Hellboy Vol 1: Seed of Destruction

Hellboy Vol 1: Seed of Destruction (1994) Mike Mignola and John Byrne

After starting my comic reading life with Sandman, it’s been hit and miss for me since then. I love Ex Machina and Fables. But didn’t care for Preacher or Lucifer or Constantine. Michael reads and likes almost anything he picks up, but it’s been harder for me to find things I really like.

So, a couple years ago we watched the Hellboy movie and I enjoyed it. Not like I enjoyed Batman Begins but in the way I really liked Fantastic Four. I thought about picking up the comic then, but since Michael was wishy-washy about it, I didn’t want to get something neither of us might not like. So I held off.

But after Janiece‘s review of the new movie, Tania said she really enjoyed the comic, and so I decided to give it a try. Couldn’t hurt right?

I’m glad I finally gave in, because I quite enjoyed Seed of Destruction. The tone reminded me of Sandman in a way that I wanted Constantine and Lucifer to be like Sandman except that they weren’t. I was somewhat familiar with the generation story from the first movie, but of course things are different in print than on the screen, but it was close enough that I had a good idea what was happening. Of course we quickly moved onto the new story, in which Hellboy and the other members of the BPRD investigate the death of the man Hellboy considered his father. We catch glimpses into the characters of Abe and Liz, but I feel like I knew more about them from the movies than I did from the book.

One thing that did catch me off guard is that, at least in this volume, Hellboy comes of as far more intelligent than he did in the movie. Not that he was dumb in the movie, but intellect-wise, he was far outshined by Abe. It’s also possibly because the story is written in first person, while the movie was third person, and perhaps it’s the glimpses into his thoughts that make the difference.

So, I thoroughly enjoyed Hellboy: Seed of Destruction and will definitely order the next volume in the series. Though I will try and hold off ordering all of them at once.
Rating: 8/10

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