Hellboy: Wake the Devil (Paperback)

by Mike Mignola (Author) "SOMEWHERE ON THE NORTHERN COAST OF NORWAY, INSIDE THE ARCTIC CIRCLE..." (more)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
The Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense. Sound like something out of the X-Files? Well, it's one better; it's Hellboy, the world's greatest paranormal investigator. A mysteriously conjured demon, he's essentially a big red guy who goes looking for trouble. The catch is that he's not really the best investigator; let's face it, he's no Agent Mulder. But Wake the Devil always manages to maintain its creepy edge, in no small part due to Mignola's art, which may seem familiar. He did the set designs for Francis Ford Coppola's Dracula.

Product Description
A murder in a New York wax museum and a missing corpse lead Hellboy and the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense into ancient Romanian castles on the trail of a sleeping legend: the nobleman vampire, Vladimir Guirescu. Nazi scientists, revived in Hellboy: Seed of Destruction, prepare for the return of Rasputin and the end of the world, and Hellboy confronts his purpose on earth. This 144-page book includes the complete, sell-out Wake the Devil miniseries, plus a new five-page epilogue and pinups by Bruce Timm, P. Craig Russell, Dave Cooper, Jay Stephens, Olivier Vatine, and Derek Thompson.

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Dark Horse (June 25, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1569712263
• ISBN-13: 978-1569712269
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 6.2 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,044,561 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Homunculus + Horror, Adding To the Cast, June 15, 2002

By	TastyBabySyndrome "T(to the)B(to the)S" ("Daddy Dagon's Daycare" - Proud Sponsor of the Little Tendril Baseball Team, USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

Wake the Devil is a superb second take on the Hellboy saga and is just as good, if not better, than Seeds of Destruction (its hard to compare the two because both are so good). Its a bit more bleak/darker than its prior, introducing even odder concepts and distortions of myth to weave a story all its own. Yes, it seems there are Nazi plots galore for everyone's favorite paranormal investigator to deal with, not to mention the addition of Roger, B.P.R.D.'s first "contact" with a human-sized homunculus. Also included is a five-page epilogue dealing with Baba Yaga and The World Tree, a concept introduced in the comics but only added to the in this graphic novel forum. The graphic novels also clean up the coloration, giving you more crisp images than the comics could ever dream of.
A word of caution to those thinking that the numbered books can be taken out of sequential order without hurting the storyline. It can indeed be done, but Wake the Devil should be a second step taken in the reading "evolution" of the Hellboy saga because of some of the characters/events/plot lines started have either been groomed or are birthed here.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mignola takes control of Hellboy's writing and succeeds, August 10, 2004

By	A. Sandoc "sussarakhen" (San Pablo, California United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Hellboy, Vol. 2: Wake the Devil (v. 2) (Paperback)

Wake the Devil is the second Dark Horse Comic issued 4-issue series about Hellboy and the difference between the writing from Seed of Destruction to Wake is substantial. Mike Mignola took over sole writing duties for Wake the Devil after John Byrne's stint on Seed of Destruction. Mike Mignola never really wrote a full-scale plot and story for any comic he's drawn, but his inexperience in Wake the Devil is minimal. Hellboy is his creation and the world around him as well. He's lived and breathed the character since he is also the creator. Who else but the person who created the idea would know how to write the stories properly.

Wake the Devil has less of the Lovecraftian-theme that was Seed of Destruction. Instead Mignola treats his fans and readers to a story about a Romanian aristocrat is is reputed to be a vampire sired by the Greek demoness, Lamia. In addition, Mignola mixes in a healthy dose of Nazi's leftover from WW2 who have ressurected from an icy slumber to try and return the Third Reich to prominence through occult and vampiric means. Mignola's heady mix of the occult, European folklore mythology and plain old 30's style detective noir give Wake the Devil a better written story than Seed of Destruction. Mignola as a writer is not bad and since Hellboy is his creation there really is nowhere for Mignola to go but improve.

Wake the Devil is a perfect blend of a well-written story and great artwork. Having Mike take over as writer in addition to continuing as artist earns Wake the Devil 5-stars that Seed of Destruction failed to reach.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Nazis and vampires and ghosts, oh my!, February 13, 2004

By	Johnny Heering "trivia buff" (Bethel, CT United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This is the second Hellboy graphic novel. It is an improvement over the first one, as we get to know the old characters better, and interesting new characters are introduced. Creator Mike Mignola's Kirbyesque artwork is terrific, and this time he handles the writing himself (the first graphic novel was scripted by John Byrne). I don't want to give away too much of the plot, but I will explain that Hellboy is a paranormal investigator who appears to be a demon. This book is dedicated to Dracula, which should give you a clue as to what he encounters this time. This book should be especially appealing to people who like The X-Files or Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but I would encourage anyone who is a fan of sophisticated comic books to check it out.