“Lady Baltimore: The Witch Queens” #2 is an action-packed issue. It’s a pre–WWII story with witches joining forces with the Nazis, so big action is just part of the deal, but what’s particularly satisfying is everything else that’s woven in with it. . .
Written by Mike Mignola and Christopher GoldenCover by Abigail Larson
Illustrated by Bridgit Connell
Colored by Michelle Madsen
Lettered by Clem RobinsThe witch queen Yelena has called the hexencorps down on the Baltimore estate, but Lady Sofia Baltimore’s eclectic band of allies has some surprises in store for the cursed hordes. Meanwhile, Sofia’s fight takes a sudden new turn when an old acquaintance reveals some startling new knowledge about Lord Baltimore himself!
In my review for “Lady Baltimore: The Witch Queens” #1, I said there was a lot going on. It was a sequel to “Baltimore,” but it’s also set thirteen years later, so there was so much to explain and introduce to the reader. Issue #2 builds on everything established in issue #1, which would be enough on its own, but it also adds so much more, almost to the point of being overstuffed. Almost.
Issue #2 kicks off with a huge fight between Sofia’s band and the Hexenkorps. On the surface, this could just be a big action sequence, but Mignola and Golden use this to introduce the people Sofia’s rallied around her. It’s a fight, so it’s not like we’re going to learn huge amounts, but it’s just enough to get a sense of each character.
One thing that comes across very clearly is how competent each and every member of Sofia’s band is. There’s an unnamed guy that sounds the alarm, the sort of character that’s normally killed off pretty quickly to establish the threat, but instead he takes down the first creature with a single bullet. That doesn’t mean he spends the rest of the fight unafraid, taking down anything that comes at him with ease—no, instead there’s the sense he could get killed at any moment, but he holds his ground and fights no matter what. The way Bridgit Connell draws him, he looks absolutely terrified, but focused, fighting through the fear.
This establishes the baseline level for Sofia’s band and we see it echoed throughout the fight from all the new characters. By making the characters so skilled and yet so clearly in peril and struggling to hold their ground, it makes the threat of the Hexenkorps that much more real.
This fight stands in contrast to the one in issue #1, where Sofia was fighting, secure in the knowledge she had Imogen watching her back. This time around, Imogen cannot leave Yelena unattended, so Sofia is more vulnerable, yet she’s surprisingly reckless with her own safety. Despite everything, she’s just a mortal woman. Again, on the surface of things, this could be seen as playing into the familiar trope of the hero that never has any fear in battle because they’re just so ridiculously skilled, but later we get an exploration of that, when in private Sofia confesses that she fears for those she fights with. She throws herself into battle filled with thoughts of how to keep the others alive, because she’s already been part of a group before—Lord Baltimore’s company—and she saw most of them die. Harish, the one she was closest to, died in her arms.
And this is just one aspect going on in this battle, but look how much it reveals about the characters! Like I said, this issue is packed. There’s action here, but the action is focused on imparting a lot of plot and character information in the process. The aftermath of the battle says a lot too, because it makes us feel the weight of thirteen years. At the end of “Baltimore,” the Red King was dead. We’ve all seen a lot of movies where Sauron dies and the orcs all run away, or the droid control ship blows up, so all the battle droids collapse. When the big bad is dead, the battle is over, right? But here, the big bad was killed, and the fight went on for thirteen desperate years. Yes, the end of “Baltimore” averted a worse war, but the best warrior against the Red King’s armies also died, and here we get a taste of that despair.
Continued belowBut there’s also hope too. There’s a moment when Sofia is alone and allows herself a smile while thinking of Imogen…
Imogen kissed Sofia in the last issue, and while we weren’t given anything concrete to tell us that Sofia felt the same way, we had a hell of a lot of clues. I was already certain Sofia was gay, but this little smile confirmed it, and it was wonderful. And it’s such a good bit of writing because revealing this aspect of Sofia’s character feels so perfectly in harmony with everything we’ve seen of her back in “Baltimore” and adds another level of complexity to her character. Go back and read “Baltimore” knowing Sofia is gay, and it makes those stories richer. In particular, look at her relationship with Harish. Harish loved Sofia, but she didn’t return his feelings, yet he was still her closest friend.
And look, the Outerverse can be pretty bleak at times, so giving Sofia something that makes her smile so warmly is just so damn welcome.
Oh, and Bridgit Connell is doing such a great job on this title. The way she draws Sofia’s body language when she’s alone, you can feel the tough shell come down. But then Connell can also handle that ugly side of the Outerverse too. This panel of Yelena’s mouth makes my skin crawl.
Finally, I have to talk about Judge Rigo. Right from the moment we first met him in “Baltimore: The Wolf and the Apostle,” his fatal flaw was his cowardice. But he’s a brave coward. Time and time again, his fear has gotten the better of him, but that doesn’t stop him from trying to master it. In this issue we see this is still something he’s struggling with, and there’s a sense of shame there too, but there’s more to him than just this. He has value in other matters, such a when he councils Sofia on the matter of torture.
I find him interesting, because he is constantly learning, and growing, and fucking up, and rebuilding himself. Often cowards in fiction are soon killed because of their flaw or written off as a self-serving bastard. But Rigo fights and fails and keeps fighting. I don’t like him exactly—frankly, he’s been a right shit at times—but I like this spark in him that hasn’t surrendered to his worst self, and still aspires to be better than he was yesterday.
As someone that’s been reading the Outerverse right from the beginning, everything that’s unfolding in “Lady Baltimore: The Witch Queens” has been incredibly satisfying. This shared universe of titles is rapidly expanding here, and while that’s exciting, it could’ve easily felt perfunctory. It works because of the care the creative team is taking with their characters.
Final Verdict: 8 – There’s a lot packed into this issue. It makes for a slightly overwhelming first read through, but a very rewarding second read. Sofia’s bravado is almost always masking something deeper, and once the truth is uncovered, there’s an extra spark in the story that’s an immense pleasure. This was true of the first issue and it’s true here in the second.
