To continue our quick look at the role of vampires in Dark Horse’s world of comics – Dark Horse really does do vampires right – we have a chat with one of the main men of “Baltimore” – Christopher Golden. He works with Mike Mignola to bring this world to life, and we talk to him about vampire fiction, his perspective on it, what’s next for “Baltimore,” and much, much more.
Before we get into Baltimore, I wanted to touch on vampires and their role in fiction today. Obviously, with things like Twilight and True Blood taking off, they’ve taken on a much bigger role in pop culture. From your perspective, what’s your take on vampires and how they’re represented in modern fiction?
Christopher Golden: People often refer to the “vampire genre,” but that’s a fallacy. There is no such thing as a vampire genre. Once upon a time vampires were restricted to horror fiction and perhaps a little dark fantasy here and there. Occasionally you’d see a science-fiction version. What’s happened is fascinating to me. Vampire fiction has bled into a wide variety of genres, no pun intended. These days, you’re as likely to find vampires in romance, thriller, SF, fantasy, mystery, and literary fiction as you are to find them in horror novels. We could argue all day about whether that’s a good thing, but it really doesn’t matter. Why do I care if there are popular vampire stories that might not be things I’d like to read? I only care that there remain vampires stories that I *do* want to read, and of course there are and likely always will be. I’m a huge fan of the Sookie Stackhouse novels by Charlaine Harris, but I love that series for Sookie, not because of the vampire element. While I tend to prefer my vampires portrayed as evil, I’ve read (and written) many other varieties that I also enjoyed. It’s all about the story, the characters, and the writing. I have at least one more different spin on vampire novels in me, but I’m not talking about it right now because it’ll likely be years before I write it.
You have a pretty lengthy history writing in many different genres. What is it that appeals to you as a writer about vampires?
CG: Versatility. Any kind of story you want to write–funny, tragic, horrific, speculative–can be a vampire story. Traditionally, of course, vampire stories examine the fundamental issues of life and death, often with elements of erotic command or surrender…always fun.
Rather famously, ads for The Plague Ships targeted Twilight’s more sparkly vampires in derisive fashion. When you get down to it, do you feel like you and Mike are more of vampire purists when it comes to the world of Baltimore?
CG: More is very subjective, but as opposed to Twilight are we more purist in our approach…well, yeah. Not a hard question. Our vampires are evil. But it depends on what you mean by “purist,” too. If you’re comparing to vampire folklore, then there’s no question that our approach is more classic in that sense (although still, I hope, it’s own thing). But if you want to compare to DRACULA, I’ll give an unpopular opinion, which is that there’s a case to be made that Edward Cullen is not quite so different from Dracula as most would have you believe. Dracula was brooding, but also obsessed with a woman. Sure, Dracula wasn’t all emo, but you’ve got to filter it through well over a century of evolving romantic customs. Of course, I’m more interested in the examination of what it means to be evil and what it means to be a monster, and that’s the level on which I connect to Dracula and vampire folklore.
Baltimore originally began as a novel, but has since continued as a comic series. Why did you and Mike originally decide to move forward with it as a comic as opposed to continuing it in prose?
CG: It really just sort of happened. We’d talked about doing a second novel but we had other things we wanted to pursue in that arena. We’d been developing the film version of Baltimore for a while and then moved on from that (though not too far from it–but that’s a story for another day). The subject of doing comics had come up several times in conversation, mainly because there was this years-long span when Baltimore was out hunting Haigus and killing monsters that we thought would be interesting to explore, and comics was clearly the medium for that. One day we started talking about HOW we would do it if we were going to do it, and pretty quickly that turned into THE PLAGUE SHIPS.
Continued belowWhat’s the writing partnership like between you and Mike? How do you approach each mini-series, like the upcoming Dr. Leskovar’s Remedy?
CG: I do the scripting based on plots and ideas that one or both of us have dreamed up. Our conversations often lead to new ideas or new twists on plots we’ve already had in progress, but it’s such a constant flow when we’re talking that it would be very hard to sort out which concepts originated with one or the other of us. We have essentially three different kinds of conversations while working on BALTIMORE. There are the big, long-view discussions, which spawn the story arcs. Some of the stories in volume three, like “The Play,” came from the same conversation that included the beginnings of The Plague Ships, The Curse Bells, and the as-yet-untitled fourth volume. We each had stories we wanted to do and threw them into the mix, and what you’ve been reading and what’s coming up in the not-too-distant future are all the result of those early conversations, though they’ve been changed by subsequent conversations. Then, of course, we have discussions before I sit down to write individual stories or arcs, just to make sure we’re on the same page. And then, finally, when I’ve written the first draft and sent it to Mike, we talk it out and argue over whatever we disagree on. Truthfully, there’s not a lot of disagreement. A lot of the time we spend going over drafts is Mike saying “you don’t really need this” or “this isn’t clear enough,” and I nearly always agree. Then, of course, our editor Scott Allie gets the next draft and comes in with the same kinds of comments, and I nearly always agree with him as well. So much of what the collaborative and editorial parts of working on BALTIMORE are about is getting the best version of these stories onto the page. It’s the best experience I’ve ever had in comics.
What can you tell us about Dr. Leskovar’s Remedy, as well as the one-shots that follow? What direction is Baltimore’s story headed in next?
CG: These five issues that comprise volume three of BALTIMORE are a weird dichotomy. They’re fun–an opportunity for us to go off and tell odd little stories that don’t warrant giant arcs–but they’re also, each of them, very useful in that they let us provide perspectives that we might not otherwise be able to. That’s especially true of a couple of the one-shots that are coming up, which I don’t think I’m supposed to name. One focuses on Haigus and the other on Judge Duvic. Both of them give focus and insight to those characters, and the Duvic one is actually a major turning point in the series. No one will expect something so significant in a one-shot, but trust me, it’s there. “Dr. Leskovar’s Remedy” contains Ben Stenbeck’s best art yet and I had a blast with it because it was a chance to get Ben’s input, to ask him what he’d like to draw and then build a story that included those elements. Beyond that, there’s a bit of humor in it and some insight into Baltimore’s struggle.
Since the novel, the visuals of Baltimore’s world have been created by artist Ben Stenbeck. What is it that makes Ben such a great fit for this book, and is he your artistic partner on this project for the long haul?
CG: I couldn’t ask for a better artist on BALTIMORE than Ben. He’s perfect for it. He was already a great talent when we started The Plague Ships, but he gets better and better with each page he draws. The covers he’s been producing have been beautiful as well, and I’m glad he’s doing them, because readers should really recognize that this is as much Ben’s book as it is mine and Mike’s. I think we’re doing cool stories, but it’s what Ben does and what Dave Stewart does that makes these comics great. As for the long haul…if I had my way, Ben would draw every Baltimore story there ever is. That’d be my hope. I know there are other things he’d like to do as well, so we’ll see what the future holds. But right now, there’s never even been a discussion about anyone else drawing this book and I’d like to keep it that way.
Continued belowHow long do you and Mike plan to continue the story? Do you have an idea of how many volumes you intend to go with it?
CG: The only thing I can say for sure is that the fourth volume, whenever it sees print, will wrap up much of what we began when we started doing Baltimore comics. There have definitely been conversations about what comes after, but it would be premature to talk about any of that.
Outside of Baltimore, what else do you have coming down the path?
CG: In comics, there is one other thing that’s been percolating with another publisher for years. We’ll see if it gets off the ground, though it’s looking promising right now. I’m also writing a trilogy of graphic novels with Charlaine Harris called CEMETERY GIRL. Don Kramer is the artist and he’s doing a beautiful job. I’ve known Don for years and I’m so happy to be working with him again. Novel-wise, the new collaboration with Mike Mignola, JOE GOLEM AND THE DROWNING CITY, has been out a couple of months and we expect to have exciting news about that very soon. Our next collaboration is already done. It’s a novella called FATHER GAETANO’S PUPPET CATECHISM and it’ll be out in October. I’ve recently written a new Peter Octavian novel, THE GRAVES OF SAINTS and am currently writing a new
