Hellboy from the Beginning

thwhtguardian
CCF Mod Squad

Posts: 10,332

Hellboy from the Beginning May 31, 2014 22:07:58 GMT -5

Quote

Post by thwhtguardian on May 31, 2014 22:07:58 GMT -5

This is the beginning of(what has been for me anyway) a long gestating project: to read and write about every issue of the Hellboy universe from start to finish. I've gone back in forth over whether I wanted to do this by publication order or chronologically from an in story stand point and I think I'll be going forward using mostly the latter method with the exceptions of Lobster Johnson and Witchfinder which I'll review when their events are referenced in other stories. However for those who would rather read in order of publication I'll also leave a list here for your personal use.

I'll preface this whole thing by say that Hellboy is by far my favorite comic ever created and as such it's pretty fair to say I'm far from the most unbiased observer. However, in reading these issues again I am going attempt to be as objective as possible in terms of how I rate the stories and art so this is far from an echo chamber styled appreciation thread so if you've tried Hellboy before and couldn't get into it or you just plain hated it I not only encourage you to speak your piece but I'm looking forward to it!

1617: Hellboy is conceived (Dark Horse Presents #100 )
1879: Sir Edward Grey stops an occult conspiracy in London(In the Service of Angles #1-5, 2009)
1880: Grey battles an ape(Dark Horse Pesents #36,2014)
1880: In America Sir Edward Grey investigates a supernatural occurance in the Wild West!(Lost and Gone Forever, 2011)
1881: While investigating a small town in rural England Grey uncovers a strange plot(The Mystery of Unland, 2014)
1937: The Lobster faces Memnan Saa(Lobster Johnson: The Iron Prometheus,2008)
1938: The Lobster tracks down a psychic killer(Hellboy: Box Full of Evil #1)
1938: Professor Bruttenholm travels to France to uncover a demonic painting in his first occult adventure(MySpace Dark Horse Presents #23)
1939:In another early adventure Bruttenholm uncovers an occult text and finds an ally in Professor Eaton Hall(Hellboy FCBD 2008)
1944: Professor Bruttenholm is called in to investigate the Vril Suit(sledgehammer 44: Lightning War, 2014)
1944:Summoned by a ritual performed by Rasputin in Scotland, Hellboy is
1946: Professor Bruttenholm investigates Nazi occult paraphernalia of WWII in the ruins of post-war Berlin (BPRD: 1946)
1947: Hellboy eats pancakes for the first time(Pancakes)
1947: Professor Bruttenholm returns to Germany to investigate the murder of prominent Nazi officials by supernatural forces (BPRD: 1947)
1947: Hellboy steals a car(The Judgement Bell)
1947: Hellboy and his dog Mac penetrate the forbidden Hangar 7 at their airforce base home in New Mexico, U.S.A( Weird Tales #2)
1947: Hellboy interrupts a study of a mummy(The Black Wedding)
1948: Professor Bruttenholm investigates a possible nuclear disaster.(BPRD: 1948)
1948: Hellboy runs away to join the circus(The midnight circus)
1948: Simon Anders embarks on a quest for revenge against a clan of vampires.(BPRD: Vampire)
1949: Hellboy tags along on a mission (BPRD #120-121)
1952: Hellboy goes to Brazil on his first official mission(Hellboy and the BPRD: 1952 #1)
1953: In England Hellboy investigates a murderous severed hand with the Professor and Harry Middleton(Hellboy: 1953 The Phantom Hand and the Kelpie)
1953: Still in England the trio encounters a demonic pair known as Rawhead and Bloody Bones(Hellboy and the BPRD:1953 Witch Tree/Rawhead and Bloody Bones)
1953: Hellboy investigates the witch tree in England (Hellboy and the BPRD:1953 Witch Tree/Rawhead and Bloody Bones )
1953:Hellboy finishes off his trip to England and encounters the mysterious Kelpie(Hellboy: 1953 The Phantom Hand and the Kelpie)
1953: Hellboy investigates a haunted mine(Hellboy Winter Special 2016
1953: A mysterious creature hunts the children of an idyllic suburban town, and the BPRD get more than they bargained for when their investigation begins to seem strangely familiar.
1954: Hellboy is asked by the Osiris Club to slay the Saint Leonard worm(Nature of the Beast)
1954: Helboy investigates an attack on a base in the artic circle and uncovers a nazi plot
1954: Hellboy fights a ghost monkey(Hellboy and the BPRD #14)
1954: Hellboy investigates some strange possessions in China.
1955: Hellboy investigates the mysterious disapearnce of children in Oregon.
1955: A layover on a remote island drops Hellboy into a web of intrigue involving government secrets.
1956: Professor Bruttenholm sends Hellboy to help Professor Edmond Aickman(King Vold)
1956: The Coldwar starts to heat up as the BPRD faces Soviet opposition.
1956: Hellboy goes to Mexico(Hellboy in Mexico and others) part 1 part 2 , Part 3, Part Four
1957: Hellboy rings in the new year with a Medium who's seance goes awry
1958: Hellboy must help save a man's soul from a being known as 'The Crooked Man'( The Crooked Man)
1958: Hellboy investigates a series of killings in India and faces a monstrous vampire-like creature (The Penanggalan)
1959: To retrieve a stolen baby, Hellboy must bear a corpse to his final resting place(the Corpse)
1959: Hellboy stops Herman von Klempt's experiments in South America (Hellboy Promo #2)
1960: Hellboy goes to Kansas to see a haunted house((Double Feature of Evil)
1960: Hellboy fights a Dragon(Hellboy: Return of the Lambton Worm)
1961: Hellboy fights a demonic Santa Claus (Hellboy Winter Special 2017)
1961: Hellboy fights the Iron Shoes demon(The Iron Shoes)
1961: Hellboy faces off against a hydra. (The Hydra and the Lion)
1963: Hellboy halts an invasion of trolls. (The Troll Witch)
1964: Hellboy tracks down the Baba Yaga(Baba Yaga)
1964: Hellboy investigates a haunted p-40 in India(Weird Tales #7)
1966: Hellboy fights a family of vampires(The Sleeping and the dead)
1967: Hellboy handles a case involving floating heads in Japan (Heads)
1967: Hellboy fights a tengu(Weird Tales #2)
1968: Hellboy meets The Goon
1973: Liz Sherman is adopted by the BPRD
1974: Liz celebrates an interesting Christmas with Hellboy(Hellboy Winter Special 2016)
1975: Hellboy fights Krampus
1976: Liz Sherman and Bruttenholm investigate a minor haunting in Massachusetts
1979: Hellboy investigates a physical medium(Goodbye Mister Tod)
1979: BPRD scientists finally succeed in awakening Abe Sapien (Abe Sapien versus Science)
1979: Abe goes on his first mission with Hellboy and Liz(Hellboy Winter Special:2017)
1979: Hellboy goes to Guatemala(Weird Tales #5)
1981: Abe fights a Cthulu like monster(The Drowning)
1981: Liz, Abe and Agent Vaughn fight a werewolf and confront mortality( Casulties)
1982: Abe investigates a mysterious drowning in Vermont(The Haunted Boy)
1982: Hellboy defeats the famed gambling Vampire of Prague(Hellboy: The Vampire of Prague)
1982: Hellboy tracks down the vampire Countess Ilona Kakosky.(The Varcolac)
1983: Hellboy investigates a haunted house in upstate New York(Hellboy and the BPRD: The Secret of Chesbro House)
1983: Abe fights a Mayan Vampire(Abe Sapien: The Land of the Dead)
1983: Abe learns about the Black School( Abe Sapien: Witchcraft and Demonology)
1984: Abe investigates a soviet sub(The Abyssal Plain)
1985: Hellboy goes to rescue an American tourist in France. (Hellboy: The Bride of Hell)
1985: Abe Investigates a haunted house(The Devil Does Not Jest)
1985: Hellboy investigates the Whittier Mystery( Whittier Legacy)
1986: Hellboy and Abe confront Black Beard (They that go down to the sea in ships)
1988: Hellboy takes O'Donnel out on a case( The Transformation of J.H. O'Donnel)
1989: Hellboy investigates the disappearance of Ann Heath. (A Christmas Underground)
1989: Professor Bruttenholm Hellboy and Kate get stranded in South America(the Menagerie)
1990: Hellboy and Abe Sapien capture Daryl the Wendigo. (B.P.R.D.: The Universal Machine)
1991: Investigating a supposedly haunted house, Hellboy is magically teleported back to 1902.(Dr. Carp's Experiment)
1991: Hellboy travels to Paris to investigate the Grand Guignol Theater Troupe(Weird Tales #6)
1991: Liz gets abducted and almost gets married to a demon(The Black Wedding)
1992: Hellboy and Professor Bruttenholm crack one last case together(the Judgement Bell)
1992: Hellboy fights a ghoul ("The Ghoul")
1992: Hellboy and Abe investigate the lake monster known as the Ogopogo(The Ogopogo)
1993: Hellboy is invited to the New York Explorer's Club(Makoma)
1993: Abe Sapien and a BPRD psychic investigate deaths at sea (Drums of the Dead)
1994:Hellboy, Sherman and Sapien go to the site of a spectral circus(Weird Tales #1)
1994: Hellboy and Kate Corrigan visit a town decimated by the angry ghosts of werewolves. (Wolves of St. August)
1994: Hellboy meets Rasputin. (Hellboy: Seed of Destruction)
1994: Hellboy returns to the ruined church where he first appeared(The Chained Coffin)
1994: Abe Responds to Hellboy's letter about dreaming( Subconscious)
1997: Hellboy and the BPRD confront the vampire Giurescu(Hellboy: Wake the Devil)
1997: Hellboy and Kate Corrigan track down a homunculus(Almost Colossus)
1998: Hellboy has a meeting with Adrian Frost and learns about his hand (The Right Hand of Doom)
1999: Hellboy and Abe investigate the Guarino castle after a mysterious attack(Box Full of Evil)
1999:Hellboy is transported to the DCU and meets Batman(Batman/Hellboy/Starman)
1999: Abe Sapien succeeds in awakening Roger the Homunculus (Abe Sapien versus Science)
1999: Hellboy and Roger investigate an odd dinner party(Being Human)
2001: The BPRD sends Hellboy and Roger to Hunte Castle(Hellboy: Conqueror Worm)
2001: Following Hellboy's lead, Liz Sherman also quits the BPRD(BPRD: The Hollow Earth)
2002: Johann becomes disembodied and joins the BPRD(The Ectoplasmic Man)
2004: Hellboy seeks advice from an African witch-doctor, and is told to dive to the bottom of the sea(Hellboy: The Third Wish)
2004: Sadu-Hem returns to life, and begins to create a new army of frog-monsters(BPRD: Plague of Frogs)
2005: The BPRD moves into new headquarters in the Colorado mountains(BPRD: The Dead)
2005: Roger and Abe discuss what makes a man(BPRD: Lost Lives)
2005: Roger Dies(BPRD: The Black Flame)
2006: Hellboy escapes from the Bog Roosh with the assistance of a mermaid and washes up on an unknown island.(Hellboy: The Island)
2006: Kate travels to France to try to restore life to Roger. (BPRD: The Universal Machine)
2007: Hellboy returns to Britain, has a nightmarish vision of a demon, offered to be king of the witches and is transported to a mythical Russia(The Mole and Darkness Calls)
2007: Abe and Ben Daimio encounter the remnants of the Oannes Society(BPRD: Garden of Souls)
2008: Daimio's past catches up with him(BPRD: Killing Ground)
2009: Hellboy is invited by the Osiris Club to participate in "The Wild Hunt"(Hellboy: The Wild Hunt)
2009:Hellboy and Alice Monaghan find that army of the noble dead of Britain are leaving their graves.(The Storm)
2009: A combined army of frog monsters and Hyperborean slaves lay waste to the Munich and Liz is kidnapped by Memnan Saa.(The Warning)
Flash back to 1937: Lobster Johnson encounters Memnan Saa.(Iron Prometheus)
2009: The BPRD manage to kill Saa and retrieve Liz, but Johann is taken over by Lobster Johnson's ghost. (BPRD: The Black Goddess)
2010:Kate and Bruno return with the Lobster to Hunte Castle(King of Fear)
2010:Abe discovers some unpleasant truths about himself, and Liz unleashes a devastating blast of power that finally wipes out the last remnants of both the Hyperborean slaves and the frog monsters. Her pyrotechnic powers exhausted, she quits the Bureau for a new life. (King of Fear)
2010:Hellboy Dies(The Fury)
2010: Abe tries to find Ben(BPRD: New World)
2011: Abe dies(BPRD: Gods)
2011: Monsters destroy Seattle(BPRD: Seattle)
2011: Liz begins to regain her powers(BPRD: Monsters)
2012:BPRD sends Kate and Johann to meet the Russian equivalent of the Bureau(BPRD: Russia)
2012: Kate learns of Hellboy's death(an unmarked grave)
2012: Johann Kraus attempts to find Ben(BPRD: The Long Death)
2012: A backwoods vampire clan shelters themselves in their Gothic southern home(Pickens County Horror)
2012:Devon and Fenix form an uneasy alliance in order to get to safety(The Devil's Engine)
2012: Field agent Ashley Strode is deployed to a Mexican village for an exorcism( BPRD: Exorcism)
2012: An elite B.P.R.D. team hunts down a mad Russian scientist in the Scottish Highlands(BPRD:The Return of the Master)
2013: Hellboy travels to Hell(Hellboy in Hell #1-4)
2013: A group of agents investigate an abandoned warehouse in Chicago(The Abyss of Time)
2013: The zombie director of the Russian occult sciences division leads a rescue mission through a blizzard( A Cold Day in Hell)
2013: Abe comes back to life(The Dark and the Terrible)
2013: A spreading contagion in the Chicago wastelands turns the residents of the Windy City into vicious monsters(Wasteland)
2013: While on the run from the Bureau, Abe makes his way to the Salton Sea to learn about himself. (New Race of Man)
2013: Liz Sherman fights for her life in Utah and rejoins the BPRD(Lake of Fire)
2013: Abe sees the future in Mayan legends of the origins of man and the end of the world(The Shape of Things to Come)
2013: While in Hell, Hellboy saves a lost soul( Hellboy in Hell: The Three Gold Whips)
2014: Abe seeks shelter from the apocalypse in a small Arizona town(To the Last Man)
2014: Liz and Johann lead two teams through the monster-filled streets of the Manhattan wasteland(Reign of the Black Flame)
2014: Abe uncovers a strange new-world case of domestic abuse (The Garden)
2014: Hellboy once again encounters the Vampire of Prague(Hellboy in Hell: The Death Card)

and that's where we presently are...

Last Edit: Sept 20, 2021 7:23:27 GMT -5 by thwhtguardian

A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory. LLAP

Deleted

Posts: 0

Hellboy from the Beginning May 31, 2014 22:10:40 GMT -5

Quote

Post by Deleted on May 31, 2014 22:10:40 GMT -5

I look forward to this. I have the first 2 Hellboy trades, a couple of the prose novels, and a handful of single issues, plus a bunch of Lobster Johnson, BPRD and Witchfinder stuff, but have only read stuff piecemeal* here and there. I've liked it, but I've never gotten around to really diving in.

-M

have some Baltimore stuff and the Hellboy animateds as well...

thwhtguardian CCF Mod Squad Posts: 10,332	Hellboy from the Beginning Jun 1, 2014 10:08:42 GMT -5 Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top Post by thwhtguardian on Jun 1, 2014 10:08:42 GMT -5 I may be including the Hellboy Animated issues as well because I love those young Hellboy back up stories they had, and narrative wise they help establish Kate Corrigan.
	A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory. LLAP

Deleted Posts: 0	Hellboy from the Beginning Jun 1, 2014 15:05:52 GMT -5 Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top Post by Deleted on Jun 1, 2014 15:05:52 GMT -5 I have the four Plague of Frogs omnibuses, but that's it. I've been meaning to give Hellboy another shot (I read a trade years ago and didn't like it), but haven't gotten around to it.

thwhtguardian CCF Mod Squad Posts: 10,332	Hellboy from the Beginning Jun 1, 2014 15:16:29 GMT -5 Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top Post by thwhtguardian on Jun 1, 2014 15:16:29 GMT -5 Those BPRD omnibus are pretty awesome, definitely my preferred way of reading the whole Plague of Frogs saga. Hopefully when the time comes they'll do the same for the Hell on Earth story as well.
	A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory. LLAP

thwhtguardian
CCF Mod Squad

Posts: 10,332

Hellboy from the Beginning Sept 4, 2014 18:59:53 GMT -5 shaxper likes this

Quote

Post by thwhtguardian on Sept 4, 2014 18:59:53 GMT -5

All right, so here goes.

In attempting to review Hellboy chronologically from an in story perspective I needed to first decide on where to begin, and after a thinking it through I've decided to start with two short stories(The Chained Coffin and Bishop Olek's Devil) and the first 8 pages of Hellboy: Seed of Destruction #1. While there are stories that predate these within the timeline of the Hellboy Universe(such as the Lobster Johnson stories and Witchfinder) I feel as if these three pieces present a compelling picture of the beginning of Hellboy's world. In addition to that, because each story comes from a different point in time in Mike Mignola's career they create a microcosm of Mignola's work that allows us to see his evolution as a storyteller that will be hard to duplicate in the following reviews as I will be following the in story timeline which skips around the actual publication time line.

The Chained Coffin

Dark Horse Presents #100 1995

Written, penciled and inked by Mike Mignola

Colored by James Sinclair(added in 1998)

Lettered by Pat Brosseau

Edited by Barbara Kesel

Preamble:While most of the dates I shall provide here are taken directly from the comics themselves, this one is purely speculation on my part. We know for instance that Rasputin summoned Hellboy to Earth in 1944, but his conception is not defined but I'm going to say that the ruins that Hellboy sleeps in are no more than a 100 years old and so I'll say this story takes place in 1844, with Hellboy's original conception happening perhaps some 40 years earlier in 1800. Nothing solid but that's what I'm going with.

Synopsis: Set within a framing narrative in which Abe Sapien is reading a letter from Hellboy while sitting comfortably in his quarters at the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense (BPRD for short) headquarters in Connecticut. In the letter Hellboy recounts his journey back to the church in East Bromwich in which he was "born". Hellboy recounts that a psychic (Cynthia Eden-Jones) thought Hellboy's appearance there in 1944 was related more to two spirits that occupied the church rather than being wholly the product of the Nazi experiment.(which we'll get to latter).

Hellboy falls asleep in the church and in his dreams he sees a dying woman and her children. The woman admits to having been a witch in her youth, but now she renounces her past and asks for God's forgiveness. The woman asks her children (a priest and a nun) to save her soul and to do this they must chain up her coffin and guard it from the devil for three nights. At this Hellboy suddenly awakes from his dream only to see it continue infront his very eyes as the spirits of the church act out their ghostly vigil of their mother's coffin. Just then a demon enters the church, and promptly kills the woman's children and frees her from her chained coffin, some how bringing her back to life in the process. The demon then reveals to the woman that her real child is as of yet still unborn, a child that was originally conceived at Walpurgis-Nacht many years ago in the woman's former youth. The demon then looks directly at Hellboy and seemingly says to him, "My favorite son."

Review:
I think what is truly interesting here is the number of layers that exist in this story and how they transition, first you have Abe reading the letter(which isn't that interesting in and of itself), then you have Hellboy sleeping in the church and finally you have the main action with the Witch, her children and the Demon. The transition that stands out as the most obvious is the letter reading portion with Abe, here we have only static establishing shots of the BPRD head quarters and Abe and all the information is conveyed in text boxes represting the letter that Abe is reading. Howevwe as the letter begins to recount Hellboy's dream we see a much subtler transition take place, first Blackness begins to really saturate each panel, giving us that great use of negative space that Mike is famous for, less subtle is the switch from text boxes to word bubbles from the individual characters. And as we get to the third layer some of that negative space is filled in and the characters that once existed only in Hellboy's dream are now provided definition against a filled back ground which gives them a greater sense of reality before heading back to Abe reading the letter through textboxes at the end.

When put together these transitions give you a truly cinematic reading experience, scanning from panel to panel and turning from page to page your heart races as you really feel the action, and all the while the successive layers pull you deeper and deeper into the world of the narrative. On the art side we get a good feel for the evolution of Mignola's style here, as I mentioned you get a lot of good use out of the negative space in the dream sequence; he uses it not only to create a mood of dread befitting a deathbed but the way in which it leaves the characters slightly out of definition gives them a very sense of unrealness which contrasts well with the latter scenes that play out for real in front of Hellboy. Using darkness as a signal for the slightly unreal is something we'll see a lot more in the future, so you'll see me mention it again, but publication wise this is its first real appearance and it stands out against the earlier stories.

All together these elements create a wholly unique origin story, there's no rocket from a dying world or falling pearls in an unlit alley but it's just as powerful as it speaks to the reader on a very primal level.

Grade: A

Of minor note:
The first page of the original versionfrom DHP contained a picture of a new born Hellboy with the Army, and a picture of Dr. Robert Carson and the text read "Albert Einstein used to visit, and I met Doc Carson there years before he grew that giant head..." both of which were nods John Byrne(who scripted Hellboy Seed of Destruction) and his book Danger Unlimited.

Last Edit: Sept 5, 2014 19:49:59 GMT -5 by thwhtguardian

A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory. LLAP

shaxper CCF Site Custodian Posts: 22,860	Hellboy from the Beginning Sept 4, 2014 19:51:30 GMT -5 Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top Post by shaxper on Sept 4, 2014 19:51:30 GMT -5 I have been waiting SO LONG for this!!!!!!

shaxper
CCF Site Custodian

Posts: 22,860

Hellboy from the Beginning Sept 4, 2014 19:53:03 GMT -5

Quote

Post by shaxper on Sept 4, 2014 19:53:03 GMT -5

Sept 4, 2014 18:59:53 GMT -5 thwhtguardian said:

All right, so here goes.

In attempting to review Hellboy chronologically from an in story perspective I needed to first decide on where to begin, and after a thought I've decided to start with two short stories(The Chained Coffin and Bishop Olek's Devil) and the first 8 pages of Hellboy: Seed of Destruction #1. While there are stories that predate these within the timeline of the Hellboy Universe(such as the Lobster Johnson stories and Witchfinder) I feel as if these three pieces present a compelling picture of the beginning of Hellboy's world. In addition to that, because each story comes from a different point in time in Mike Mignola's career they create a microcosm of Mignola's work that allows us to see his evolution as a storyteller that will be hard to duplicate in the following reviews as I will be following the in story timeline which skips around the actual publication time line.

Fascinating thought process. I always go chronological by publication just because it hems some of the madness that comes from overthinking continuity, but this was a great decision and makes me even more excited to follow your approach to the series.

thwhtguardian
CCF Mod Squad

Posts: 10,332

Hellboy from the Beginning Sept 4, 2014 20:12:25 GMT -5

Quote

Post by thwhtguardian on Sept 4, 2014 20:12:25 GMT -5

I went through a lot of back and forth over it myself, and while publication date is certainly cleaner and it does allow to illustrate Mignola's evolution in a much clearer way doing it in story allowed me to present the narrative as a whole which seemed fun to me.

A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory. LLAP

dupersuper
Friendly Neighborhood Regular

Posts: 4,836

Hellboy from the Beginning Sept 4, 2014 20:34:46 GMT -5

Quote

Post by dupersuper on Sept 4, 2014 20:34:46 GMT -5

I just finally got the 1st trade yesterday...

pulllist:Action,Superman,Lois&Clark,Batman/Superman,Superman/WonderWoman,Earth2,JusticeLeague,JLA,JusticeLeague3001,TeenTitans,Telos,TitansHunt,MartianManhunter,Injustice,Superman:AmericanAlien,NewDifferentAvengers,SpiderMan2099,MiracleMan,AllDoctorWhoSeries,StarTrek,StarTreStarfleetAcademy,XFiles,OrphanBlack,BigTroubleinLittleChina,Insufferable,SuperDinosaur...
Trades:Saga,Chew,Fables,FBP,WalkingDead,Wicked+Divine,RatQueens,SilverSurfer,MsMarvel,SquirrelGirl,SupermanChronicles...

thwhtguardian CCF Mod Squad Posts: 10,332	Hellboy from the Beginning Sept 4, 2014 20:49:00 GMT -5 Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top Post by thwhtguardian on Sept 4, 2014 20:49:00 GMT -5 You're in for a ride man, though I usually suggest starting with the third trade as I think it gives you a better feel for the Mignola's writing as it isn't scripted by Byrne.
	A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory. LLAP

adamwarlock2099
The Power Cosmic!

Posts: 6,261

Hellboy from the Beginning Sept 4, 2014 22:24:57 GMT -5 via mobile

Quote

Post by adamwarlock2099 on Sept 4, 2014 22:24:57 GMT -5

I haven't read any Hellboy but on random issue bought in a lot and a FCBD edition but I really enjoyed the movies if they are any reflection of the books I could see enjoying them. Mignola has a great flare for the dark so Hellboy suits him artistically.

Strangley the one character I liked most in the movies was the guy that had the mechanical hand that was on a chain attached to his arm. He just seemed interesting and then Hellboy went and killed him in the movie.

In stories like these I tend to latch on to odd characters.

Bettie Mae Page -- April 23, 1923 - December 11, 2008
Prince Rogers Nelson -- June 7, 1958 - April 21, 2016
“We’re all going to die, all of us, what a circus! That alone should make us love each other but it doesn’t. We are terrorized and flattened by trivialities, we are eaten up by nothing." -- Charles Bukowski

thwhtguardian CCF Mod Squad Posts: 10,332	Hellboy from the Beginning Sept 5, 2014 8:45:50 GMT -5 Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top Post by thwhtguardian on Sept 5, 2014 8:45:50 GMT -5 You may have well read the next story then as Bishop Olek's Devil was one of the Dark Horse FCBD offerings a few years back.
	A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory. LLAP

thwhtguardian
CCF Mod Squad

Posts: 10,332

Hellboy from the Beginning Sept 5, 2014 19:36:49 GMT -5 shaxper likes this

Quote

Post by thwhtguardian on Sept 5, 2014 19:36:49 GMT -5

And What Shall I Find There?

MySpace Dark Horse Presents #23
June 2009

Written by Mike Mignola and Joshua Dysart

Art by Patric Reynolds

Colored by Dave Stewart

Lettered by Clem Robins

Edited by Scott Allie

year: 1938

Preamble: This story slipped my mind until today when I went to pullout Hellboy FCBD 2008 which contains "Bishop Olek's Devil", and since "And What Shall I Find There?" predates Olek I have thus decided to go for this first. Either way, both stories work well in introducing the world as they establish both Buttenholm(Hellboy's adoptive father) and the creative team that Mignola collaborates with in the first major story arc I will be reviewing: BPRD 1946.

Synopsis: Having just graduated from Oxford Trevor Bruttenholm goes for a tour of the continent in search of a small church which according to his uncle contained an occult painting called the "Pere Pierre le Begue". As Bruttenholm relates, the painting is a portrait of a french Catholic pries named Father Pierre and although such portraits of the clergy were rare in the 1200's what made this portrait truly unique was the fact that in the top corner, positioned as if it were leering from behind Father Pierre's shoulder was a blue demon. The artist claimed that the demon sat with the priest for the whole sitting and when the artist shared his painting and his story behind both he and Father Pierre were quickly murdered by the congregation. As Bruttenholm sits admiring the portrait and imaging the glory it will bring him when he returns with it to London and presents it to the world the self same demon from the portrait (or perhaps Olek himself) lunges out of the dark at him. Some how deducing that the portrait and the demon are linked Buttenholm takes a torch to the painting and as it burns up, so does the demon.

Review: While Mike Mignola does have a serious talent for taking bits and pieces of half forgotten myths and folklore from various sources and weaving them into new and exciting tapestries within his stories his short story "And What Shall I Find There?" unfortunately isn't one of his better attempts. While the tale does provide an interesting look at Professor Bruttenholm in his youth it fails in its attempt to take elements from Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray(which itself re-purposed elements from Faust) and turn them into a new and exciting story in its own right. The dots from Dorian Gray were there but the story itself didn't really connect them, leaving them vague to the extent that without knowledge of The Picture of Dorian Gray you wouldn't really be able to understand the climax. Usually I'm of the opinion that less is more and that often times the longer a single story goes on the greater the chances are that the quality will begin to sag, but instead here I feel the exact opposite as I think that the length of this story was much too small to develop the ideas it contained. If it had perhaps only a few more pages we could have perhaps learned of Olek and his life style ,how Bruttenholm knew to burn the painting and together these elements would have given the story the strength to stand on its own apart from Oscar Wilde's famous novel.

Grade: C

Of Minor Note: Translated from French the portrait's name is "Father Pierre the Stutterer", while this doesn't really add anything to the story its strange and non-threatening translation makes for a slightly comical note in comparison to the moodier tone of the story which is a hallmark of Mignola's style as he often tries to balance humor and horror in his stories.

Last Edit: Sept 10, 2014 22:33:06 GMT -5 by thwhtguardian

A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory. LLAP

thwhtguardian
CCF Mod Squad

Posts: 10,332

Hellboy from the Beginning Sept 8, 2014 21:03:40 GMT -5 shaxper likes this

Quote

Post by thwhtguardian on Sept 8, 2014 21:03:40 GMT -5

Bishop Olek's Devil
Hellboy FCBD 2008
May 2008
Written by Mike Mignola and Joshua Dysart
Art by Paul Azaceta
Color by Nick Filardi
Lettered by Clem Robins
Edited by Scott Allie

year:1939

Synopsis: Narrated from the perspective of Dr. Howard Eaton this issue recounts the tale of how he met Prof. Bruttenholm. In 1939, Eaton and Bruttenholm travel to eastern Galacia to investigate a man who claims to have discovered to the long lost grimoire "dialogus goetia" written by Bishop Oleksander, who sold his soul to the devil in exchange for arcane knowledge. Once they reach the manor of Lord Petrov they spend their whole night locked in their room by the manor staff where they hear a weeping sound that deeply unsettles Eaton. After a sleepless night the pair finally meet Lord Petrov, who claims to have traveled to an extra-dimensional crypt in which the dialogus goetia. Petrov invites Bruttenholm to take the book, tempting him with the power the book will give him but Bruttenholm feigns an uncertainty on the books authenticity in order to buy time for further investigation.

During the night, Bruttenholm and Eaton sneak into Petrov's room only to be confronted with the sight of the ageing lord being drained by a parasitic demon. Spooked by the sight Eaton reaches for the book and after stealing it Petrov's body turns to stone and shatters. With Petrov dead the monster turns its attention to the new host, Eaton, Bruttenholm instructs Eaton to throw him the book so that he becomes the focus of the monsters attention. As he flees the room Bruttenholm, hears the ghostly voice of Petrov attempting to persuade Bruttenholm that the rewards of the book are worth the monstrous visitations of the demon. Mysteriously Bruttenholm gains access to the chamber of Bishop Olek where he replaces the book in the dead Bishops hands, ending the curse and immediate threat of the monsterous gaurdian after which he returns to Petrov's manor.

Review: While at its base it's a fairly simple and straight forward haunted house story the nuances elevate it to something much more entertaining. While not as dramatic as Mignola's art, Paul Azaceta's art is more than capable as what he lacks in moodiness he makes up for it great facial expressions while still maintaining a cartooned look. My favorite bit about this piece though was the first person narration of Doctor Howard Eaton, through out the story he acts as a witness to the actions of Bruttenholm in a way that mirrors role of Dodgson in William Hope Hodson's Carnacki the Ghost Finder which in and of itself owes much to the traditions of other fictional detectives such as C. Auguste Dupin, Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot.

Rating: B

Last Edit: Sept 10, 2014 22:33:41 GMT -5 by thwhtguardian

A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory. LLAP

Post by thwhtguardian on May 31, 2014 22:07:58 GMT -5

Post by Deleted on May 31, 2014 22:10:40 GMT -5

Post by thwhtguardian on Jun 1, 2014 10:08:42 GMT -5

Post by Deleted on Jun 1, 2014 15:05:52 GMT -5

Post by thwhtguardian on Jun 1, 2014 15:16:29 GMT -5

Post by thwhtguardian on Sept 4, 2014 18:59:53 GMT -5

Post by shaxper on Sept 4, 2014 19:51:30 GMT -5

Post by shaxper on Sept 4, 2014 19:53:03 GMT -5

Post by thwhtguardian on Sept 4, 2014 20:12:25 GMT -5

Post by dupersuper on Sept 4, 2014 20:34:46 GMT -5

Post by thwhtguardian on Sept 4, 2014 20:49:00 GMT -5

Post by adamwarlock2099 on Sept 4, 2014 22:24:57 GMT -5

Post by thwhtguardian on Sept 5, 2014 8:45:50 GMT -5

Post by thwhtguardian on Sept 5, 2014 19:36:49 GMT -5

Post by thwhtguardian on Sept 8, 2014 21:03:40 GMT -5

Hellboy from the Beginning