Lady Baltimore and the Daughters of Medusa is the latest chapter in the Outerverse, the ongoing saga by Mike Mignola and Christopher Golden of myths and monsters. The series, once again drawn by Bridgit Connell, chronicles the adventures of Sofia Valk as she fights the mystical forces of evil during World War II. The two previous Lady Baltimore entries (The Witches Queens and The Dream of Ikelos) allowed Connell to display her skills at bringing pulpy, period horror adventure to life. Connell is quickly establishing herself as a talent to watch thanks to these series, especially in terms of how she’s taken the chance to build upon the look and feel of the Outerverse in her work. The Beat corresponded with Connell to get a peak into her creative process and maybe some hints at the future of Lady Baltimore.
D. MORRIS: It’s been awhile since the previous Lady Baltimore series, “The Witch Queens,” and last year’s one shot “The Dream of Ikelos.” How does it feel coming back to both the character and the world introduced in those first series?
BRIDGIT CONNELL: I am such a fan of Sofia Baltimore and her story, and even more, I’m such a fan of working with this team. I honestly feel like I’ve gotten away with something. Getting to play around with characters, monsters, settings, and lore in the Outerverse with a team this in sync… are you kidding me? I managed to sneak myself into one of the best comic gigs ever – don’t snitch on me!
Art by Bridgit ConnellMORRIS: Can you talk about what the process of collaborating with Christopher Golden and Mike Mignola is like?
CONNELL: Me and Chris always do a pre-emptive meetup before the scriptwriting, just to meet up, shoot the shit, and get on the same page about the project. He bounces ideas off me and I usually just nerd out like I’m getting the secret scoop on some of my favorite characters. For this particular double shot he asked what I wanted to draw, and when I said “gorgons”, he wrote this absolutely beautiful script for us to do, almost instantly. He’s insane. This two-issue arc is honestly my favorite project I have ever done. (I don’t say that lightly, I promise.) I can’t say anything about the story threads, I don’t want to spoil them. So I’ll leave y’all with that.
One of my favorite experiences with this series is learning a little bit about how Mike’s mind works when it comes to the look of his world and the monsters within it. As a fan of Mike’s for a long time, any small amount of his process that I can peek into is such a treat. While Mike, with the art of Ben Stenbeck and Peter Bergting, has established the overarching atmosphere of this world, I would say deep-diving into the emotional connections of the characters, what drives them, what enrages them… Chris is so good at writing in-depth character connection. Acting is my favorite thing to draw, and I think that’s why I connect with Chris’ scripts so well. I want that heartbeat from page to page.
MORRIS: One of the most striking things about this series are your pencils and the colors from Michelle Madsen. Can you talk about how you were both brought together and how closely you work coming up with the series’ visuals?
CONNELL: Thank you! It’s such an honor to work with Michelle on these books. The only real notes I gave her for this two-parter were related to some of the new character and monsters designs, and she still surprised me by glorifying the monsters we have in this story with some brilliant colors. She also nails room lighting and spacial drama so well. When I got the colors back I stared at a few of our landscapes that we did – she does so much work on bringing these sorts of things to life. And anytime one of our books has magic in it she really goes crazy. Getting the colors back and seeing how her mind works is always exciting.
MORRIS: You’ve gotten to draw Joe Golem and Cojacaru in previous stories, but are there any other characters in the Outerverse you’re itching to draw?
CONNELL: I would love to draw Cojacaru again, for real, she is such a badass. That armor kills me it’s so good. My favorite comic arc features Ben Stenbeck’s art, in the original Baltimore, and it involves the character Judge Duvic. (Right over my desk I have a page from the “Wolf and the Apostle.”) Duvic was such an abhorrent villain, and honestly I think the abuse of power would be an interesting element to bring to today’s climate. (Not that a comic about WW2 and killing Nazis is political or anything.) But to Judge Duvic, he is currently, so dead. I’m assuming. So I don’t think that would happen. But man, from Man to Cursed Man to Desperate-and-Doomed Man to Monster, he was such a well done villain.
Also, speaking of those comics, Ben Stenbeck has this unhinged way of drawing Baltimore in battle that I fell in love with reading the comic, and it’s something I’ve tried to carry into this book. When Baltimore is in battle, he always drew him in this unhinged, raw way, which normally in comics I feel is reserved for villains – the whites of his eyes and his eyes bugging out, with clenched teeth, slicing his sword through the air. But it really is an unglorified look at survival, of fighting for something with everything you have, and I wanted to also give that to Sofia. (I think sometimes, especially with female heroes, there is this concern to make them look attractive while they fight, or put them in pretty poses while they fight, which I refuse to do.) Not only did she learn from Baltimore and travel with him, but she has so much passion and life to her character. Where Baltimore’s intensity came with grief and revenge, I wanted to give Sofia that same intensity… but her heart is not a tin one, it is flesh and blood and pounding.
MORRIS: It’s been brought to my attention that you may be a fan of werewolves. How hard are you petitioning werewolves to be used in a future story?
CONNELL: Dude, I’m telling you, JUDGE DUVIC. Would freaking love to draw him. I don’t think it’s in the cards. He’s dead. I tried bringing up like a Dog Soldiers type thing with Chris. He was so polite about it but I don’t think it’s happening. Real talk, I think it would take away from the previous story – how solitary the curse was and it would kind of diffuse the circumstance of how he got it, I think, and I don’t want to do anything to lessen previous stories in the Outerverse – only strengthen them. But you can’t hate a girl for trying to bring in some wolfmen.
MORRIS: Can you hint at future plans for future Lady Baltimore stories?
CONNELL: I will say, there may be one or two more stories already planned after “Daughters of Medusa.” What can I say regarding what they are? Not much, other than I think that there is an equal amount of reward for people who are both a fan of the original Baltimore as well as those newcomers who end up loving her and her new crew.
Lady Baltimore and the Daughters of Medusa Issue #1 sees release on May 7th at comics shops from Dark Horse Comics.
English (US) · 