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26th out of 1,189 books
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1,989 voters
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Hellboy: Seed of Destruction (Hellboy #1)
Hellboy is one of the most celebrated comics series in recent years. The ultimate artists' artist and a great storyteller whose work is in turns haunting, hilarious, and spellbinding, Mike Mignola has won numerous awards in the comics industry and beyond. When strangeness threatens to engulf the world, a strange man will come to save it. Sent to investigate a mystery with ...more
Paperback, 128 pages
Published
December 10th 2004
by Dark Horse
(first published 1994)
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My "review":
3 stars here means: It's fine, whatever. I still don't get it.
A bunch of semi-related rambaling:
I went to hear Mike Mignola speak a few weeks ago in the hopes that he was going to clear up my question about cliche' vs. archetype. Instead it confirmed a lot of cliche's about comic book readers and left me more frustrated than before.
Also, did you all already know that when a comic artist (or at least this one) shows up for a signing, that...more
3 stars here means: It's fine, whatever. I still don't get it.
A bunch of semi-related rambaling:
I went to hear Mike Mignola speak a few weeks ago in the hopes that he was going to clear up my question about cliche' vs. archetype. Instead it confirmed a lot of cliche's about comic book readers and left me more frustrated than before.
Also, did you all already know that when a comic artist (or at least this one) shows up for a signing, that...more
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Finally getting around to reading these. (Thank you Nick, for lending them.)
I didn't expect such a wide deviation from the movie, but, meh... the main elements are there.
I do like that it's narrated by Hellboy himself. And like all good graphic novels, you have to sit and stare at the art long after you've finished reading the page. (and better yet, flip back to see what was in the shadows 2 pages ago, now that you know...)
That being said, it introduces the whole gang, sets the...more
I didn't expect such a wide deviation from the movie, but, meh... the main elements are there.
I do like that it's narrated by Hellboy himself. And like all good graphic novels, you have to sit and stare at the art long after you've finished reading the page. (and better yet, flip back to see what was in the shadows 2 pages ago, now that you know...)
That being said, it introduces the whole gang, sets the...more
I read the first two 'books.' (Seed of Destruction and Wake the Devil) Hellboy was 'called' from the great beyond by Nazis hoping to turn the war in their favor, but he was found by the allies. Years later, he comes up against the wizard (vampire? Rasputin, actually) who conjured him up. Hellboy is invited (and warned) to join in fulfilling his destiny by destroying the world, but he refuses and the fight is on. It's all very magic-y; too much for me. It sort of looked like a second book ...more
The good news is that this graphic novel offers exactly what I loved about the movie. HellBoy is a devil summoned by a mysterious Nazi who wants to unleash cthulhu-like elder gods upon the world. He’s got an anger problem, he’s a smart ass, and he calls himself the World’s Best Paranormal Investigator. The art is dark, yet HellBoy’s attitude adds some levity to the atmosphere.
The bad news is that there isn’t much in this first volume that you don’t know from watching the first movie. Havin...more
The bad news is that there isn’t much in this first volume that you don’t know from watching the first movie. Havin...more
When my husband asked me what I wanted for Christmas, I told him The Sandman Volume 10: The Wake, the last chapter in the incredible Sandman series. So imagine my surprise when I opened up my present on Christmas Eve to reveal Hellboy Volume 1: Seed of Destruction. Oh well, at least he made it to the right section in the bookstore.
I have seen the first Hellboy movie and the second one is on my “to-see” list. I just assumed that this book would be a rehash of the first movie but again ...more
I have seen the first Hellboy movie and the second one is on my “to-see” list. I just assumed that this book would be a rehash of the first movie but again ...more
I love the Hellboy movies. I am a huge Del Toro fan (the man who directed the movies) but even more so I love the character that is Hellboy. He's witty and human despite the fact that he's a demon from Hell.
I can guess that this is the book that inspired the first movie. The plot is not exactly similar but enough that you can put two and two together and get about 3 1/2. The book shares some of the origin of Hellboy and follows him as he tries to uncover what happened to his "father"...more
I can guess that this is the book that inspired the first movie. The plot is not exactly similar but enough that you can put two and two together and get about 3 1/2. The book shares some of the origin of Hellboy and follows him as he tries to uncover what happened to his "father"...more
I recently undertook a plan to re-read every single trade in the Hellboy/B.P.R.D. gestalt, in most cases for about the jillionth time.
I started, of course, where it all started, with Seed of Destruction. I was surprised not to like it more than I did. I have fond memories of Seed of Destruction, and own it more times over than any other book. I love the skeleton of the storyline and many of the scenes and images and so forth, and man do I ever love the frog monsters and Sadu-Hem and ...more
I started, of course, where it all started, with Seed of Destruction. I was surprised not to like it more than I did. I have fond memories of Seed of Destruction, and own it more times over than any other book. I love the skeleton of the storyline and many of the scenes and images and so forth, and man do I ever love the frog monsters and Sadu-Hem and ...more
I'm a big fan of Hellboy, but I'm going to try to be objective here. This is the first Hellboy story, it's essential reading. That said, it is not indicative of the stories that follow. The art by Mignola is brilliant, but he hasn't yet found Dave Stewart, the colourist that will later colour all his works and go on to win seven Eisners from 2003 to 2011. So the colours are functional, but not great. The story, again, is functional, but not great.
It's the script that really lets this...more
It's the script that really lets this...more
First of all, thank you so much, Gramedia, for translating this book and for using glossy papers and for keeping the colors bright and shiny. I totally geeked out when I saw this. I can only hope that Gramedia will publish the rest of Hellboy TPBs.
Now.
About the book.
Mignola's arts were fantastic, of course.
I'm not too crazy about the story he penned with John Byrne on the other hand. It was tepid from the start and as the story went on, I kept wishing it would get better ...more
Now.
About the book.
Mignola's arts were fantastic, of course.
I'm not too crazy about the story he penned with John Byrne on the other hand. It was tepid from the start and as the story went on, I kept wishing it would get better ...more
Dibangkitkan oleh Sergei Rasputin, dengan bantuan Nazi, tapi akhirnya dibesarkan oleh pihak Amerika hingga menjadi detektif supranatural. Dialah Hellboy! (pada foto ada di bagian tengah).
Barangkali hanya Hellboy yang tak keberatan dipanggil "anak setan"... hehehe... karena memang begitulah ceritanya. Ia mewakili gambaran orang Barat akan setan: merah, berbuntut, bertanduk. Yang agak lain dari gambaran orang Barat adalah badannya yang seperti gorila dan tangan kanannya...more
Hellboy contains many things I love (like references to Lovecraft and the occult), but what stands up above everything is the amazing art. Were there an Absolute-like Hellboy, it would be well worth the average DC Absolute edition cost just to see the art in DC Absolute edition quality. Oh well, I shall have to make due with what Dark Horse provides me with. It's gorgeous already, so I'm already winning whenever I look at the pages of this trade.
Unfortunately, although I love the art and lo...more
Unfortunately, although I love the art and lo...more
Another of the series i decided to pick up on my first adventures into Comics world and i must confess i was not disappointed i did see the movies before starting to read this comics and i really enjoyed them, after all, we don't get to see a demon, a semi fish-human thing and a fire manipulating woman kick some nazi and Rasputin ass every day.
The comics are also quite entertaining, the art style is very captivating as is the narrating style, Hellboy's the one narrating the whole thi...more
The comics are also quite entertaining, the art style is very captivating as is the narrating style, Hellboy's the one narrating the whole thi...more
at first glance i thought the artwork looked stunning. but i quickly became quite unimpressed with the lack of shading. the style uses a lot of block colours, which i thought i would like because it emphasises shape. but in combination with some rather murky colour choices and occasional use of dodgey gradients, i ended up not really going for this style at all. interestingly they sometimes use a really bright red for hellboy which is so bright i assume it's a special ink on top of the standard ...more
Savannah Smith
added it
Synopsis-This is a book about a boy named Amung who is a demon. He fights for the BPRD, and internation non-governmental agency. Later On he finds out that he is the worlds greatest Paronormal Investigator.
Classification-This would fit an audiance of kids teens, or young adults. Kids would enjoy all the action. It would really fit an audience of youg males because they like all the fighting that goes on.
Critism-This book is good literature. It has alot of action i...more
Classification-This would fit an audiance of kids teens, or young adults. Kids would enjoy all the action. It would really fit an audience of youg males because they like all the fighting that goes on.
Critism-This book is good literature. It has alot of action i...more
I picked this title up last night at B&N in the middle of a rain storm. Perhaps it was the atmosphere in which I began, but this was an absolute blast. The art was crisp and striking. The story was seeminly made for those who enjoy horror, with strange monsters, ancient myths, and sordid plans for mayhem. As for comparisions to the movie, while I enjoyed the films, this cuts the cheese factor way down. And while I thought the movies were okay, I left them with the nagging sense that something wa...more
Back during WWII, the Nazis were experimenting with all sorts of things. One aspect of research dealt with the paranormal. Finally, after years of preparation, a Nazi wizard/researcher/delusional-psycho summoned up a creature from the Deep, a tiny red-skinned, hornless man that would be named Hellboy. Only he showed up on the Allies side...
So begins Hellboy Volume 1: Seed of Destruction, and this intro is covered in a few pages up front. The remainder of the novel fast-forwards s...more
So begins Hellboy Volume 1: Seed of Destruction, and this intro is covered in a few pages up front. The remainder of the novel fast-forwards s...more
I really wanted to like this book, but I ran into a few problems. The narrative and dialog are poorly written. The story is not well-told - and by that I mean confusing and difficult to follow - and is seemingly sacrificed for action sequences, which unfortunately can also be difficult to follow due to some confusing visual story. The art is gorgeous; Mignola utilizes rich, deep colors that sometimes give his art the appearance of an oil painting. His more abstract work is, in particular, q...more
I was rather unimpressed. I watched the movies and, stereotypically, the movie is better than the book, right? Eh, not in this case. It's a decent book, but I was expecting something more.
The art is good, but it's not very detailed. While the world is dark, there's too much black used. I'm not a fan.
The writing is almost there, but not quite.
The premise is probably the main point for this book. It's interesting because the character origins are interesti...more
The art is good, but it's not very detailed. While the world is dark, there's too much black used. I'm not a fan.
The writing is almost there, but not quite.
The premise is probably the main point for this book. It's interesting because the character origins are interesti...more
Ich hatte ja gehofft, dass bei CD 2 mehr passiert, weil es ja ein Zweiteiler ist. Ich musste jedoch feststellen, dass dem leider nicht so ist. Coole Sprüche, gute Hintergrundmusik und top Sprecher machen eben noch kein gutes Hörspiel. Auf dieser CD passiert fast nichts. Man erfährt ein bischen mehr über Raputins Vergangenheit, es gibt Hinweise auf Apes Vergangenheit und ansonsten eben Endkapf Hellboy - Rasputin mit dummen Sprüchen. Relativ unterhaltsam zum nebenbei Anweisungen für die Unikasse a...more
I am a man who loves good comic books, and Mike Mignola's Hellboy is exactly that. Good.
It's a solid comic yarn with a charmingly antithetical leading man, fitting pencils, beautiful colour and noirish scripting (helped on by John Byrne in this early volume).
Mike Mignola loves a great action sequence, and Hellboy's big ol' "Right Hand of Doom" and terrible aim with "The Good Samaritan" -- the oversized revolver the eponymous leading man received as a ...more
It's a solid comic yarn with a charmingly antithetical leading man, fitting pencils, beautiful colour and noirish scripting (helped on by John Byrne in this early volume).
Mike Mignola loves a great action sequence, and Hellboy's big ol' "Right Hand of Doom" and terrible aim with "The Good Samaritan" -- the oversized revolver the eponymous leading man received as a ...more
Bagiku komik bukanlah sekedar mainan anak-anak. Komik adalah sebuah karya seni. Mungkin itu yang membedakan antara komik Jepang dan Amerika. KOmik Jepang memang dibuat untuk dibaca sekilas sebagai teman perjalanan, lalu dibuang. Makanya tak banyak komik jepang yang digarap dengan estetika tinggi. Tapi bukan berarti nggak ada. Ada Samurai X, Detective Conan dan Dragon Ballz yang secara artistik memang sangat indah.
Di lain pihak, komik Amerika terutama dengan genre Novel Grafis (Graphic Nove...more
Di lain pihak, komik Amerika terutama dengan genre Novel Grafis (Graphic Nove...more
When looking at a collaboration between two creators whose work you know individually, it's easy to jump to the wrong conclusions about who contributed what. That happened with AI, for example, where a lot of people said they hated the Spielberg bits and loved the Kubrick bits, without really knowing which was which.
I don't want to make that mistake reviewing this Hellboy book. Certainly, it seems much more like a traditional super-hero comic than later volumes, especially in the fir...more
I don't want to make that mistake reviewing this Hellboy book. Certainly, it seems much more like a traditional super-hero comic than later volumes, especially in the fir...more
I've been avoiding Hellboy, because I figured that once I read the first trade I'd have to catch 'em all (Pokemon-style). That is indeed the case. I was a little worried about the first volume, as I wondered if this was the kind of series that picked up steam as it went on. Well, if it does, this is still a fine first foot forward (do it alliteration!).
Mignola's art is totally amazing, especially when you look at what he does with so few lines. The colors on this book really make the...more
Mignola's art is totally amazing, especially when you look at what he does with so few lines. The colors on this book really make the...more
After the movies, I wasn't sure what to expect from the comic. They were fun, but a bit cheesy. The film's director, Guillermo Del Toro tends to make films that are all flash and no substance, like Blade II and Pan's Labyrinth. I assumed that the Hellboy movies were just executed better, but I now realize that the movies fell far short of the source material.
The comics are moody, charming, and uniquely stylized. The dramatic inking and chiaroscuro lighting combines with the simple, e...more
The comics are moody, charming, and uniquely stylized. The dramatic inking and chiaroscuro lighting combines with the simple, e...more
Flipping through the recently released "Hellboy Companion" left me feeling daunted and inadequate in the ways of Hellboy. I love it more than about anything published in the last decade, but my memory just can't hold all the threads together. So I have declared it high time to reread the series from beginning to end.
In this first one, Mignola seems to be finding his style. Everything is there, plot- and character-wise, but the layouts aren't anywhere near as dynamic as t...more
In this first one, Mignola seems to be finding his style. Everything is there, plot- and character-wise, but the layouts aren't anywhere near as dynamic as t...more
The good news is that this graphic novel offers exactly what I loved about the movie. HellBoy is a devil summoned by a mysterious Nazi who wants to unleash cthulhu-like elder gods upon the world. He's got an anger problem, he's a smart ass, and he calls himself the World's Best Paranormal Investigator. The art is dark, yet HellBoy's attitude adds some levity to the atmosphere.
The bad news is that there isn't much in this first volume that you don't know from watching the first movie. Havi...more
The bad news is that there isn't much in this first volume that you don't know from watching the first movie. Havi...more
Mike Mignola does great art. Some great characters. Great settings. Has some great ideas. His storytelling however isn't especially polished. And could use a few more events. I think he plots his big stories like short stories.
I love the Jack Kirbyness of the art. Heck he even has Kirby dots. The biggest flaw in his art is his characters don't really portray emotion. He can pull off angry, but even then not always. This kinda fits with his short stories. You don't have e...more
I love the Jack Kirbyness of the art. Heck he even has Kirby dots. The biggest flaw in his art is his characters don't really portray emotion. He can pull off angry, but even then not always. This kinda fits with his short stories. You don't have e...more
Kevin
rated it
Recommends it for:
Reader Friendly Noir Fans | Sword and Sorcery Fans
Shelves:
fantasy
This is basically a generic review of all the HellBoy and HellBoy related books.
Fact is, they're intricately connected. Even the stories which were one shots, they become part of the HellBoy character.
Relying more on imagery than senseless exposition, Mike Mignola manages to bring a bit of Noir to his Detective in Red, as he fights the minions of darkness. Despite the obvious "demon turned hero who fights hell," noir feel, these HellBoy comics are less disturb...more
Fact is, they're intricately connected. Even the stories which were one shots, they become part of the HellBoy character.
Relying more on imagery than senseless exposition, Mike Mignola manages to bring a bit of Noir to his Detective in Red, as he fights the minions of darkness. Despite the obvious "demon turned hero who fights hell," noir feel, these HellBoy comics are less disturb...more
Ce premier tome des aventures du fameux héros rouge nous apprend pas mal de choses sur son apparition au monde, mais aussi sur une famille d'explorateurs, Raspoutine, Abe Lincoln et Liz, bref, presque tout ce qui fera plus tard le succès de l'excellent film. Il faut toutefois reconnaître que, là où Ron Perlman incarne un démon très voyant dans un univers très visuel, celui de Mignola me semble beaucoup plus sombre, comme une espèce de sale mec qu'on ne voudrait pas vraiment approcher ... Et appa...more
I've always meant to pick up the Hellboy books. Really. Mike Mignola writes about Lovecraftian monsters, occult Nazis, steampunk, slightly off kilter superheroes, and all sorts of other stuff I love.
But I seriously hate Mignola's artwork. Like it makes me physically irritated looking at it. But a friend of mine finally pushed me into reading the first two Hellboy TPBs and... yeah... I still hate his blobby, heavy-lined, half-of-every-page-just-matte-black art.
By the end...more
But I seriously hate Mignola's artwork. Like it makes me physically irritated looking at it. But a friend of mine finally pushed me into reading the first two Hellboy TPBs and... yeah... I still hate his blobby, heavy-lined, half-of-every-page-just-matte-black art.
By the end...more
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Mike Joseph Mignola is an American comic book artist and writer, famous for creating the comic book series Hellboy for Dark Horse Comics. He has also worked for animation projects such as Atlantis: The Lost Empire and the adaptation of his one shot comic book, The Amazing Screw-On Head.
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