Hellboy, Vol. 1: Seed of Destruction (v. 1) | Mike Mignola, John Byrne

Hellboy, Vol. 1: Seed of Destruction (v. 1) | Mike Mignola, John Byrne | If You Liked The Movie...

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Hellboy, Vol. 1: S...

	Hellboy, Vol. 1: Seed of Destruction (v. 1) Mike Mignola, John Byrne Dark Horse, 2003 - 128 pages average customer review:based on 37 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

And I only am escaped Alone to tell Thee

Talk about rough adolescence.

Imagine if undead necro-liche and uber-mystic Russian mad Monk Grigori Rasputin had taken occultic things in hand, gotten bankrolled by Nazi Gold and backed by Nazi guns, and found a way to tear a portal open to Hell.

Your birthplace.

Mike Mignola (with writing by John Byrne) burst on the scene with "Seed of Destruction", the first in the chronciles of the orphan Demon named Anung Un Rama ("Beast of the Apocalypse"), christened by his BPRD (Bureau of Paranormal Research & Defense) adoptive 'Dad'---HELLBOY.

Hellboy was raised up from the bowels of Hell by a vile alliance forged by Mad Monk Rasputin and Hitler's Thule Society---but the plot to unleash the Minions of Hell on the Allies was foiled by a plucky squad of US troops, and Hellboy joined up as the BPRD's secret weapon in the war against the Forces of Tentacled Darkness everywhere.

So: Hellboy hooks up with mentor Trevor Bruttenholm, only to find the poor old boy rambling about a failed, fatal expedition to the Arctic with the doomed Cavendish boys, from the House of Elihu Cavendish, wealthy industrialist, doomed to distraction with the Occult, so much so that he would sacrifice his entire family, his patrimony, and his sinking Victorian house, to the plumbing of dark depths no man was meant to fathom.

And so one Reptilian turn leads to another, and Hellboy is drawn into the bowels of Cavendish Manor, along with fellow monstrous spelunker of the bizarre Abraham Sapien, a sentient, telepathic fish-man fond of rotten eggs and useful in the extreme, particularly in this outting. And, oh, a firestarter named Liz Sherman.

Frankly, I don't find the plot here all that interesting. It's very elementary, lots of nasty mutated frog-hemoths, Grigori Rasputin, opening up of Doors that were not meant to be opened, that sort of thing. Very basic.

But here, basic is good. First off, Mignola's chiaroscuro artwork is amazingly engrossing. It's intense. It's brutal. For all its minimalism, and it *is* minimalist, it manages to express a maximum degree, and arc, of emotion.

Now: it is also amazing beautiful, proving that the pulpiest of pulp fiction can be artistic. The art here, by Mignola, is gorgeous, making up for the starvation-diet writing, which is competent but scanty.

Now: "Seed of Destruction" is an origin story. To that end, it moves in fast, hits the beach rough, does its job, and leaves you wanting more. It does it with high style and good humor. Byrne has been critiqued for not having the roll and pitch and wave of the Cthulhu mythos, but folks---that's not the point here. Anyone reading "Frog" knows that Byrne has a crawling kingsnake notion of just exactly what creeps and crawls in this classic.

Buy it. Savor it. Dig deep into it. Conjure something up that will leave you terrified, digging under your sweaty bedsheets in the middle of the night. Enjoy.

JSG

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If You Liked The Movie...

Mike Mignola has taken ancient folk tales and reinterpreted them within the superhero genre; And done a good job of it, too.
His artwork is very stylistic (no Witchblade bodies here) and perfectly suited to the dark ambience he expresses so well. Somehow, his totally unrealistic characters are given convincing reality and solid personalities through his use of sparse and authentic dialogue. It's kinda neat to read these old folk tales too.
This particular collection is a bit more obscure in the folk references so be sure to get "The Chained Coffin".

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Mike Mignola rules!

Mike Mignola's "Seed of Destruction" is my No.1 favourite comic book ever! It's got everything a great story should have: A sharp and original premise, great heroes and gripping villains. Hellboy's journeyman story is so well-written it feels like its going to jump off the page and beat me senseless! Whenever a comic is translated into a movie, studio executives take over and troll out trash like the risible Batman and Robin. Why? the closer you stick to the source material, the better the film will be. Hellboy is such a great story, praised by fans and critics alike, so of course the success of the film shows just how well the comic is written. Pure genuis with amazing artwork on every page, I can't help immersing myself in this modern classic. What more can I say? It's four-color perfection. Mike Mignola rules forever!

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The first and one of the best...

In this, the first of the Hellboy graphic novel series, Mike Mignola introduces us to the BPRD, including Hellboy, Liz Sherman and Abe Sapien. Ancient gods, mad Russians, and frog demands provide the foils to our heroes.

As always, Mignola's visuals are stunning in their beauty and simplicity. The script was provided by John Bryne who's other work encompasses everything from Fantastic Four to Superman. These two factors combine to create an aesthetically delicious book.

Also, fans of the Hellboy movie will recognize many elements in this book, as it was one of the graphics that the movie was based on.

Over all this will probe a valuable addition to your collection. Highly recommended.

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Holy crappy binding, Hellboy!

The story was great, fantastic art, much love for Hellboy, but that's all been covered already by other reviewers. Here's the thing: I love my books, and treat them all with special care in the hopes that they'll last forever. By the time I had read through this graphic novel ONE TIME, the cover had fallen off in my hands, and pages were coming loose from the binding! For the price they're charging, I'd expect a book that doesn't self-destruct after a half-hour. (To be fair, I also bought volume two, which did not fall apart...yet.)

reviews: 1, 2, 3, page 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

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