Product Description: Since Mike Mignola's Hellboy first hit the stands in 1993, it has become a cultural sensation, racking up a dozen Eisner Awards and inspiring numerous spinoffs, from a novel line, to video games, to feature films. Now, Dark Horse is pleased to present the comics that started it all, collected in deluxe hardcover editions. Sized at 9" by 12", and handsomely bound to match The Art of Hellboy hardcover, each volume contains two full story-arcs - the equivalent of two trade-paperbacks. Each volume of the Hellboy Library Editions also includes extensive supplemental materials, including previously unreleased sketches and designs.
It begins Hellboy fully deserves its reputation as an exceptionally rich, literary set of graphic novels. In my view, Hellboy ranks just below Neil Gaiman's The Sandman in its sweeping mythology and mysterious depths. And this large, plush library edition is an excellent (albeit expensive) way of getting into the series from the beginning. I also enjoyed some of the extra matter, particularly Alan Moore's preface to "Wake the Devil," which conveys his sense of Hellboy's place in the comic pantheon.
The one flaw is that, inexplicably, "The Chained Coffin" (a short story) is left until Volume 2, despite taking place between the two chapters in Volume 1. But this omission can be forgiven, as the story doesn't bear on the main plot. For those who insist on reading the comics in their proper order but don't have the second volume handy, "The Chained Coffin" can also be viewed (in faithful animated form) on the Dark Horse website.
Husband LOved It! My husband loves graphic novels and loves everything from Maus to Sin City, Batman, and Persepolis. He really loved the story in this and thought it was a good gift
Hellboy Volume 1 Hard Cover edition This wonderfully bound and collected work of art/book covers the acclaimed Hellboy series and movies. The book Hellboy Volume 1 collects the first two story-arcs-Seed of Destruction and Wake the Devil-with the original introductions by Robert Bloch and Alan Moore. This is one of the more important collections within the Hellboy series, as the two story arcs along with some bits from BPRD that show how Hellboy was found and discovered, are spread across multiple series and volumes, which can be found here in this book. You get to learn how Hellboy was discovered, and what happens through most of the series that is also covered in the movies. This is like owning everything; the even better part is that there is a volume two that covers the Golden Army saga, and even more of Hellboy's beginnings.
In all this is a high quality book that will make just about every Hellboy fan jump for joy to get their hands on this volume and its companion volume. Hellboy is one of the more fascinating characters to be developed by Alan Moore, and goes back to many of his roots with 2000AD and work that he did previously. There are excellent story lines, wonderful art, sturdy and very durable to tolerate a lot of reading or general book abuse. The story lines are assorted with Hellboy traveling the world solving problems and generally thumping the bad people. What is nice is that these are really collections of many of Mignola's shorter stories, with a continuity to make them all make sense to the reader.
One of the better Hellboy collections out there, well worth getting and holding on to, both volumes make an awesome present or gift to anyone who has any interest in Hellboy at all. This book is a 5 star book, well worth getting, reading, owning, and enjoying.
Boy from hell 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 and Wake the Devil," two interconnected action-factory stories with a bright-red demon as its anti-hero. Mignola happily crams this rather brief tale with Lovecraftian horrors, mythic demons, a cursed mansion, a vampire in an old castle, 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 won't serve him, he'll used Liz's power instead.
But that adventure is not the end of Hellboy's clashes with Rasputin. Sent to find an ancient vampire in Romania ("Paprika chicken, baby!"), he runs afoul of a bunch of Nazis who serve Rasputin's spirit -- and a bunch of mythic creatures, including the vampiric Giurescu, who serve a ghastly, immortal lamia in the depths of his castle.
Elsewhere, Abe is falling into a trap of Rasputin's, and Liz's powers run amuck when her team finds an alchemist's lab with a seemingly dead homunculus. And Hellboy's fight with the lamia has shocking repercussions, when he finds himself hurtling into a darkness where his true purpose is revealed -- and he must choose what his destiny will be.
Vampiric snake-women, Baba Yaga, immortal sorcerers, grotesque frog monsters, disembodied heads, a Nazi woman in an iron maiden, and a walking skeleton. Oh yeah, and a Lovecraftian lake monster with way too many tentacles.
Mike Mignola knows how to craft a monster-filled universe, where a demonic anti-hero seems downright normal. And the first two books about him are technically separate stories, but they're more like two halves of the same tale -- and while each starts relatively quietly, they rapidly escalate into haunting, grotesque action-adventures set in half-ruined buildings where only monsters and statues still dwell.
And while a few plot threads are left hanging in the second half of the story, Mignola does a solid job plotting these. He also knows how to use dialogue for atmosphere as few authors can ("Witches, striges, vampir... ghosts come forth from their tombs..."), but also utilizes Hellboy's acid wit to lighten the mood ("Not gonna happen... 'cause you're very very ugly and YOU HAVE A GIANT SNAKE BODY!").
Hellboy himself is a classic anti-hero -- despite his red skin, bulky body and sawed-off horns, he's very human in attitude, with an understated love for his friends and his adoptive father. Throughout these stories he's faced by hints of what he truly is and what he's expected to become by the infernal players, but his good heart won't have it. And his snappy wit ("Insolent beast! Troglodyte!" "Big talk for a guy with no pants") only makes him more lovable.
It's also worth mentioning that this edition is simply beautiful. The heavy cloth binding gives the book plenty of resilience to repeated readings, especially since the paper it's printed on is thick and glossy. It makes Mignola's art -- with its vivid colours and heavy, thick shadows -- even more vivid.
"Hellboy Volume 1: Seed of Destruction and Wake the Devil" compiles the first two books of Hellboy's adventures, and shows why Mike Mignola is such a well-loved, well respected graphic novelist.
Nicest Collection I Have Purchased The Hellboy Library edition is absolutely wonderful. The cover and format are beautiful. The paper is perfect. And the story...well, there is a reason this book got the all-star treatment. Hellboy is one of the most original comic stories to come out in many years. Buy it!
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