Customer Reviews

Hellboy Volume 1: Seed of Destruction

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

From the look of the art, you would think that Hellboy would be depressing and dark in a Lovecraftian way, but actually, it's not at all. Quite the opposite, in fact.

Hellboy faces the challenges that usually reduce the main characters in such stories to quivering masses of soon-to-be-blood-spattered jello, but he meets them head-in in the calm, workman-like fashion of a plumber about to administer profession-strength Drano to a clogged pipe. All in a day's work. No sweat, no matter how big or evil-looking the threat might be.

And what about the main character himself? Pretty much the ULTIMATE redemption story, wouldn't you say? A demonic creation that serves the good, even in some stories displaying a downright Christian outlook on life. Kind of makes you feel warm and fuzzy about your fellow man! I mean, if a DEMON can be raised to be a pretty good guy, then maybe the hooligans down the street could be too, if they ever got better role models than their OxyContin-dazed parents. Mignola obviously supports Nurture over Nature 100 percent!

Near the end of World War II, the evil Rasputin summoned a creature from another world -- a little red demon baby.

And so starts Mike Mignola's distinctly offbeat "Hellboy Volume 1: Seed of Destruction," an eerie action/fantasy with a bright-red demon as its anti-hero. Mignola happily crams this rather brief tale with Lovecraftian horrors, a crumbling cursed mansion and a truly malevolent villain who wants to destroy the world.

Decades after Hellboy was summoned into this world, his adoptive father Professor Bruttenholm recounts what little he can remember of a doomed expedition to the north pole, along with the three Cavendish brothers. Then a grotesque frog creature attacks Bruttenholm, killing him instantly -- moments before Hellboy returns the favor.

Soon after, Hellboy and his companions Abe Sapien (fish-man) and Liz Sherman (pyrokinetic) arrive at cursed Cavendish Manor, unaware that the mansion's owner is in league with Rasputin. Then ghastly frog-creatures kidnap Liz and attack Hellboy, as Rasputin reveals his presence to the demon/man that he considers his servant.

And if Hellboy will not serve him, then Rasputin intends to use Liz's power to unleash a horrifying evil on the world....

"Seed of Destruction" is basically the springboard for the Hellboy graphic novel series (particularly as it reveals Hellboy's background and supposed destiny), and it's also the briefest -- virtually all the action takes place in the course of an hour or two. It's only real flaw is that Rasputin's drawn-out monologues tend to slow the plot down -- there's a LOT of exposition.

But for all that, it's a pretty wild ride. Mignola's rough, shadowy art matches the overall tone of the story, starting as a straightforward horror/suspense story before rapidly escalating into an all-out war on the lakeside. And there are some poignant moments as well, such as Hellboy's tragic final meeting with his adoptive father, or Abe's glimpse of the frogmen cradling the mother they killed.

And Mignola is pretty clearly a huge H.P. Lovecraft fan -- the story takes place in a cursed lakeside house, with a tentacled monster and mutated frog-beasts that were once human. And the Ogru Jahad only add to that impression -- they're ancient, terrible creatures that apparently want to obliterate everything. For whatever reason.

Hellboy is the pivot of the whole adventure. And despite his scarlet skin, horns and cloven hooves, he's anything but devilish -- he's sarcastic, wry, hot-tempered and determined to keep the world from Rasputin's clutches. But he also has a gentler side that we see when he's dealing with the elderly Bruttenholm, as well as his teammates Abe and Liz.

Full of action and grotesque creatures, "Hellboy, Vol. 1: Seed of Destruction" is a solid introduction to a decidedly unusual series. Bravo, Mike Mignola.

Okay, I just read picked this up because the movie was coming out, and I'm one of those people who does that (as probably are many of you reading these reviews). But I found myself thoroughly enjoying Mike Mignola's HELLBOY.

This first HELLBOY book is a little on the short side, and at times, Mignola probably gives too much attention to the mythology rather than the characters, but all in all it's a fun read.

It's not my favorite comic I've read (definitely not in the Alan Moore category) but it's fun and well worth your time.

The artwork is definitely top notch. Even if the story were no good (but it is good) it would be worth getting to look at.

Now that the movie's out (which was also very entertaining and worthy of your time) I'm sure I'll keep reading the rest of the series.

Happy reading!

In 1944, a team of specialized German Nazis gathered together with a powerful sorcerer on a strange mission to raise seven demons, while at the same time a group of rangers led by Sgt. George Whitman gather in an old church in East Bromwich, England with a team of paranormals, determined to discover what it is the Nazis are up to.

The Sorcerer, wearing some odd apparatus on his arms, powered by an electrical generator, casts a spell from a rocky hilltop resembling Stonehenge. A bolt of lightening-type power issues from the rod he holds in his hand, and strikes the church where the rangers are gathered along with their special forces. When the smoke and debris clear, a small being is hunched down on the floors, looking as though he were part demon and part little boy. It is Trevor Bruttenholm who names him: Hellboy.

Skipping many years into the future, Hellboy comes to visit Trevor, now an old man. Trevor, who had been like a father to Hellboy all these years, tells Hellboy of the failed "Cavendish Expedition" he has just recently returned from, way up in the Artic Mountains. He and the Cavendish "Boys" had found some ruins high up in the frozen cliffs, older than old, and inside beneath a mammoth carved pillar is a statue of a sitting man so perfect it seemed to be alive.

But Trevor has no further memory of what happened, though the Cavendish brothers did not return with him. During Trevor's narration of the expedition, Hellboy notices that Trevor's house is infested with frogs. When Hellboy mentions the frogs, Trevor freaks out and backs away from the frogs, out onto his balcony, from where he is suddenly and unceremoniously tossed back into the room at Hellboy's feet; quite dead. His body seems to be covered in odd marks that were not there mere seconds ago.

Hellboy brings in his friends to help him investigate the death of Trevor; Elizabeth Sherman and Dr. Abraham Sapien. Liz has highly advanced pyrotechnic abilities, and Abe...well, Abe is a really cool fish-man. Beginning their investigation at the old Cavendish mansion, which is slowing sinking back into the lake it was built over, the three friends are quickly separated and all hell breaks loose; pun intended. The nameless Sorcerer who originally summoned Hellboy is back to claim what he believes is his, but by now we know that Hellboy can't be forced to do anything he doesn't want to do.

This first Hellboy book reveals Hellboy's origin, and shows us the loyalty between him and his friends, and the lengths they will go to for each other. This was actually a very difficult review for me to write because I liked it so much, it is hard to describe in a non-gushing way just how much I enjoyed this book. The storyline is very intense and fast-paced, even for a graphic novel; the illustrations are superb, the cells formed and drawn just right, so that the eye follows the flow of Mignola's inspired tale of this devilishly good guy without staggering or stopping to search for the correct sequence.

I have only recently become immersed in the world of graphic novels, and Hellboy is the absolute crème de la crème of the lot. A brand new type of hero; ultra powerful, intelligent, witty humor and saucy quips, demonic appearance, and as icing on the cake, from Hell itself.

As a bonus, there are some added chapters at the back of the book that illustrate the evolution of Hellboy as he was created and drawn to life, plus some enjoyable Hellboy artwork to examine and appreciate.

Hellboy is a perfect graphic novel, and I am greedily looking forward to pouring over the rest of the series. Not to mention I'm dying to go see the movie now. Enjoy!!

I'm not very big on comics, but this was a good book. In 1940 something, Raputin( evil wizard guy), tried to open the gates to hell. But only this little baby demon came out. The demon was adopeted by some guy and was tought to be a follower of Jesus and an F.B.I agent. But the evil wizard is now back and is trying to get Hellboy to aid him on having Satan take over the world during the apocoleps. He kills his step father with this evil demon that can turn into a frog. Hellboy fights the demon and the wizard in the book alot. This is a cool book. Fans of sci-fi sould buy this book. It's more sci-fi demonic that geeky super hero comic bookish.

Hellboy is a popular series but I have avoided picking it up previously because I really don't like the crude artwork. But recent hype has made me curious and I was pleased.

This first volume takes us to a Nazi plot to help win the war. During a mystical rite, a small red creature appears and is dubbed Hellboy by the team trying to stop the Nazis.

Flash forward to present day where Hellboy has been working for the Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense. The man he has thought of as a father has been killed. Hellboy assembles a team and goes after those responsible.

The story follows a wonderfully Lovecraftian story of ancient temples and races, strange creatures and magics, and information about what the Nazis were really trying to do. We get some nice hints into Hellboy's true nature and more information regarding a certain Russian priest.

The story was enough to get me around the heavy-black art with its shade-free color swaths. The only part of the story that bothered me was Hellboy's constant use of the phrase "the small part of my brain that was still working...". It got to be a bit much in so short a tale.

The book also includes some short pieces of Hellboy's earliest appearances. These make a nice addition to the book.

This is the first book in the Hellboy series (soon to be a major motion picture). This is the only book I have read in the series, so far. It's an good start. The characters are intriguing and the artwork is fantastic. It made me want to read more of Hellboy's stories, which of course is what the first comic in a series is supposed to do. I would recommend this book to comics fans who like their heroes to be a bit out of the ordinary.

As a columnist at the comic book website Comixtreme.com, a few months ago I asked my readers to rank the best graphic novels I'd personally never read, with the promise that I would try to read some of them and come back with my comments. This was one of the books that topped the list, the introduction of Mike Mignola's "Hellboy," and since there's a movie coming out later this year, I thought this was the perfect chance to check it out.

This is a decent little action tale, with Mignola and scripter John Byrne presenting our hero, a strange, demonic creature found as a child and raised by humans to be an agent of a sort of supernatural secret service. We also meet several of Hellboy's comerades, including my personal favorite, the amphibious Abe Sapien.

At the end of this graphic novel, though, I'm not left feeling like I've really gotten to know any of the characters. This book exists mainly to set up the situation -- Hellboy's origin, his occupation, etc. Hopefully future installments will get more in-depth as to who he really is, and not just in your standard superhero sense, but in a deeper, character-building sense as well. Still, this is a fun read and a nice place to start. It's good enough to have me on the lookout for Hellboy Vol. 2.

I am not very familiar with Byrne so I don't know if this is typical for him but he writes a little too mundain and run-of-the-mill for such a fantastic story with great art like Hellboy. His dialogue and monologue for the villain in this book are horrible. It is completely boring and skippable. In fact that's the worst part, it is ENTIRELY skippable. This is even worse because at points there's PAGES of it. This villain just drones ON AND ON about a bunch of ..., and you can literally skip those whole sections and not lose ANYTHING. The stuff is just barely relevant and Byrne does nothing to it to make it interesting or write it with any originality. One could argue that Hellboy is a very "pulp" comic and that as such, the sort of writing and dialogue can be expected to be of a certain (read DULL AND TRITE) nature. But it's too much to be asked of the reader to settle on the writing when the story and art are so compelling.

Recap: Hellboy = original, Byrne's dialogue for it = horribly plain and done.

Seeds of Destruction is a nice place to begin because it deals with where Hellboy hails from, no pun intended, plus its actually one of Mignola's more heavily Lovecraftian tales. The coloration is also darker in graphic novel form, giving it more of more horror appeal than the pervious comic releases did. There are more than enough Nazis, plots leading into the next Graphic Novel (Wake the Devil) to want you to go on without stranding you in a half-read story, not to mention the fact that its so wonderfully dark.
Something that all other reviews seem to be leaving out, something that affected my purchase of this particular graphic novel for a while, is the fact that it isn't simply the Seeds of Destruction story. Included within it are also two other stories, earlier works of Mignola, that are oftentimes overlooked and are quite the pain to find in their original formats.
1) This is a story from San Diego Comic-Con Comics #2, a little tale involving squibs of storyline and drying up towns in the desert, not to mention Anubis.
2) There's another story from Comic's Buyer's Guide dealing with Herman Von Klempt, everyone's favorite Nazi "Nazi head in a bottle" and his Brutus, his super gorilla.
Also included is a little section entitled "Where did Hellboy come from?," a section delving into the early promotional art showing Hellboy off, plus some nice pictures by artists including Art Adams and Gary Gianni.
Tentacled things = Happiness!