At the end of World War II, American costumed-adventurer Lobster Johnson led an Allied attack on Hitler's space program, but not before the Nazis were able to launch the first man into space. Now, after sixty years, Hellboy is partnered with an artifical man - a Frankenstein's monster implanted by Bureau scientists with a bomb - to travel to the ruined castle in Norway to intercept the returning capsule, and its single passenger. . .the conqueror worm.
Hellboy Volume 5: Conqueror Worm
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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Winner of the 2002 Eisner Award for Best Limited Series, this story promotes Guillermo del Toro's upcoming film by reminding readers how fine Mignola is as a visual creator and how skilled he is at setting up outrageously melodramatic scenes to illustrate. Hellboy was a baby demon retrieved by psychic investigators who couldn't bring themselves to destroy the little imp. They brought him up to be a not-especially-secret agent of the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense. In this story, the massive, red-skinned hero is sent to investigate the ruins of a castle where Nazis conducted occult/scientific experiments, accompanied by his colleague Roger the Homunculus and supposedly aided by a blonde Austrian agent who isn't what she seems. They soon encounter undead Nazis, space aliens and the early 20th-century costumed crime fighter Lobster Johnson. Meanwhile, a space capsule launched from the castle in 1939 is about to land, containing an evil spirit from the stars. From here, the plot sails into even weirder territory. Readers who let themselves be carried along, however, can enjoy beautifully designed pages full of dark shadows and images of skulls and gargoyles. Hellboy might look silly on a midtown street corner at high noon, but it's hard to laugh at him as he fights monsters in dark gothic crypts draped with tattered swastika banners. Mignola counts on the power of the art to push his readers through thickets of absurdity until they come out the other side, into a state of delirious wonder. Sometimes he succeeds.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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More About the Author
Mike Mignola is best known as the multiple award-winning creator, writer, and artist of "B.P.R.D." and "Hellboy", but has fostered several other projects like "The Amazing Screw-On Head" and "Baltimore" with Christopher Golden. Although he began working as a professional cartoonist in the early 1980s, drawing 'a little bit of everything for just about everybody' - including characters like Batman and Wolverine - he was also a production designer on the Disney film "Atlantis: The Lost Empire". Mignola also acted as a visual consultant to Guillermo del Toro on "Blade 2" and the film versions of Hellboy, which were broadly adapted by del Toro from the original comic series. Mike Mignola currently lives in southern California with his wife, daughter, and cat.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Format:Paperback
One long story throughout. Hellboy and Roger the homunculus investigate strange Nazi goings-ons in Austria, only to find out that there's a new Nazi conspiracy trying to re-connect with a horror set in motion in 1939 that aims to give Lovecraftian ectoplasmic elder gods earthly form so that they can bring about the end of the world (sure, why not?). There's a Rubezahl and the first appearance of the totally bitchin' Lobster Johnston (an early Captain America, to be sure), and some really spooky 61-year-dead talking skeletons. Another Kriegsaffe (number 10), captive executioner aliens executed, haunted scientist Herman Von Klempt's head floating in a jar with robot arms and electric zappers, an army of human experiments emerging from the jar after 61 years, talking bats and rats and snakes, new frog creatures, and another encounter with a shadowy Rasputin-like figure (actually, it is Rasputin), before the final confrontation with the evil ectoplasm. Great meeting between Rasputin, Hecate and Baba Yaga.
By paul a james
Format:Paperback
As a lifelong comic fan (yes, I said comic) I would pick up books for art first and story after. It's how I got into Love And Rockets, how I discovered Frank Quitely and other great artists. Mignola on the the other hand i buy for writing first and foremost. Now I love his art and I feel honored to read a story that he has written and penned but his writing is unlike anyone else (David Mamet is the closest I think.) In The Conqueror Worm he shows why he is a master of the genre. I won't go into a storyline here but there are plot points that raise philosophical and scientific questions. He believe he does serious research to create these flights of fancy. And in Conqueror Worm he raises a doozy of an idea!
Giant "lifeforms" living in deep space that look like jellyfish and swallow worlds. Creatures that seek nothingness and despise the light of life. The battle between a world that lives albeit with different life than humans (a new era of man) vs. darkness and emptiness forever. Mike put his foot all in this one. An excellent book. In fact collect them all, I have!
Giant "lifeforms" living in deep space that look like jellyfish and swallow worlds. Creatures that seek nothingness and despise the light of life. The battle between a world that lives albeit with different life than humans (a new era of man) vs. darkness and emptiness forever. Mike put his foot all in this one. An excellent book. In fact collect them all, I have!
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
"Hellboy" is a clever and unique creation that's often hard to describe to someone who's never heard of it. The closest I've been able to come is this: it's like Raiders of the Lost Ark mixed with The X-Files. It's the light-and-dark inkwork of Frank Miller's Sin City, but with vivid use of color. It's got action and horror, gore and humor, and it's hard not to find something to like about it.
Even though this particular Hellboy story is fairly far along in the series, most of these graphic novel collections don't require that you know a lot of the background in order to enjoy them. Each reminds us that Hellboy is a magical being, was created/summoned by the Nazis during World War II (but fell into the hands of the Allies), and works for the fictional "Bureau for Paranormal Research & Defense" (B.P.R.D.), an organization that exists to track down odd happenings and put the monsters down. Each graphic novel also contains one or more complete story arcs, and that makes for a good read: you know you're not going to be left hanging or left in the dark.
When you look at Hellboy stories, this novel is probably the most pivotal. From the beginning, we have a paranormal-nazi tale that points to earlier adventures, we're told that Hellboy's love interest Liz is temporarily out of the picture, and we're introduced to another odd new character in Mignola's pantheon: "Lobster Johnson". Last, the opening scenes put a rather nasty spin on the B.P.R.D., the agency for which Hellboy works. The title is taken from Poe's "Ligiea", and it weaves dialog from the poem into the story well.
If you're a fan of the series, you won't be disappointed. If you're new to the world of Hellboy, you might enjoy some of the earlier stories, but you can easily start here if you wish.
Even though this particular Hellboy story is fairly far along in the series, most of these graphic novel collections don't require that you know a lot of the background in order to enjoy them. Each reminds us that Hellboy is a magical being, was created/summoned by the Nazis during World War II (but fell into the hands of the Allies), and works for the fictional "Bureau for Paranormal Research & Defense" (B.P.R.D.), an organization that exists to track down odd happenings and put the monsters down. Each graphic novel also contains one or more complete story arcs, and that makes for a good read: you know you're not going to be left hanging or left in the dark.
When you look at Hellboy stories, this novel is probably the most pivotal. From the beginning, we have a paranormal-nazi tale that points to earlier adventures, we're told that Hellboy's love interest Liz is temporarily out of the picture, and we're introduced to another odd new character in Mignola's pantheon: "Lobster Johnson". Last, the opening scenes put a rather nasty spin on the B.P.R.D., the agency for which Hellboy works. The title is taken from Poe's "Ligiea", and it weaves dialog from the poem into the story well.
If you're a fan of the series, you won't be disappointed. If you're new to the world of Hellboy, you might enjoy some of the earlier stories, but you can easily start here if you wish.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
A great twist on Hellboy and history
I love the ways in which Mignola blends history with the stories that he tells and how they mesh so well. These are books that will make think at times as well.
Published 4 months ago by K. Sirak
2.0 out of 5 stars
Poor Quality
Item took a long time to receive and when received it was poorly packaged which caused damage to book.Cover fell off after one handling! Read more
Published 21 months ago by Linda McRae
4.0 out of 5 stars
What I expected
The glue for the binding was undone, but that has happened to me with two other Hellboy collections I have purchased in store. Other than that no issues. Good read.
Published on September 9, 2010 by Ian Bain
5.0 out of 5 stars
Hellboy quits the B.P.R.D.?
Hellboy quits the B.P.R.D.? Oh no! What will they do without him!
Spin off a new series. ;)
More seriously, it's what you've come to expect from the big red... Read more
Spin off a new series. ;)
More seriously, it's what you've come to expect from the big red... Read more
Published on July 24, 2010 by Brian C. Petery
4.0 out of 5 stars
Hellboy versus big monsters. What's not to like?
There's lots of decent content in "Hellboy, Volume 5: Conqueror Worm", but my favorite story in here was the one used for the volume's title. Read more
Published on March 12, 2010 by Joseph P. Menta, Jr.
5.0 out of 5 stars
My favorite Hellboy Volume
I have always loved Mike Mignola's art, but this volume of Hellboy is the ultimate in the collection in my eyes, with its culmination of such magnificent art and intriguingly... Read more
Published on May 2, 2009 by David Ooley
5.0 out of 5 stars
Awesome purchase
This book is BY FAR my favorite of the series. Great purchase for any fan or newcomer to the series. Any one of these can be picked up and read on their own.
Published on January 8, 2008 by Schlosky
5.0 out of 5 stars
Graphic SF Reader
An excellent atmospheric Hellboy romp, as usual. For a concept or even character design when you first see it, somehow it works. Read more
Published on September 3, 2007 by Blue Tyson
5.0 out of 5 stars
Good stuff
This is comics as it was meant to be. Great art, exciting story, interesting characters and nice scenery (buildings and places). This is good stuff. Read more
Published on June 6, 2007 by E. Jorgensen
5.0 out of 5 stars
Dark and Light
Love the H.P. Lovecraft gothic horror influences, the sarcastic humor, and the art...FANTASTIC!
Published on August 30, 2006 by Josh Rothman
