Customer Reviews

Hellboy: Emerald Hell

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A solid entry and possibly the strongest novel to share the Hellboy world, EMERALD HELL is a fast-paced and often fascinating read. The setting this time is the deep south swampland, where Hellboy stumbles across a family curse, a tribe of lost mutant children, some mystical "granny women," and partners up with good ole boy who happens to be pure of heart and have a gift for magic. As HB searches for a trio of pregnant girls through the swamps he is hunted by a crazed mystical evil preacher and his two murderous henchmen. EMERALD HELL is a tremendously fun read, an obvious homage to Manly Wade Wellman's "Silver John" tales, and features a great deal of depth to its characters, who are sharply drawn and intriguing. The story also shows us an infrequently seen side to Hellboy's personality. Highly recommended.

The book follows Hellboy through the swamps of the south. Hot on his trail is a demonic preacher and two murderous country-boys. The book is an enjoyable read and the author's portrayal of the Hellboy character is consistent with Mike Mignola's vision of the character.

Readers may feel this reads much more like a videogame than an in depth novel. While light on the depth, you really don't read Hellboy for intricate plot, you read it for the simple joy of it.

If you've enjoyed the other Hellboy novelizations, I'd highly recommend this book.

I'm not a regular Hellboy fan, though I loved the movie, but when I read that Piccirilli had based a character on Manley Wade Wellman's Silver John (I hate it when they call him hillbilly; the movie based on the character was called The Legend of Hillbilly John. What a travesty that was!), I had to get it. I enjoyed the book, though at first I wasn't sure where the author was going, but it had a satisfying ending--with a fantastic, imaginative trip on the way; and I liked Hellboy and the other characters. Well drawn, and Hellboy was Hellboy. This is not a graphic novel, btw; and there are horrific scenes.

Hellboy the Emerald Hell is an absolutely exceptional entry in the Hellboy verse. A beautiful narrative style, plus one of the creepiest antagonists I've read or seen in any medium, plus paranormal events up the wazuu makes this an excellent read.

One of my fears going into this is that it would be OVERLY Christian, basically saying "Our way is right" and showing the "evils" of other regions. However, none of that comes out of this book. It is like it says, an Emerald Hell, with people doing the best they can and sadly having a lot of bad apples to go with it; in other words, overall quite universal.

Next to the All-Seeing Eye, one of the best Hellboy novels around.

I've been a rabid fan of Tom since I first discovered him with "The Night Class". When I heard that he would be doing a Hellboy novel, I was stoked. I throughly enjoyed Emerald Hell. Tom's unique voice and deft use of language was purely amazing and a pleasure to read. I didn't want this story to be over. Hopefully, he returns to the Hellboy world, it can't be soon enough!

R. Thomas Riley
Author of "The Monster Within Idea"

This is a great book that delves into the depths of the deep swampy South and into the hearts and mind of the men and women there. At times it almost seems as if Hellboy is a secondary character as we learn about the ways and culture of the people of the swamp. The characters are well drawn up and detailed enough to create an inviting (if scary) world. Definitely recommend this book.

This is a solo Hellboy novel, and a Dark Horse publication, so more like something you might find in one of the anthologies, than the BPRD mission based Pocket books.

In fact, for this story Hellboy could really have used Swamp Thing's help. These Southern swamp dwellers, and their diets of squirrel, snake, turtle eggs, and worse are getting to him. "You people are starting to freak me out a little," Hellboy admitted. "How about if if you save the creepy speeches for the next guy who coems down the road and just let me get on with it?"

He appears to have wandered into the middle of what could be a Manly Wade Wellman tale. I don't think this is necessarily an accident, either:

"Hellboy called, "Lament! John Lament! Get your hillbilly butt up, I need some help here!"

Yes, to oppose an evil undead preacher, Hellboy has the help.

"Where could an Appalachian-wandering mouth-harp-plucking, former-child evangelist, backwoods drifter learn all this?"

...

"For an instant Hellboy thought he saw a reflection of silver in Lament's eyes, like a trail of mercury floating by, and then it was gone."

Probable homages aside, Hellboy has come to investigate why a man's daughters have gone silent and barren, all six of them, and work out how it ties in with the other locals, the nasty preacher and the murderous brothers he has as underlings, and Lament himself.

There's another daughter, by a different woman, who can talk, but is nine months pregnant and vanished into the swamp. This girl is the key to it all, and who they have to find if they can get past the monsters and not be eaten by alligators.


3.5 out of 5

This book was pretty good. Sadly, some of the hellboy books are just BAD. I have no idea why Mike Mignola would approve of some of them, but this one of the better ones. I'm really not 100% the author really knows that much about Southern or Swamp life, a lot of stuff was glossed over. It seems like the authors aren't taking the task of writing Hellboy novels too seriously, which is a shame.

I really wanted a comic illustrated by Mike Mignola or someone who shares his style. Stories written like they are comic pages without illustrations. Not too cool. But anything Hellboy is good all on it's own.