Product Description

"Beware my claw, for I've come to inflict justice!" After years of captivating fans from the pages of Hellboy and B.P.R.D., the pulp-style adventures of Lobster Johnson take the limelight in this collection of The Lobster's first solo series. Written and featuring a cover by Hellboy creator Mike Mignola, and drawn by Jason Armstrong (Ferro City, The Sensational Spider-Man), Lobster Johnson: The Iron Prometheus is a wild ride full of fearsome monsters, mad scientists, and threats from the world beyond.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #79568 in Books
• Published on: 2008-06-29
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 140 pages

Customer Reviews

Flawed diamond
I can't believe no-one's reviewed this yet! OK, assuming you've never heard of/ read Hellboy, Lobster Johnson is basically a 30's pulp hero who goes `round killing gangsters, Nazis and supernatural evils using his strong left hook, colt revolver and `the lobsters claw'; a stylized claw symbol he burns into evil doers' foreheads. He dresses all in black leather, often only show as a silhouette with glowing orange goggles appearing out of the shadows to brutally dispatch the enemies of freedom righteousness.

Those familiar with Hellboy will know that in present-time, `The Lobster' is long dead, and he is regarded by many to be nothing but a badly written pulp magazine character, but his disembodied ghost has saved ol' Red, Liz, Abe and Roger on numerous occasions.

Now, onto the actual book! The front cover may be a Mike Mignola original (and there are several sketchbook-pieces as a bonus at the back), but the remainder was drawn by Jason Armstrong (someone whose work I wasn't that familiar with). Now I know a lot of people seem to think that Mignola's style is the be-all and end-all in the hellboy universe, but much as I do love his all-encompassing shadows and creature designs, I find it very refreshing reading the B.P.R.D (present-day Hellboy spin-off featuring everyone except the big guy himself) comics and seeing familiar characters, places and ideas portrayed in a more complicated style, and this is exactly what you get with The Iron Prometheus; a simply-draw character recreated in a more complicated style. So basically, Armstrong didn't screw it up, but built on the foundation started as a simple character, and made it his own. Some of the art was alittle `inconsistent'; buildings & rooms that had obviously been meticulously planned, looked far more solid than some of the `sketch-style' characters, but the losse-ness definitely suited the more fluid story.

Which brings me to the story; Gritty anti-hero + brain-in-jar + yeti + Nazi super-submarine = fast-paced over-the-top cheesy action fun. This is very different to Hellboy, so if you're a pulp fan, but not big on the red stuff, this may still be worth a purchase. The story was generally pretty solid (Some parts were abit too "Let's stick with Hellboy-isms `cos that's what we know best"), but it flowed nicely, although it did come undone at the end. The only major gripe I have is with the villain. If you've got a guy that goes round branding Nazi's faces with his bare hands, you'd need a really stonking villain, right? Too bad it doesn't really deliver (`Thou saying that, he does turn up as the big bad in the most recent B.P.R.D arc, which I have yet to read, so I'm hoping he'll be redeemed back in modern-times).

So on reflection; if you're just looking for a Hellboy-fix, this book isn't for you. If you're more into the B.P.R.D/ Lobster Johnson side of things, pick this up right away. And if you've never given any of the others a go, but just thought the idea of a black-leather-wearing crazy beating up the enemies of humanity sounds pretty cool, then it's worth chancing, just don't hold your breath for a satisfying ending. Oh yeah, and `cos it doesn't fit anywhere else, there's also little text segments (Watchmen-style) detailing the fictitious exploits of Lobster Johnson (including his Mexican-wrestler incarnation! XD), which are a nice little touch for fleshing out this unique character.