Solomon Kane, Vol. 1: The Castle of the Devil

Dark Horse's Solomon Kane

by Scott Allie, Mike Mignola (Illustrator), Dave Stewart (Illustrator)

Robert E. Howard's vengeance-obsessed adventurer begins his supernatural adventures in the haunted Black Forest of Germany in this adaptation of Howard's "The Castle of the Devil." When Solomon Kane stumbles upon the body of a boy hanged from a rickety gallows, he goes after the man responsible - a baron feared by the peasants from miles around. Something far worse than the devilish baron or the terrible, intelligent wolf that prowls the woods lies hidden in the ruined monastery beneath the baron's castle, where a devil-worshiping priest died in chains centuries ago.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Horror, Fantasy, Fiction, Graphic Novels Comics, Historical Fantasy

112 pages, Paperback

First published June 30, 2005

About the author

Scott Allie is an American comics writer and editor, best known as an editor and executive at Dark Horse Comics from 1994 to 2017.

Reviews

[Sophia · Rating 2 out of 5]

B.R.A.CE. 2019 Ενώ έχει μία ενδιαφέρουσα ιστορία και το σχέδιο είναι συμπαθητικό ( αν και θα το προτιμούσα ασπρόμαυρο για κάποιο λόγο ) κάπου χάνεται. Είναι σαν να χάνεται η συνοχή της ιστορίας που σε πάει από εδώ κι απο εκεί. Ίσως να ήταν πιο κατανοητό αν είχα διαβάσει τις ιστορίες του Ρόμπερτ Ε. Χάουαρντ στις οποίες βασίζεται. Αλλά δεν είναι δικαιολογία αυτό για να μην σου προσφέρει το graphic novel μια ικανοποιητική εικόνα.

[colleen the convivial curmudgeon · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5

I only recently became aware of the character of Solomon Kane, and I've never read any of the books - so I can't compare on that front.

The story itself is ok, but on the standard side. Granted, it is based on a snippet of a story older than I am, so I can make certain allowances in that regard. I was interested in this idea of a warrior Puritan - it reminded me a bit of the Priest manga.

But the writing was very choppy. Neither narrative nor conversations moved in an organic fashion, and the artwork seemed equally sketchy. (Also, the one character, John Silent, whose sole purpose seems to be to get in the way and say "Name of the Devil" every freaking time anything happens was pretty annoying. He would've been better had he lived up to his name... )


I did like the short story at the end, though, called "The Nightcomers". If they'd padded that one out more and shortened the title story, it might've been enough to bump it up to three.


ETA: I forgot to mention one of the more annoying things. While Kane and Silent are both English, the story takes place in Germany. Most of the German dialogue is "translated" for our benefit, denoted by < brackets.

Except there are large swathes of dialogue, right around the freaking climax, which are not translated, so I had to sort of guess what was actually being said, as I didn't have easy access to a computer to get a translation at the time of reading.

Really bad decision there.

[Pavel Pravda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pokud nebudu nebudu řešit, kdo vymyslel jaký žánr a styl příběhů, ani který komiks u nás vyšel dříve, tak pro mě Solomon Kane nepřináší vůbec nic nového. Pokud by tam místo toho puritánského prudiče byl třeba Hellboy, tak to fungovalo úplně stejně. Vlastně by to fungovalo mnohem lépe. Kdyby to byl Hellboy, nebo třeba Zaklínač, tak by tam byl i humor. Alespoň špetka humoru by tam byla. Solomon Kane je tak neustále smrtelně vážný a tak nábožensky fanatický, že mě vlastně celou dobu hrozně sral. Pokud jde o samotný příběh, tak ten byl takový…. Hellboyovský. Scénář Scotta Allie nebyl úplně špatný a někde v půlce jsem začal být zvědavý, o co jde a jak to dopadne.
Co se týká kresby, tak Mario Guevara sice kreslit umí, ale mě ten jeho styl nesedí. Má to atmosféru, má to často dobrou kompozici, ale nedokázal jsem tomu přijít na chuť. Připouštím, že to ke konci bylo lepší a některé panely se mi dokonce líbily, ale to je tak všechno. Více jeho komiksů asi nepotřebuji.

[Dávid Novotný · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice horror story

[Rick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Following their success with their new Conan comics, Dark Horse recently tackled the avenging Puritan. Writer Scott Allie and artist Mario Guevara expanded a Robert E. Howard story fragment into the enjoyable graphic novel The Castle of the Devil. Allie successfully managed the subtle nuances of Kane's stoicism and world view. Guevara's art, while at first glance presenting a fresh approach to the character, actually hinders the tale with inferior storytelling and lack of character definition. Unlike the excellent Conan collections, this volume lacks a text piece introducing the far less famous Solomon Kane. Despite these flaws, The Castle of the Devil ranks among the finest Solomon Kane comics.

[Eliška Vyhnánková · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solomon Kane spojuje všechno, co normálně nemám ráda - fantasy horor ze šestnáctého století :D Samé temno, náboženství, bahno, déšť a utrpení. Ale tentokrát musím přiznat, že bych si ráda dopřála pokračování. Kane je totiž postava, jejíž příběh mě zajímá.

[Julian]

Great atmospheric, moody art. The writing is solid, perhaps leaning slightly too much into the original story in its narration. However, this felt like a very solid Solomon Kane adaptation in terms of the protagnist's dour attitude, the horror story at the center of the action and so on. Recommended to action-horror fans and particularly old-school Conan comics fans.

I bemusedly note and wonder that Kane's sidekick here is "John Silent" and wonder if that's a reference from Howard to "John Silence" of Algernon Blackwood's stories... though there's nothing to really unite them besides the name.

[Orrin Grey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Now this is more like it.

Those of you following along at home will recall my recent disappointment with the Saga of Solomon Kane. This is definitely an improvement over that.

Scott Allie, perhaps best known to me as Mike Mignola's editor, knows from a good supernatural story (for further proof, I recommend his really excellent comic The Devil's Footprints), and he turns in a story here that's at once much closer to what was great about the original Solomon Kane stories and also still very much its own thing.

I'm a little less sold by the art of Mario Guevara, but it's not bad and I'm certainly willing to let it grow on me.

Nothing is going to beat that cover, though. Not only because it's Mignola, but the fonts and the colors and the way they did the Dark Horse logo, everything about that cover is pure awesome.

[Brandon · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book promised so much more than it delivered. With stories adapted from the works Ron E. Howard and after the success of the Conan series I was expected a accurate and compelling adaptation but instead I was presented with a book that was unfocused, jumpy and lacking in tension. The events in the story is predictable and the characters are not fleshed out. The tone is dark and brooding but lacks in menace and the pace is choppy. The story itself concerning demons and Werewolfs and satanic worship should add up to a great read on a winters night but the moving parts are many and they never seem to meet up effectively. It was all a jumbled mess and there was no real sense of danger or horror despite having all the element there for the taking. The artwork adds a lot to the overall atmosphere but the character renderings are less than perfect. Solomon Kane looks more demonic than the other characters despite being the hero on a mission from God to purge the earth of evil. It's hard to get behind a guy who looks more evil than the evil he is supposed to be destroying. I wanted to like this book and in truth it wasn't awful but I was left feeling underserved by the creative team by a book that was too unfocused.

[Martha · Rating 5 out of 5]

I immensely enjoyed this adaptation of Howard's Solomon Kane. I felt that the authors were very true to the character, they didn't try to beef him up and give him "cool" dialogue. Kane was very judgmental of others and a zealot, and they didn't change that.
I appreciated that they used a Howard fragment rather than an established story, I'm sure it gave them more artistic license with the story. It also kept me from being critical of a story I had already read.
The artwork is beautiful and fits the story well. The gore is a bit graphic in a few parts, but it seems to fit the bleak tone of the story. Overall highly recommended.

[Luke Zwanziger · Rating 3 out of 5]

Story taken from an unfinished Robert Howard manuscript, this story was entertaining, with great art, though I must admit, it is quite slow moving. Sometimes this is a good thing in a story, though here I found it a little off putting. Still a descent read. Besides who doesn't want to read about a vengeful violent puritan killing demons and werewolves?

[Will Robinson Jr. · Rating 3 out of 5]

A mixed bag. I have been reading a lot of Conan the Barbarian lately. This has made me more interested in reading more stuff based on the many characters and creations of Conan's creator, Robert E. Howard. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that Dark Horse comics not only published Conan comics but Solomon Kane books as well. I don't know much about the Kane character other than in many ways he is an early archetype of the monster hunter character. He is sort of a Van Hellsing set in the days of the 16th century. He is a man of strong Puritan convictions who longs to rid the world of darkness & evil even if this means getting his own hands bloody. The character's style reminds me so much of the manga/anime character Vampire Hunter D. I wonder if the creator of that character was not inspired by Solomon Kane's iconic look.
This comic series was published in 2008 and is written by Scott Allie. The artwork by Mario Guevara and the coloring by David Stewart really helped me enjoy this collection more than I should have. There was a lot of inner monologue in this story arc and the excessive use of German was annoying because there was no translation. So I had to guess the context via the artwork for panels with the dialogue in German. The plot was simple but the pacing was a little slow. I felt like there was just too much of a buildup before we got to the action of the story. As one would expect from a Robert E. Howard tale there is brutal violence and the art really sells the gothic mood to the story.
If you can deal with the slow pace of the world being built in this series you are rewarded with some action and monsters. The artwork in the back of the book is great to look at with some covers from John Cassaday and Joe Kubert. I always enjoyed Cassaday's work on comic series like Astonishing X-Men, Volume 1 : Gifted & Skywalker Strikes. This first volume of Solomon Kane was an okay intro but hopefully the next volume will be a little better.

[Scott Schmidt · Rating 2 out of 5]

I remember not loving this initially, but thought I might have a better appreciation for it now as a seasoned comic book reader. But, my opinion hasn't changed after a re-read. This story falls victim to what I find is the most common ailment among comic miniseries: poor pacing. By the time the story really begins to take off, it's time to start winding it down. And that was the problem here, too much time spent in the first two-thirds of the book doing not much and then so much happening in the last two issues that characters have to start explaining the plot to the reader via dialogue with other characters. I also thought the artist was inconsistent. Then, reading in the trade that the artist spoke English as a second language and Allie's scripts were very dense, it all made sense that they should have went with a different artist to really get the nuance of the script. I also thought it a bad choice to have the story broken into seven chapters across five issues. Maybe that's just me being too rigid of a reader, but it was jarring to me. It's a shame, because by the time the story was done, I felt like it should have been very enjoyable, it was a good plot, just poorly executed. Which is crazy since Allie's first job is as an editor.

[Matthew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solomon Kane is a great character — a dour Puritan seeking atonement by fighting against the forces of hell. This book provides a decent Kane adventure, with some good atmosphere, a little mystery, and Kane rebuffing and insulting people for their lack of piety.

But it’s far from top quality. The art is unskilled. Crude. Not ready for prime time. Characters are hard to tell apart. Anatomy is poor. The faces lack discernible expressions. Overall, the art appears unfinished, offering little more than preliminary layouts. Sadly, a lot of western comics these days display this lack of craftsmanship. The coloring does a decent job of setting mood, though it lacks contrast. Nothing pops and it doesn’t help readability.

The writing isn’t great either. It uses a clunky faux archaic style which accomplishes little other than making the tale hard to follow. Much time is spent building a mystery only to have the whole thing revealed by a random ghost — Kane does nothing to uncover the truth. The combat scenes are perfunctory, over in a few panels with a couple of sword swipes. No strategy or drama to speak of.

[Khairul Hezry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Puritan wanderer helps the innocent by purging the bad guys. Usually the paranormal kind. The Mike Mignola cover fooled me. Thought it was his book (silly me for not looking at the names of the people involved *right there* on the cover). But that's not a dealbreaker. The art by Mario Guevara with colours by Dave Stewart is suitably moody enough for Scott Allie's horror story.

This is my first time reading Solomon Kane. I didn't know he was the creation of pulp magazine icon Robert E. Howard who created Conan the Barbarian.

[Clint · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m not a big fan of the artwork. I found myself liking some panels and detesting others. The Mignola covers are great. The story is pretty okay. It’s the long honored tradition of finishing a fragment left by REH. Slight spoiler: I liked that the author dug into older lycanthrope myths. Older myths tell of demons granting the ability to shape shift for black rights.

[Kars · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm on a bit of a early-modern era fantasy-horror kick because of a tabletop rpg I am running so I thought I'd dip into this for some flavour. It hit the spot. The twists and turns as well as the ruthlessness seem quite true to the source material and the monster design is quite memorable as well.

[Charles Lupo · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've never read any of the Solomon Kane stories, so I can't say how they compare to this graphic novel, but this was mostly meh. There are lots of panels in German, w/o any translation. I wasn't interested in the story enough to bother to translate it myself.

I won't be continuing this series.

[Lenka · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Joel Jenkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

The art and story are a fantastic mix, and do a great job of capturing the world in which Solomon Kane exists. I highly recommend this to any fan of Robert E Howard or in particular, Solomon Kane.

[Đenis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Toto mi moc nesadlo, neviem či to je hrdinom, grafikou alebo príbehom.

[Nick · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this in French, with a so-so cover by John Cassady, which is at least better than Mike Mignola, whose art I generally dislike.

Part two of a series of resurrected graphic novel stories on Solomon Kane, originally created by Robert E. Howard (of Conan fame), this one features Kane wandering in the Black Forest of Germany, where he encounters a fellow Englishman and arrives at 'The Castle of the Devil,' the seat of the local baron. Mystery, violence and the arcane ensue.

Overall I like the art in this title, I like the idea of the wandering Kane, though a puritan is an odd hero to get behind, and I like the mystery elements which, while never allaying my initial suspicions completely, keep me guessing as to the exact nature of what's going on here. Kane is understated and exciting while fighting, and there are some cool surprises in store in Castle.

On the other hand, I don't like how characters in the story keep over-hearing one another and then commenting on it; as if everyone shouts and has amazing hearing, I find 'the key villain' acts in a bizarre fashion while fighting Kane - ranting with an internal monologue and such, which disappoints (can't be more specific without giving a surprise away), other key villains are disappointingly weak (like those Conan typically faces), I find there's a lot of stalled action, henchmen having inexplicably detailed things to say despite having no character development or personality, cruel sexual teasing, and also the art can be frustratingly vague with facial features. Again, Kane as a hero Puritan is bizarre, and his exact composition leaves to be desired; he's kind of wooden and religious, yet incredibly violent and deadly, yet kind of boring. When you think about it, he's kind of like Conan really, Conan in strange, dark, Puritan form, and minus even the implied sex. And he's kind of like this force that goes through stories and kills off all the exciting people and things, like brigands, beasts and sex. He's like the champion of boredom. Also, I think Robert E. Howard had serious mother issues.

But I digress. I guess what I'm trying to say is the writing is only fair.

I liked it overall, but you won't be missing out if you don't read it, and I probably won't bother with more Kane, though if I see one in front of me in the library I might give him another go.

True Rating: 2.7 Stars

[Erik · Rating 3 out of 5]

After the surprisingly well-received audience reaction to selected clips from the upcoming Solomon Kane film while I was at Comic-Con in San Diego last month, I’ve been snooping my nose in the world of Robert E. Howard’s lesser known dark fantasy Puritan avenger. (And I don’t mean Conan. He is by no means puritanical, what with all his booty-calls and all.) Although I have yet to pick up a Howard Cane story, I didn’t hesitate to pick up Allie and Guevara’s comic-book treatment a week back while at my comic-book shop in Wallingford.

The Castle in the Devil is a wickedly deceptive story that reads a bit like a murder mystery, in the sense that the true antagonist is not entirely clear until late in the story. It is also beautifully illustrated by new-comer Mario Guevara, whose pencils (which are on display in the back section of this trade paperback) recall the beauty of Barry Windsor-Smith crossed with P. Craig Russell – two of my all-time favorite comic book illustrators.
With the imminent film opening in theaters by year’s end, I wouldn’t hesitate to say that this is not the last time we’ll see Solomon Kane published under the Dark Horse aegis. And that’s a good thing.

[Andy Zeigert · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've enjoyed reading Hellboy and most things Dark Horse for some time, and Scott Allie's Hellmail column in the back of each Hellboy issue is always fun to read. (Editor responses, anyway; Fanboy fawning gets old quick.)

When I saw this cover and Allie as the writer, I thought it was a sure winner. The story itself is a fascinating tale about a 17th Century baron in Germany with a few dark secrets hanging around his castle. That the titular character stumbles upon this and shakes things up was a given.

I was a little disappointed in the art style. Many of the panels just looked rushed, especially the inks. After perusing some of the excellent examples in the sketchbook at the back, I wondered what the book would have been like if more time had been given to the artist.

That combined with a somewhat choppy storyline and a frustrating decision to translate most of the German but leave a large sequence toward the end untranslated left me feeling like the book falls a little short of my expectations. That being said, I would like to keep reading this series and see if it can fulfill its potential, especially with Guy Davis designing monsters for them.

[Mitch · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a rather ambiguous book, both in the design & the narrative; however, some of this comes at the cost of the story's visual clarity.
I very much enjoyed the pencil work and the blurry colours. Red gore popped against the dark/sepia backgrounds. The panel layout also enhances the subtle storytelling, opted to focus on Kane's POV, rather than the characters speaking. Each panel is clear, on its own, yet some of the transitions leave the reader re-reading moments in order to keep track of the action.
The dialogue and narration is top-notch. The book is extremely atmospheric and creates a sense of mystery & suspense almost immediately. In addition, the use of translated language & untranslated language is a breath of fresh air; a truly immersive device which creates a sense of realism lost in most comics.
All-in-all, a great read with a good sense of timing and impact (both in story & image). That being said, some of the intentional vagueness made for a few speed-bumps while reading.

[Jared Millet · Rating 3 out of 5]

Here's a nice little offering from Dark Horse as they continue their Robert E. Howard revival. I've heard it argued that Solomon Kane, Puritan bad-ass, was Howard's most original creation and I can see their point. This graphic novel, based on one of Howard's unfinished fragments, has some gorgeous artwork that actually makes me wish they *hadn't* used Mike Mignola for the cover. The story starts well enough and has all the feel of a good old Hammer Horror movie. Like most horror flicks, though, once the mystery of the monster is revealed the story loses a little "oomph." My other complaint would be that the all-powerful, menacing, Cthulhu-looking demons Kane ends up fighting seem just a little too easy to kill. Still, I'll certainly pony up for the next Solomon Kane miniseries Dark Horse puts out, and now I'm interested in checking out the original stories by Howard. (And next year's movie version too, if it ever finds a U.S. distributor.)

[Jenn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Let me start by saying, I don't like Robert Howard. At all. Give me John Carter of Mars over Conan the Barbarian any day. So I wasn't sure that I would like this comic book, based on one of the first fragments that Howard wrote about Solomon Kane, his Puritan adventurer character. Basically, Kane is Conan, except Conan is different/exceptional because he is (duh) a barbarian, while Kane's differences are attributed to his...let's say fervent religiosity. However, they both roam their respective worlds fighting eldritch, uncanny evil and getting propositioned by sexy, dangerous, usually foreign ladies.
But the comic wasn't bad. The artwork was quite good, and the story creepy. You wouldn't read it for the character development, or the well-rounded, in-depth views of women and minorities, but it's a fun way to spend an hour or so.

[Brian · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've always been a fan of Solomon Kane. Something about the pistol packing puritan makes me want to read more stories featuring him.
Scott Allie does a great job of fleshing this story out and keeps true to the character of Kane, as developed by Robert E Howard.
Moody, annoying and never one to back down, Kane is a great character to be used to tell stories with that focus on the moral code of the individuals involved.
While the page layouts are standard grid format, nothing groundbreaking, the art is really good. Mario Guevara draws in a nice realistic style.... you know the type, where men look like men, wolves look like wolves and monster look creepy!
I will certainly keep my eyes open for more adventures of Solomon Kane, hopefully written by Scott Allie.
Oh, and the bonus pages are quite nice... including the covers by John Cassaday and Joe Kubert

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solomon Kane.

Brooding Hero. Check.

Fully Invested in Religion. Check.

Witch-Hunting, I-Shoot-to-Kill-And-Look-Good-While-Doing-It. Check.

Leather, Tall Hat, Boots, Long Hair. Check.

I found out it was a movie afterwards, but this is who I was picturing the whole time:



That is why I completely liked it.

I should be ashamed of myself, lolololol.



As far as the story & plot are concerned. Action packed | Redundant. Check.

I'm not sure why----but I was

Satisfied. Check.

[Tim Pendry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dark Horse's 2009 adaptation of Robert E. Howard's puritan adventurer against all things evil, demonic and papist. The story is a nice bit of horror with some decent characterisation and some atmospheric artwork. Mario Guevara excels here at autumnal gloom.

With modern graphic novels, whereas film allows the elision of things for the sake of the flow, one can run back over the imagery and text for assistance in the explanation of the immediately inexplicable although this and 'Death's Black Riders' (more so) have their obscurities.

Some artwork and a short Solomon Kane ghost story in the EC comics tradition round off this edition. The story is based on a mere fragment of Howard's work so this should be considered to be more original than it claims to be - which is good.