Returned from their adventures on a secret island, Hellboy and the Professor move with the B.P.R.D. from New Mexico to Connecticut.
The relocation is tough on Hellboy: is he just homesick, or have scrambled memories from the island gripped the supernatural whippersnapper? Meanwhile, word of Hellboy's survival has also reached an unknown enemy, who failed to kill him once before but is determined not be foiled again...
Join Hellboy creator Mike Mignola and cowriter Thomas Sniegoski, with artist Craig Rousseau and colorist Chris O'Halloran for the second volume of the Young Hellboy series.
Collects Young Hellboy: Assault on Castle Death #1-#4 and bonus material.
Mike Mignola was born September 16, 1960 in Berkeley, California and grew up in nearby Oakland. His fascination with ghosts and monsters began at an early age (he doesn't remember why) and reading Dracula at age 13 introduced him to Victorian literature and folklore from which he has never recovered.
In 1982, hoping to find a way to draw monsters for a living, he moved to New York City and began working for Marvel Comics, first as a (very terrible) inker and then as an artist on comics like Rocket Raccoon, Alpha Flight and The Hulk. By the late 80s he had begun to develop his signature style (thin lines, clunky shapes and lots of black) and moved onto higher profile commercial projects like Cosmic Odyssey (1988) and Gotham by Gaslight (1989) for DC Comics, and the not-so-commercial Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser (1990) for Marvel. In 1992, he drew the comic book adaptation of the film Bram Stoker's Dracula for Topps Comics.
In 1993, Mike moved to Dark Horse comics and created Hellboy, a half-demon occult detective who may or may not be the Beast of the Apocalypse. While the first story line (Seed of Destruction, 1994) was co-written by John Byrne, Mike has continued writing the series himself. There are, at this moment, 13 Hellboy graphic novel collections (with more on the way), several spin-off titles (B.P.R.D., Lobster Johnson, Abe Sapien and Witchfinder), three anthologies of prose stories, several novels, two animated films and two live-action films staring Ron Perlman. Hellboy has earned numerous comic industry awards and is published in a great many countries.
Mike also created the award-winning comic book The Amazing Screw-on Head and has co-written two novels (Baltimore, or, the Steadfast Tin Soldier and the Vampire and Joe Golem and the Drowning City) with best-selling author Christopher Golden.
Mike worked (very briefly) with Francis Ford Coppola on his film Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992), was a production designer on the Disney film Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001) and was visual consultant to director Guillermo del Toro on Blade II (2002), Hellboy (2004) and Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008). He lives somewhere in Southern California with his wife, daughter, a lot of books and a cat.
(3,4 of 5 for Young Hellboy for younglings) OK, this Young Hellboy is not for me even more than the previous one. It's not bad, but it very much feels like the comics on Disney/etc animated movies for kids. The writing isn't poor, but it's dumbed down, simplified, and streamlined to a very basic adventure. There are still little few overlaps to the Hellboyverse, but with a story like this, it comes in vain.
The Hellboy universe has boomed over the last decade. This means Mignola must hire others to write/illustrate his myriad titles. I understand that. While "Young Hellboy" was ostensibly written by Mignola, this tale seemed to really be the child of Thomas Sniegoski.
Hellboy thinks he is sick. At night, in his bed, he runs into his hero Lobster Johnson, and goes on an adventure. But, it seems there really is a threat, in the form of a fanatical priest, that is hunting Hellboy. Hellboy goes on his adventure with Lobster Johnson, while the mad priest seeks to kill him.
That's the gist of the story. It's not very good and doesn't have the feel of the immaculately researched stories I'm used to from Mignola. It isn't that good. Same can be said of the art style. It tries to hard to mimic Mignola's trademark style and fails miserably. It's seems an amateurish facsimile. Perhaps a different more unique style would have helped. If this is the quality of Young Hellboy then this is a series I shall be passing on.
Better than the first entry, but still just so poorly written. We've had really great examples of what a "Young Hellboy" could be. Look at The Midnight Circus. Look at the 1947 & 1948. Even some bits through the BPRD runs.
Instead we get this, pulp goofiness with no foundation for it to build on. Doesn't feel like it's adding anything to the canon in a significant way, and if it's not, then what's the point?
Логічне продовження пригод Малого Геллбоя, котре сюжетно дуже нагадує "Джо Варвара" Моррісона. В першому, хлопчик хворий на діабет в хворобливих галюцинаціях бореться за життя, а тут теж хлопчик з гарячкою втікає від фанатика-убивці. Дещо затягнуті сцени з цитуванням фанатиком пророцтва, але цікава кінцівка, ну і звісно ж вишенька на торті - Лобстер Джонсон! Feel the claw!
This is because in this book, as in almost all of fiction, the doggo is a good judge of character.
Whether it be in the opening pages of the very first Goosebumps book, present in Terminator movies, or Young Hellboy’s pal, dogs always seem to know if you’re rotten. They do their best to alert those in danger, which never works out, but still, they try.
I am not normally beloved by pets. Not for any real reason, I’ve dogsat several times and all the dogs involved came around on me being in their house, even a couple dogs who were pretty goddamn wild. I’m just not the person who anyone would say dogs instantly love.
Which is an interesting trait that I’m not sure anyone possesses, rather I think people THINK they are instantly beloved by dogs, but really they just, I don’t know, mostly meet nice dogs.
So either this whole thing where dogs sniff out evil is accurate and I’m going to take a real turn soon, or dogs are just lovable dummies who are not great assessors of threats.
In 1947, the B.P.R.D. Headquarters moves from the New Mexican army base to an abandoned movie studio complex in Connecticut. Young Hellboy is not so comfortable there. He even gets some sort of sickness. A fever dream has him as a sidekick to Lobster Johnson, who needs his protege's help to stop a Nazi attack on America. Hellboy gets out of bed and starts wandering around the buildings. Meanwhile, an agent from the Brothers of Desolation (an order founded to stop the Apocalypse, which they assume Hellboy will cause) has come to the new HQ to kill Hellboy. The agent sneaks onto the base the same night that Hellboy goes wandering around.
The story is charming for the most part. The agent trying to kill Hellboy has got to be the slowest moving assassin ever. Other than that, the fever dream action is a fun excursion into childhood fancies. The art follow the lighter tone of the previous Young Hellboy even with a somewhat darker storyline.
Young Hellboy works better for me when they play up the humor in the situations he gets in. I mean he's acting like a kid, but he's still a smaller version of adult Hellboy in many ways physically.
So when he gets a fever he starts to dream he's on a mission with Lobster Johnson stopping Nazi scientists from using a necromancer's weapon and missile to kill people. The fevered Hellboy doesn't realize that someone else is stalking him and plans to kill him.
Some amusing moments if you enjoy Hellboy, Lobster, and how a kid like him would respond to fever dreams.
Loved this book! I thought it brought out an innocence factor in Hellboy really only alluded to before. Loved what Castle Death was. Very unexpected, but pleasant, in that surprise. Don’t understand the bad reviews. It was everything it needed to be! I want to know more about this group trying to kill him. Seemed like some good social commentary on the extremest things people are willing to do for their beliefs…dangerous times.
Shockingly low rating for a Hellboy story from me. I appreciate that Mignola was on story and Stewart was on colours, but I was not vibing with Rousseau's cartoony style in this book. I realize this is book is intended for younger audiences but it didn't quite grab me they way most Hellboy stories do.
The conceit of the book is that Hellboy is sick with a fever, so he has an adventure that may or may not be 100% in his mind.
Wow, what a MASSIVE improvement from the previous volume. I wasn't a big fan of Vol.1, but the concept of this story is really fun, and exactly the sort of thing I'd expect from a Hellboy comic for kids. It finds a way to be a big, fun adventure without relying on questionable strain to the lore. I love the use of Hellboy's imagination as a storytelling advice, without removing the real danger of the external threat. And a fun twist at the end!
There are better stories about Young Hellboy, that's for sure. Although the artwork is nice, the story is paper thin (no pun intended).
A cameo by Lobster Johnson elevates this comic book a little. And the chief evil monk walking around with a parrot on his shoulder made me laugh. Other than that, it's pretty forgettable addition into the Hellboyverse. If you want something really solid, reach for "The Midnight Circus".
I actually really enjoyed this. I was not a fan of the previous Young Hellboy comic as I thought the tone was a bit too odd, it struggled to find its footing on whether it is an adult comic or a kid comic. This one I think has a much more developed tone and accomplishes what it was going for. It’s a good isolated story showing a time in Hellboy’s past and how his childhood was fraught with the perils of his creation and existence.
While having a fever, young Hellboy lives out a fever dream fighting with Lobster Johnson again. This was short and cute. I like these young Hellboy stories because they are usually just cute little missions and Hellboy still sees the wonder of the world and isn’t jaded by experience yet. Also, I enjoy seeing him be a fanboy of Lobster Johnson because it's amusing.
Kid Hellboy is hallucinating from a fever. He's jetting around the BPRD, thinking he's fighting monsters with Lobster Johnson while in reality he really is being pursued by a monk who is trying to kill him. Young Hellboy is more lighthearted than the adult series but it's still fun. I like how he imagines himself a super hero costume as a sidekick to Lobster Johnson.
Way better than the previous, this one has feverish little Hellboy having hallucinations and going on an adventure around the Connecticus BPRD office. Nothing to see here, not much to remember, not offensively bad. 2.5/5
Fluff, but it's fun fluff. Hellboy gets his first fever and has nightmares about battling Nazi mad scientists alongside Lobster Johnson. Little does he know there's a real menace lurking around ... Cute stuff.
A fun romp in which young Hellboy has a fever dream of assaulting a Nazi castle with Lobster Johnson while a real enemy tries to take him out. Like I said, fun but mostly inconsequential. Better than the first one, though.
A fun fever dream of Hellboy, aka The Scarlet Crab, teaming up with Lobster Johnson to defeat zombie Nazis at Castle Death. Swimming thru his fantasy is the actual intrigue of a Brothers of Desolation plot to assassinate him.
Most of this is a dream sequence (not a spoiler) , that takes a lot of the emotional weight out of the story. The non-dream sections (the assassination attempt) was the best part but was probably like 18 pages total.
UMMMM lil' Hellboy is SICKIES!!!! and you DON'T have someone guarding over him all night, professor????? Glad you got eaten by frog monsters in the 90s, bitch!