Lobster Johnson: The Satan Factory [Paperback]

Thomas E. Sniegoski (Author), Gregory Manchess (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 11, 2009

Ripped from the pages of Hellboy! Where greed and the occult walk hand-in-hand, where mobsters and monsters prowl the streets, none escape the justice of Lobster Johnson! In the years before World War II, Jonas Chapel was a respected physician, until his appetite for vice got the best of him and he found himself on the run from one of New York's most powerful mob bosses. On the lam in Mexico, Chapel stumbles across a powerful witch and a cursed skeleton - and the power to transform men into monsters. Now, he's back in New York, selling his creations to the highest bidder. Only one man, backed by his team of trusted sidekicks, stands in his way. But will the Lobster's resolve be enough to shut down Chapel's twisted Satan Factory - before New York itself is consumed?

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Dark Horse (August 11, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1595822038
• ISBN-13: 978-1595822031
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #571,580 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

THOMAS E. SNIEGOSKI is the author of more than two dozen novels for adults, teens, and children. His teen fantasy YA series Fallen was adapted into a trilogy of monstrously successful TV movies by ABC Family Channel. His other books for teens include Sleeper Code, Sleeper Agenda, and Force Majeure, as well as the series The Brimstone Network. The author's first adult novel featuring angelic detective, Remy Chandler, A Kiss Before the Apocalypse, hit shelves last year. Its sequel, Dancing on the Head of a Pin, was released in May of 2009.
Sniegoski's work for younger readers includes Billy Hooten: Owlboy, and the fantasy quartet OutCast, which he co-authored with Christopher Golden. Sniegoski and Golden have also collaborated on the adult dark fantasy series The Menagerie, and multiple creator-owned comic book series, including The Sisterhood, and Talent, currently in development at Universal after a major bidding war.
As a comic book writer, Sniegoski's work includes Stupid, Stupid Rat Tails, a prequel miniseries to international hit, Bone. Sniegoski collaborated with Bone creator Jeff Smith on the prequel, making him the only writer Smith has ever asked to work on those characters. Sniegoski and Golden also wrote the graphic novel BPRD: Hollow Earth, a spinoff from Hellboy.
Sniegoski was born and raised in Massachusetts, where he still lives with his wife LeeAnne and their Labrador Retriever, Mulder. Tom recently completed the new young adult novel, LEGACY, which is set to be released in October of 2009, and is currently writing the next Remy Chandler novel, Where Angels Fear to Tread.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars True Pulp with no Tongue in Cheek, August 26, 2009

By 

Thomas A. Boatwright "Cartoonist" (NC) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Lobster Johnson: The Satan Factory (Paperback)

Mr Sniegoski has done a wonderful job in recreating the pulp novels of old. Its all treated with the respect these stories and characters deserve. No Silliness is excused simply because its a supposed to be "pulp".

I loved the character of Lobster Johnson in the Mignola stories, but here Sniegoski uses the elements to create something I feel is even better than what we've been given so far. The world of the Lobster seem so much more real even with ancient demons and terrible monsters. We're given glimpse at The Lobster's previous fight against simple hoods and gangsters, but it's changing into a more wonderous dangerous place. Things don't die or even stay dead quite like they used to.

Along with the pulp adventure, we're also given a look at the depression era. Through the eyes of Jake Hurley we travel amongst the down trodden in soup kitchens and hobo jungles. Jake is a former police officer and the newest recruit in the Lobster's fight against evil. With Jake see no only what it took be part of a pulp adventure team, but also what it took to survive a very real and very sad time in our history.

The Satan Factory has all the best elements of pulp novels and comic books but never treats them like kid stuff. For being both fun and grim all at once I cant recommend this book enough.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars from BOOTLEG MAGAZINE, August 3, 2009

By 

Brian Tucker - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lobster Johnson: The Satan Factory (Paperback)

Mike Mignola's appropriation of Lobster Johnson, a man believed to be a real life vigilante crime fighter that was fictionalized in pulp novels and Mexican horror films, into his world of colorful characters like Hellboy and Abe Sapien seems right at home. Little is known about the crime fighter called The Lobster except that between 1932 and 1938 a hundred or more crime figures, Axis spies and saboteurs were found murdered and left with a claw burned into their foreheads in and around New York City and Chicago. In Mignola's world The Lobster is still fighting crime with a heavy dose of the occult and the fantastic in the stories. First brought to life in the graphic novel The Iron Prometheus Lobster Johnson is given the literary treatment in Thomas E. Sniegowski's The Satan Factory.

This story takes place as the world is on the verge of the Second World War. The Lobster has a team of helpers, and the newest - Hurley, is a framed and disgraced police officer. His addition to the crew will help them take down a ruthless crime lord, Rocco "The Devil" Fazzina whose personal doctor, Jonas Chapel, has returned to New York City with a weapon that will help him rule the city. Chapel was on the lam from Fazzina in Mexico, fearing for his life after performing emergency surgery on Fazzina's cousin and causing him to die. In Mexico, Chapel came upon a powerful witch and a cursed skeleton that allows him the power to make humans into monsters. Chapel offers this weapon to Fazzina for leniency.

Sniegoski's writing is forceful and sparse, a tight fit for the nature of the story. The short novel is a fun mix of crime fiction and macabre monster storytelling. And while Sniegowsli delivers heavily on the crime figures and monsters he goes light on The Lobster. Nonetheless, it's a quick and entertaining read. The title character is a definite fit for Mignola's universe and the world of The Lobster is a deep well. There's a seemingly endless amount of stories that can be told utilizing The Lobster, his history and ours.

4.0 out of 5 stars This is My Kind of Pulp Mayhem!, March 26, 2011

By 

Chris La Tray (Missoula, MT) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Lobster Johnson: The Satan Factory (Paperback)

Want lots of blood-drenched violence, monsters, and an inscrutable hero with a crew of well-meaning henchmen? This is your book, then. Fast moving and a fantastic nod to the pulps of the 30s and 40s, our hero, Lobster Johnson, is pretty much a secondary character in his own book. The narrative mostly involves the unwitting dope who becomes the villain, and our main source of concern is for The Lobster's most recent recruit, Jake Hurley. It all ties together, though, and I had a great time reading this book.

I'd never read any of the comics Lobster Johnson appears in, though I am familiar with Mike Mignola and his Hellboy/BPRD worlds; I've read some of those trades. I dig his little universe, and will definitely seek out more.