore: The Curse Bells, beginning with issue #1 shipping August 10th from Dark Horse Comics.

If you're a fan of classic suspenseful horror from when vampires were vampires (and not socially awkward tweens) then this is essential reading! It's available from Dark Horse Comics and your local book store now, for $24.99US.

For more of Ben's artwork, check out his website HERE, and you may want to revisit this Studio Visit I conducted with Ben a few years ago for a look inside his working process HERE.

-AK!

In the Studio with Ben Stenbeck

Above: Artist Ben Stenbeck in his studio with his son George.

This week we take a look inside the studio of Ben Stenbeck, one of the few local cartoonist who makes a living in the highly competitive market of american comics. In the last few years Ben's highly detailed and atmospheric artwork has made him a much in demand artist at Dark Horse Comics.

Above: 'Living with the Dead'. Copyright Dark Horse Comics 2009.

In 2007 he teamed up with Dark Horse publisher Mike Richardson for the zombie series 'Living With The Dead'. It was his artwork on that series that got him noticed by comics legend Mike Mignola, who hand-picked him to join his exclusive list of collaborators in expanding the 'Hellboy' comics universe.

Above: 'BPRD: The Ectoplasmic Man'. Copyright Mike Mignola/Dark Horse Comics 2009.

His first 'Hellboy' related assignment was the 'BPRD: THe Ectoplasmic Man' one-shot, written by Mike Mignola & John Arcudi. His new collaboration with Mignola is the just released mini-series 'Witchfinder: In the Service of Angels', which spotlights the Victorian occult detective Sir Edward Grey. In a recent interview Mignola spoke highly of Ben's artwork and attention to detail: “Ben is very detail-oriented and he's a research hound. I wanted somebody who was going to take the time to draw Victorian London. He's got kind of a clunky, cartoonish style, so it's not photorealistic by any stretch, but he's loaded the thing with information, with old billboards and signs and building details and art deco details, so you get a lot of authenticity, even if it's a cartoonish drawing style. When you see machines, it looks like it could be a real Victorian machine. Or when you see a close up of a gun, you say, oh, that's a real gun.”

Above: 'Witchfinder: In the Service of Angels' #1. Copyright Mike Mignola/Dark Horse Comics 2009.

For more insight into the creation of Ben's artwork, let's take a look inside his studio!

(Oh, and Mike wasn't kidding when he said Ben's a research hound: bonus points if you can spot all the hidden replica guns;)

Above: Ben's drawing desk. Details of interest: Ben's original pencils on Zeta paper in the centre and to the left is Mike Mignola's detailed plot for an issue of 'Witchfinder'.

Q1: What are you currently working on?

I'm penciling the last issue of a 5 issue series written by Mike Mignola (Witchfinder: In the Service of Angels, you can see a preview of the series here -AK!). And getting my reference together for the next series. But I can't say what that is yet.

Q2: What are your current drawing tools of preference?

Clutch pencil, Staedtler pigment liners ( just the 0.1and triplus pens) And a Twink pen. Tons of twink, because I'm too lazy to use paint and wash brushes and all that. and Artline 210 0.6, which would be my favourite pen if Artline could get their nibs to hold their shape for longer than 5 minutes. And a lightbox, I constantly redraw panels so it helps to do that on a clean piece of paper over a lightbox. Also I do all my inking on separate paper to the pencils.

Above: The right side of Ben's desk, featuring models and reference drawings for 'Sir Edward Gray'.

Also take notice of the post-it note with Mignola's home phone number (..and no, you can't have it!).

Q3: Can you describe your average working routine?

My routine changes all the time, but if Im not looking after my son Im in my studio, working or wasting my life on the internets. Which im trying to unplug as much as possible these days. I work best late at night.

Above: A detailed issue plot from Mignola, from which Ben begins to breakdown the story.

Above: Ben's page breakdowns for an issue of 'Witchfinder'.

Above: A page of Ben's pencils.

Above: A finished page from 'Witchfinder'. Script by Mike Mignola with colours by Dave Stewart.

Copyright Mike Mignola/Dark Horse Comics 2009.

Q4: What is your working process?

I get a pretty detailed plot, which I then do layouts for and send to Mike and Scott Allie my editor. Their approach is to be as picky as possible over layouts because thats the important part. Thats where you work out all your storytelling, and if you get that wrong at the start, it dosnt matter what your drawing is like. Every now and then Mike will layout a page if there's something really specific he wants to see on it. Then I'll pencil the issue, that takes me about a month, and then I ink it. Then It goes to Dave Stewart who colours it and makes it look good. Then Mike will write final dialogue and send it off to the letterer.

Q5: Do you listen to anything while you work?

Mostly audio books, Librivox.org has readings of thousands of public domain books for free, so Im usually listening to something from that. That or death metal.

Above: Ben's bookshelf.

Q6: Can you name some of your influences?

Mike Mignola, Geof Darrow, Dave Cooper, Martin Emond, Al Columbia, Liberatore, Moebius, Katsuhiro otomo, Bernie Wrightson, Guy Davis, Duncan Fegredo, H P Lovecraft, the Coen brothers, 80s horror films, Ray Harryhausen, any monster movies really, lots of stuff.

Q7: What is your most prized comics related item?

The original cowgirl painting by Martin Emond. And a drawing of Shaolin cowboy By Darrow. And a drawing of a guy in a dive suit with tentacles and crap pouring out of the suit by Guy Davis.

Q8: What was your best and worst comics convention experience?

I've been to San Diego comic con a few times, and theres always alot that happens at each one. But my best experience might have been Moebius patting me on the knee and telling me I could draw. My worst is probably...um, can't think of one. They're always pretty fun.

Above: Some more props and figures.

Q9: Do you have a favorite comics adaptation?

No.

Q10: If I could have dinner with five other people from history they would be..?

Douglas Adams, Katsuhiro otomo, Peter Cushing, the elephant man, and I'd invite H P Lovecraft but he wouldnt turn up, because he'd be too scared of meeting a japanese man and Joseph Merrick.

Q11: If I could make one edit/change to the history of comics it would be...?

For a million reasons, A small one being for the benifit of New Zealand comics, I'd have Marty Emond make a better decision than the one he made. He was so accessible to anyone who wanted his advice. And his advice was always well informed and worthwhile. He might be the only person Ive ever met that you could say that about. All the people making comics in this country are missing out on not having access to a role model like Marty.

There's just no one in this country qualified to fill that role, not the way Marty did.

For more on Ben Stenbeck and lots more of his artwork, check out his website here.

The first issue of 'Witchfinder: In the Service of Angels' is out now from Dark Horse Comics.