Seed of Destruction (Hellboy, Book 1) [Paperback]

Mike Mignola (Author), John Byrne (Author)

Book Description

Series: Hellboy Book 1 | Publication Date: November 1994

FOR USE IN SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES ONLY. Sent to investigate a mystery with supernatural overtones, Hellboy discovers the secrets of his own origins, and his link to the Nazi occultists who promised Hitler a final solution in the form of a demonic avatar.

--This text refers to the Library Binding edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Dark Horse Comics (November 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1569710384
• ISBN-13: 978-1569710388
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 6.6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (55 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,046,311 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Its more than Seeds of Destruction!, June 13, 2002

By 

TastyBabySyndrome "Matthew Lewis, author of M... ("Daddy Dagon's Daycare" - Proud Sponsor of the Little Tendril Baseball Team, USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Hellboy: Seed of Destruction (Paperback)

Seeds of Destruction is a nice place to begin because it deals with where Hellboy hails from, no pun intended, plus its actually one of Mignola's more heavily Lovecraftian tales. The coloration is also darker in graphic novel form, giving it more of more horror appeal than the pervious comic releases did. There are more than enough Nazis, plots leading into the next Graphic Novel (Wake the Devil) to want you to go on without stranding you in a half-read story, not to mention the fact that its so wonderfully dark.
Something that all other reviews seem to be leaving out, something that affected my purchase of this particular graphic novel for a while, is the fact that it isn't simply the Seeds of Destruction story. Included within it are also two other stories, earlier works of Mignola, that are oftentimes overlooked and are quite the pain to find in their original formats.
1) This is a story from San Diego Comic-Con Comics #2, a little tale involving squibs of storyline and drying up towns in the desert, not to mention Anubis.
2) There's another story from Comic's Buyer's Guide dealing with Herman Von Klempt, everyone's favorite Nazi "Nazi head in a bottle" and his Brutus, his super gorilla.
Also included is a little section entitled "Where did Hellboy come from?," a section delving into the early promotional art showing Hellboy off, plus some nice pictures by artists including Art Adams and Gary Gianni.
Tentacled things = Happiness!

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Something else, August 3, 2001

By 

Ron Tothleben ([e-mail]) (Tilburg, Netherlands, Europe) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hellboy: Seed of Destruction (Paperback)

First of all I'd like to advise people who are willing to get into Hellboy to start here. Besides from this being the official first story you also get easily introduced to Hellboy and what he's about here, and the drift into Hellboy-reality is very natural and gentle. Besides from that it's a very nice read as a stand-alone story. It doesn't end with something like a cliff-hanger that makes you need to buy continuing books. It's a book with a beginning and an end.

About the story: It's been over 35 years since Trevor Bruttenholm first found the creature that was later named "Hellboy", a big red creature over 7 feet high, strong as ten men, with a tail and an artificial stone arm. Nobody knows what he is or where he came from, including himself (a thing about which you get more and more hints as time goes by, not only in this particular volume). That was at the end of World War II on the scene of an occult experiment by a Nazi group trying to grab on to probably their last chances of enpowering the Reich. Now, the present, Trevor reaches out to Hellboy, who has since gone on to work for the "Bureau of Paranormal Investigation", because he desperately needs his aid. Weird extra-natural murders are taking place and it's up to Hellboy and his agency to find what kind of mystical powers are on a rampage and, even more important, who unleashed them.

What you have here is a title that especially people who like things like "X-Files" and "Planetary" will like a lot. It's about an agency that goes around the world to solve super-natural crimes and puzzles, but the members of the agency aren't that normal theirselves either. All this in a pretty gritty and dark atmosphere. It's very well-written, everything fits, and what also is really nice is that the creator (Mike Mignola) NEVER gave the story-writing or the art-job away in any of the following books. The creator sticks with his book and it really shows later on, when you see how things keep clicking and keep the same atmosphere. Must-buy for Planetary and X-Files fans and alike.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Holy crappy binding, Hellboy!, August 31, 2005

By 

J. Schwab - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Hellboy, Vol. 1: Seed of Destruction (Paperback)

The story was great, fantastic art, much love for Hellboy, but that's all been covered already by other reviewers. Here's the thing: I love my books, and treat them all with special care in the hopes that they'll last forever. By the time I had read through this graphic novel ONE TIME, the cover had fallen off in my hands, and pages were coming loose from the binding! For the price they're charging, I'd expect a book that doesn't self-destruct after a half-hour. (To be fair, I also bought volume two, which did not fall apart...yet.)