Product Description

Hellboy, the world's greatest paranormal detective. Unfortunately for him, the one mystery he's never been able to solve is the mystery of his own origins. Red-skinned, pointy-tailed and horned, he stands out in a crowd. But did he come from hell to damn us or to save us? Mike Mignola's hugely acclaimed series kicks off with a collection of dark and mysterious tales, in which Hellboy tackles a cult of devil-worshipping Nazis, a frog-beast and an ancient evil, one which threatens to open the doors to hell itself. But mankind's ultimate enemy...may be Hellboy himself. Cutting edge comics from the dark side.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #488033 in Books
• Published on: 2002-07-26
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 128 pages

Review
Ottakar's Outland Magazine Issue 31, Autumn 2004 : "Rather like an X'-File' investigating the 'X-files', the lantern chinned, wisecracking Hellboy is one of the most endearing heroes to have emerged in comics for a long time, coming across as fresh, inventive, and, above all, highly entertaining."

From the Publisher
Mike Mignola won the 2004 Eagle Award for Favorite Comics Writer/Artist

About the Author
Mike Mignola is the acclaimed creator of Hellboy and Zombieworld, and has drawn Batman: Gotham by Gaslight, Aliens and Cloak and Dagger. John Byrne is the fan-favourite artist on a host of titles, from X-Men to Superman, Fantastic Four to Wonder Woman. He is the creator of the Next Men.

Customer Reviews

This is really FUN!
Seed of Destruction is Mike Mignola's first graphic album featuring his brilliant Hellboy. The artwork is very Kirbyesque throughout with gothic overtones. Somehow it all works very well. Mignola portrays a quirkiness and humour to the Hellboy character (which is fully realised in Del Toro's new Hellboy movie) and brings to the mix Abe Sapien (almost a modern reworking of Universal's Creature from the Black Lagoon), the incendiary Liz Sherman and, of course, the BPRD (Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defence).

Seed of Destruction begins with Hellboy appearing after a fiendish nazi experiment by the villain of the piece, Rasputin.

From then on it's a rollercoaster ride of battles with frog-like monsters and tentacled beasts until the final showdown. The book doesn't take itself too seriously which is just as well given the absolutely ridiculous scenario. But, this is really FUN.

Mignola has found his niche and he has come up with a truly original concept, strong characters and atmosphere soaked, adrenaline pumping storylines in his Hellboy series. If you really like comics you can't afford to miss Hellboy.

Hellboy; just plain great fun
HELLBOY is probably everything Robert Bloch (from the intro to Seed of Destruction) and Alan Moore (from the intro to Wake the Devil) say it is but the bottom line is that it's just great fun; a great visual and mythical experience. It clears itself of any pretentiousness right of the bat: it's about a monster (more specifically, a demon) who goes around and beats up or gets beaten up by other monsters. Mike Mignola himself said he "wanted to draw monsters" and HELLBOY assures that he'll be able to do so, whether drawing the good guy or the bad guys. But while Hellboy may not be the most cerebral comic book on the rack (not to imply that there are that many to begin with), it draws it's inspiration from mythology and folklore, so it's definitely food for the brain. And it may just inspire you to go and read the source material.

Something must also said for the artistic effort in the SoD series. Not to say that subsequent HELLBOY stories drawn by Mignola look bad (far from it), but in Seed Of Destruction, one can clearly see the labor of love involved. The combination of line work and heavy blacks seem to convey a stronger sense of depth than usual. Speaking of heavy blacks, Mignola has admitted that such a technique began as a way to cover up what he "didn't know how to draw", but he certainly knows how to turn this admitted weakness into strength. Mignola also skimps on backgrounds, often just leaving them out for panels at a time, but when he does render backgrounds, he knows just how to set the mood, whether the background in question is a derelict church, a moonlit forest or a graveyard. So effective are Mignola's backgrounds when they are seen, that the reader barely misses them when they're absent.

Anyway, enough gushing praise. I end with a recommendation: anyone who's a fan of comics, folklore or mythology should give HELLBOY: SEED OF DESTRUCTION (or anything HELLBOY, for that matter) a look.

The birth of a legend
This is a truly magnificent graphic novel. Mike Mignola has created something wonderfully different and original... The artwork is excellent- a unique style that fits the 'dark' nature of the story. I recommend this novel to anyone fascinated by the occult, by fairy tales, by aliens and witches and goblins.